INTEGRATION OF EXTERNAL SOFTWARE ANALYSIS PROCESSES WITH SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS

• US 20100083211A1
• Filed: 09/01/2009
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accurev Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Accurev Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: SHERWOOD, JOSHUA V., POOLE, DAMON B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,473,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/75 Structural analysis for program understanding

Abstract

A platform is provided for enabling developers to customize easily and efficiently the performance of tasks on versions of a software project. An interface may be established in a software configuration management (SCM) application for communicating with software analysis processes, and information about a manner in which the software analysis process is triggered or stores data may be input as parameters to the interface. Additionally, generic parameters for a task to be performed by the software analysis process may be provided in a template. The template may then be provided to developers to populate with specific parameters regarding the particular task that developer would like performed, such as to identifying information for a version and a condition upon which the task is to be performed. Each developer of a team may make use of the template and the interface to customize the automation of tasks that he/she would like performed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for identifying a task to be carried out on a particular version of a software project, where information on the particular version is maintained by a software configuration management application and the task is to be performed by a software analysis process external to the software configuration management application, the method comprising:

operating at least one processor to perform acts of;

(A) receiving a selection, for the task, of a task template identifying a manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive input of data regarding the particular version and instructions regarding the task to be performed by the software analysis process;

(B) receiving customization information for the task from a user, the customization information comprising identifying information about the particular version and a condition upon which the task is to be performed; and

(C) configuring, based on the task template, the identifying information, and the condition, an interface to instruct the software analysis process to perform the task on the particular version upon satisfaction of the condition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the customization information in the act (B) further comprises receiving at least one parameter for the software analysis process that controls a manner in which the software analysis process performs the analysis.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(D) receiving and storing at least one task template, each task template containing at least some information necessary for automation of a task corresponding to the task template and identifying additional information that may be used for automation of the task corresponding to the task template.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(D) controlling a graphical user interface of the software configuration management application to display a status of the task following the configuring of the act (C).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring of the act (C) comprising configuring an interface of the software configuration management application corresponding to the software analysis process to be automated by the task.

6. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one computer, cause the at least one computer to perform a method for identifying a task to be carried out on a particular version of a software project, where information on the particular version is maintained by a software configuration management application and the task is to be performed by a software analysis process external to the software configuration management application, the method comprising:

(A) receiving a selection, for the task, of a task template identifying a manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive input of data regarding the particular version and instructions regarding the task to be performed by the software analysis process;

(B) receiving customization information for the task from a user, the customization information comprising identifying information about the particular version and a condition upon which the task is to be performed; and

(C) configuring, based on the task template, the identifying information, and the condition, an interface to instruct the software analysis process to perform the task on the particular version upon satisfaction of the condition.

7. A method for enabling communication between a software configuration management application and a software analysis process external to the software configuration management application, the software configuration management application storing information on at least one version of a software project and the software analysis process being adapted to analyze a version, the method comprising:

operating at least one processor to perform acts of;

(A) defining a type of analysis operation to be performed on a version stored by the software configuration management application, the type of analysis operation being one that the software analysis process is adapted to perform based on input regarding the version;

(B) determining a manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive the input regarding the version;

(C) configuring a task template comprising at least a portion of the manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive the input regarding the version, the task template not including information regarding the version; and

(D) making the task template available to a user of the software configuration management application such that the user can populate the operation template with information regarding a particular version and request that the type of analysis operation be performed on the particular version.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the software configuration management application is executing on a first computing device and the software analysis process is executing on a second different computing device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein determining in the act (B) comprises determining a first manner in which the software analysis process stores information regarding analysis to be performed and a second manner in which the software analysis process receives instructions.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the task template comprises a first portion of the manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive the input regarding the version, and

wherein the method further comprises:

(E) establishing an interface between the software configuration management application and the software analysis process and adapting the interface to communicate information between the software configuration management application and the software analysis process using the second portion.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the task template made available in the act (D) defines the first portion and identifies additional information that may be used for automation of the task corresponding to the task template.

12. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one computer, cause the at least one computer to perform a method for enabling communication between a software configuration management application and a software analysis process external to the software configuration management application, the software configuration management application to storing information on at least one version of a software project and the software analysis process being adapted to analyze a version, the method comprising:

(A) defining a type of analysis operation to be performed on a version stored by the software configuration management application, the type of analysis operation being one that the software analysis process is adapted to perform based on input regarding the version;

(B) determining a manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive the input regarding the version;

(C) configuring a task template comprising at least a portion of the manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive the input regarding the version, the task template not including information regarding the version; and

(D) making the task template available to a user of the software configuration management application such that the user can populate the operation template with information regarding a particular version and request that the type of analysis operation be performed on the particular version.

