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I am using IBM Rational Clear Case. Due the current world wide health situation, I am forced to work from home.

The best way and may be the only one, when using Visual Studio, is working with a Web View (Please correct me if there is a better way) - I assume this is called CCRC (Clear Case Remote Client). It is similar to a Snapshot View but without constant connection to the Clear Case server at work (This statement is not entirely correct).

When working with a snapshot view or for that matter with a dynamic view, I can change the setting to use Beyond Compare as the tool used for merge and compare in Clear Case.

Now for my questions:

1) Is there a way to do this also for ClearTeam Expolrer, which is where I control and manage my web view?

2) Any other workaround to use Beyond Compare with a web view?

Juv
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  • Added the CCRC (Clear Case Remote Clients) term - which is probably a better definition for what I called: Web View. – Juv Apr 13 '20 at 12:38

2 Answers2

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I found the answer on IBM support page: Changing the Diff/merge Type Manager in CCRC 7.1.1 and later. Where it is explained how to change this setting in the ClearTeam Explorer.

The description do not exactly match my version of Clear Case (9.0.1.07) :

  1. In CCRC 7.1, go to the menu

    Window > Preferences > ClearCase Remote Client > Integration > Compare Merge > Manage Providers

    Blockquote

Should probably be:

  1. In ClearTeam Explorer, go to the menu

    Window > Preferences > IBM Rational ClearTeam Explorer > Integration > Compare Merge > Manage

    enter image description here

In addition the following is probably valid for kdiff3.exe:

  1. Choose 'Supports Compare Operations'

    Fill in the arguments for compare:

    %contribs% -fname "%filename1%" -fname "%filename2%"

  2. Choose 'Supports Merge Operations'

    Fill in the arguments for merge: %contribs% -o %merge_out%

On Scooter Software site I actually found the correct arguments.

These are the modification for Beyond Compare:

  1. Choose 'Supports Compare Operations'

    Fill in the arguments for compare:

    %contribs% /vcs1="%filename1%" /vcs2="%filename2%"

  2. Choose 'Supports Merge Operations'

    Fill in the arguments for merge:

    %contrib1% %contrib2% %base% /mergeoutput="%merge_out%"

My Settings example:

enter image description here

  • Make sure to write BComp.exe and not BCompare.exe. Because of that, I had a problem opening the compare more than once.

And:

You need to select beyond compare and Apply the changes

Doing the instruction recommended by IBM and Scooter Software did the trick and I could compare my code:

enter image description here

Juv
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  • !!! The IBM answer is general for any compare and merge tool, I am looking for the exact parameters to support Beyond Compare. – Juv Apr 13 '20 at 15:11
  • @VonC I completed my answer, thank you very much. Upvoted your links. – Juv Apr 13 '20 at 20:42
  • Fixed the answer. By mistake I used `BCompare.exe` instead of `BComp.exe` - Because of that, I had a problem doing compare more than once, without closing the BeyondCompare app. Using the 'BComp.exe' solved this issue. – Juv Jun 03 '20 at 01:50
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    OK. I have also read https://stackoverflow.com/questions/62163602/beyond-compare-integration-with-clearteam-explorer-ccrc-only-one-compare-at/62163603#62163603 – VonC Jun 03 '20 at 05:26
  • @VonC, After fixing this answer, I deleted that question, as there is no point in having it. – Juv Jun 03 '20 at 07:16
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Using a web view is a good option, unless you can use directly snapshot views, as I explained here (CC8+)

In both cases (web view or snapshot view), the goal is to have the files copied on your local disk, to avoid network latency.

The problem is: ClearTeam Explorer does not come with a mgrs/map file to modify for you to declare your own diff tool (be it Beyond Compare or WinMerge)

So I used to get two web views:

  • one set to a fixed label
  • one for working

That way, I could diff between the two separate view folders.

VonC
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  • Thanks for your answer, I have found the answer on IBM Support page - may be I should have done a better research work before posting my question. Still the page is old so I added here the correction. As for you idea with two sets of views, is a good one! (also for other purposes - especially when there is no connection to the server). – Juv Apr 13 '20 at 13:43
  • OK the solution proposed by IBM is somewhat problematic I need to do some more checks on it. Currently for some reason the path is incorrect, e.g.: **C:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\RationalSDLC\clearcase\RemoteClient**_\ProjName.vcxproj@@HIJACKED_ – Juv Apr 13 '20 at 14:07