What is a Release Template?

A release template defines or modifies the rules by which baselined items are selected for inclusion in a release to an operating system directory.

The set of rules specifies:

- Which parts of the product structure are to be included.

- Which item types are to be included.

- How the selected items are to be structured in the operating system release directory.

For an overview of releases, see Releases.

A release template:

- Defines a set of user-defined rules or criteria by which baselined design parts are selected for inclusion in a release. This rule is then applied to that design part and also to any subordinate to it in the design-structure tree, unless and until another rule specifies any such subordinate design part, in which case that other rule overrides for that sub-tree, and so on. Alternatively, a rule may be applied to ALL design parts of the product.

  If asterisk (*) is specified as the design part, then the rule will be applied to all design parts for which no specific item type rule exists i.e. "select all". The definition of a default rule in a template ensures that all design parts within a baselined structure are considered for inclusion in the release.

- Defines a set of user-defined rules or criteria by which baselined items are selected for inclusion in a release.

  If asterisk (*) is specified as the item type, then the rule will be applied to all items for which no specific item type rule exists i.e. "select all". The definition of a default rule in a template ensures that all items within a baselined structure are considered for inclusion in the release.

  If hyphen (-) is specified as the item type, then the rule will be applied to no items (this is used to inhibit the selection of items for some sub-tree of the design part structure).

- (Optional) Specifies operating system subdirectories to be added to the release pathname specified by users (directory into which the above are to be copied). The subdirectory must be a relative format (such as xxx/yyy UNIX or xxx\yyy Windows). If a subdirectory is specified, the items of all types specified by the rule, for all design parts selected by the rule, are placed in the subdirectory with the leaf node portion of their project filename. If a subdirectory is not specified, the items' project filenames will be used, relative to the operating system release directory the user requests for the release.

  Any operating system directories or subdirectories which do not exist, Dimensions CM creates as and when they are needed (subject to the user having the necessary operating system file access rights for such directory creation).

  The objective of subdirectories is to simplify subsequent handling of the release data. For example, a release template can be used to specify that executable code, source code modules, user documentation, and system specification documents are each to be grouped in different subdirectories. You can include one item a number of times in a release, provided each copy is assigned to a different subdirectory.

- (Optional) In support of the above operations, to assign a database-unique "group name" to a number of otherwise unrelated item types. The group name may then be specified in a template rule, bringing all the associated item types within the scope of that rule.

Release templates are defined using the Administration Console Baseline and Release Templates function.

NOTE All release template rules apply only to the items selected by the baseline specified for a release. If a release template is not used, all the items in the baseline are placed in a single release directory, their project filenames being used relative to the operating system release directory the user requests for the release.

Different release templates may be used with the same baseline to create a number of different release configurations, for example, test configurations of subsystems, or to make available different groups of items, for example, user documentation.

Where appropriate, the same release template may be used:

- In creating different releases of the same configuration.

- In conjunction with different baselines and for different products.

Related Topics

About Item Baseline Template Selection Criteria

About Request Baseline Template Selection Criteria

About Release Template Selection Criteria