Creating a Unified Project

The process starts with a single user creating a normal Helix QAC project with a single configuration. This user should add all the relevant files to the project, ensure that the options are set correctly for that particular set of code, and that the results are as expected. The user needs to be aware that the project configuration will be shared, and that the project roots should therefore be created with the full set of users in mind.

A particularly important "user" is the one performing the automated analysis that takes place on a central server, as described in Desktop versus Server-side Working.

Whereas desktop users can make adjustments to a project configuration once they have downloaded it, this is not possible in Helix QAC Dashboard. You can, for example, change the Dataflow Settings and the other configuration settings for the parser components (although there will potentially be differences in analysis output when compared with that of the initial Helix QAC Dashboard snapshot and the supplied baseline/suppression).

Once you are satisfied with the project configuration, you can upload it to Helix QAC Dashboard. You must already be logged into Helix QAC Dashboard and have "Project Admin Rights" permissions. To Unify and upload the project definition select the following option:

Dashboard menu : Unify Project : Create

If the command is disabled, you will need to connect to Helix QAC Dashboard first.

In the dialog that is shown, proceed as follows:

  1. Select a VCF (Version Control Compatibility File) from the drop-down list. This file holds all the details used by Helix QAC Dashboard to connect to the version control system in order to access the source files. The VCF file selected needs to match the version control system used for the particular code project.
    2. Normally, you would leave the ’Download selected VCF from Helix QAC Dashboard ’ check box selected. This makes the VCF file available to the local system for operations such as baselining.
  1. Enter a name for the Unified project. Typically, this would be the same name as used for the code project, but it could be any name that is meaningful to the users of the project.
    The name needs to follow the same restrictions as those supplied in Validation. Note the final paragraph, which states that the Dashboard project name cannot contain any dots (’.’).
  1. Version control systems need additional project-specific information to access the source code. Enter this information into the Repository field. Refer to the Dashboard documentation for more details.

The act of uploading the project configuration will turn the project into a Unified project, which means that:

  • A linked project will be created within Dashboard, ready for an initial snapshot upload.
  • The Helix QAC project configuration will be stored centrally in Dashboard so that other users can download it.
  • The project name will be supplemented on the Helix QAC title bar with the name of the Unified project in brackets.