13. A computer-implemented method for enabling communication between a software configuration management application and a software analysis process external to the software configuration management application, the software configuration management application storing information on at least one version of a software project and the software analysis process being adapted to analyze a version, the method comprising:

operating at least one processor to perform acts of;

(A) identifying a type of task that the software analysis process is adapted to perform;

(B) determining a trigger by which the software analysis process is adapted to start the type of analysis operation;

(C) determining an input manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive input regarding a version of a software project to be analyzed;

(D) configuring the software configuration management application to transmit, upon receipt of an instruction from within the software configuration management application to trigger the task for a particular version of a software project, information about the particular version and the task to the software analysis operation in accordance with the trigger and the input manner; and

(E) making available to a user of the software configuration management application a task template defining at least a portion of the input manner and identifying additional information that the user may provide to customize the task corresponding to the task template, the additional information comprising information about the particular version and a condition upon which the task should be carried out.

14. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one computer, cause the at least one computer to perform a method for enabling communication between a software configuration management application and a software analysis process external to the software configuration management application, the software configuration management application storing information on at least one version of a software project and the software analysis process being adapted to analyze a version, the method comprising:

(A) identifying a type of task that the software analysis process is adapted to perform;

(B) determining a trigger by which the software analysis process is adapted to start the type of analysis operation;

(C) determining an input manner in which the software analysis process is adapted to receive input regarding a version of a software project to be analyzed;

(D) configuring the software configuration management application to transmit, upon receipt of an instruction from within the software configuration management application to trigger the task for a particular version of a software project, information about the particular version and the task to the software analysis operation in accordance with the trigger and the input manner; and

(E) making available to a user of the software configuration management application a task template defining at least a portion of the input manner and identifying additional information that the user may provide to customize the task corresponding to the task template, the additional information comprising information about the particular version and a condition upon which the task should be carried out.

15. A computer-implemented method for coupling a software configuration management (SCM) application and at least one external software analysis process such that, on occurrence of an event relating to a version of a software development project managed by to the SCM application, the SCM application can trigger the at least one software analysis process to analyze the version, the version being stored by the SCM application as a logical grouping of one or more software components included in the version and information relating to properties of the version, the method comprising:

operating at least one processor of at least one computing device to perform acts of;

(A) accepting first input from an administrator of the SCM application configuring a communications channel over which the SCM application will transmit information to the at least one external software analysis process;

(B) accepting second input from the administrator of the SCM application creating a template for providing information to the at least one external software analysis process regarding an event associated with a version of a software development project managed by the SCM application;

(C) accepting third input from a user of the SCM application configuring an event handler to monitor for occurrence of at least one specific event associated with at least one specific version, the event handler being configured by populating the template with the third input specifying at least the at least one specific event and the at least one specific version;

(D) on occurrence of the at least one specific event, providing information regarding the specific version to the at least one external software analysis process over the communications channel without performing any action to configure the channel to provide the information; and

(E) notifying a user, via a user interface of the SCM application, of a completion status of the at least one external software analysis process.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the information is provided in act (D) in response to a request from the at least one external software analysis process.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the request is made by the at least one external software analysis process as part of a polling process.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the information is provided in act (D) in response to a detection by the SCM application of the occurrence of the to at least one specified event.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the information is provided to the at least one external software analysis process via at least one application programming interface (API) function call.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the at least one specified event is that a change was made to software code of the version of the software development project.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein said change is that the code of the version includes code relating to a software development task that was promoted from a second version of the software development project lower than the version in a version hierarchy.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the at least one specified event is occurrence of a designated time at which the software analysis process should be run.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the designated time is a periodic time according to a schedule.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the at least one external software analysis process comprises a build process, and the completion status of the at least one external software analysis process comprises a determination of whether the version is capable of build by the build process.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the at least one external software analysis process comprises a code complexity check process, and the completion status of the at least one external software analysis process comprises a determination of whether the version is within threshold complexity levels by the code complexity check process.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the at least one external software analysis process comprises a memory check process, and the completion status of the at least one external software analysis process comprises a determination of whether the version does not include memory leaks.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein notifying a user of the completion status comprises notifying according to notification criteria established by the user.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein notifying the user comprises updating a portion of the user interface associated with the version of the software development project to indicate the completion status.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein the notification criteria include settings on a type of result to report and/or a manner in which to report the completion status.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the version of the software development project is a stream.

31. At least one computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out a method for coupling a software configuration management (SCM) application and at least one external software analysis process such that, on occurrence of an event relating to a version of a software development project managed by the SCM application, the SCM application can trigger the at least one software analysis process to analyze the version, the version being stored by the SCM application as a logical grouping of one or more software components included in the version and information relating to properties of the version, the method comprising:

(A) accepting first input from an administrator of the SCM application configuring a communications channel over which the SCM application will transmit information to the at least one external software analysis process;

(B) accepting second input from the administrator of the SCM application creating to a template for providing information to the at least one external software analysis process regarding an event associated with a version of a software development project managed by the SCM application;

(C) accepting third input from a user of the SCM application configuring an event handler to monitor for occurrence of at least one specific event associated with at least one specific version, the event handler being configured by populating the template with the third input specifying at least the at least one specific event and the at least one specific version;

(D) on occurrence of the at least one specific event, providing information regarding the specific version to the at least one external software analysis process over the communications channel without performing any action to configure the channel to provide the information; and

(E) notifying a user, via a user interface of the SCM application, of a completion status of the at least one external software analysis process.