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GxTend in Depth: Productivity Tools

In Depth Tools is one of the four modules that form the set of features of GxTend, the full web tools suite that permits to manage software development projects.

The objective of the Productivity Tools Module is to facilitate daily tasks, which take much time and work when done manually, for the developer or project manager.

Through a full Web GxTend interface it permits to navigate through the Knowledge Base (KB) knowledge in a friendly and simple way, providing a comprehensive view of the project. This comprehensive view is provided by search, display and comparison operations, both at KB and at object level. It enables quick and intuitive access to the application knowledge, and through a powerful selection criteria, it allows to obtain reports, metrics graphics and to compare different knowledge basis.

The search engine provides easy access to knowledge. For example, it permits to use regular expressions to screen by name, or to use information such as date range, type of object, etc. in a combined way. It is also possible to search by text contents of the object.

These features have been designed taking into consideration the day to day difficulties faced by developers when locating an object or a set of objects, and when trying to identify differences between the KBs, when errors are detected, "... but, it was OK on Friday". It also takes into account those who want higher control on their KB, to visualize clearly how objects have been modified through metrics and reports.

With this set of tools it is now possible to optimize work time and to obtain a higher quality product.

In addition to permitting intuitive navigation of the KB, users are enabled to select any object and open a full view of the same.

Using the abovementioned criteria, GxTend permits to obtain a list of objects with differences in two GeneXus KBs. It is possible to compare the whole KB or just a subset of objects. Additionally, it is possible to compare revisions (a concept we will develop in coming articles), that is, snapshots of the application knowledge.

This figure shows two selected objects that will be compared using GxComparer, recently launched by ARTech.

It is also possible to compare domain attributes and the structure of the database itself.

This is just a brief summary of the productivity tools module. In our next issue we will look at the Version and Traceability module of GxTend and show the comprehensive view of the project over time.

GxTend: http://gxtend.accendo-it.com

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GxTend: Software Configuration Management
Change Management in GeneXus Projects
GxTend in Detail: Versioning and Traceability
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