Models and branches

Introduction to models and branches

When multiple developers or teams work on different features of an application, additional branches can be made within a model for these features. Each feature can be developed separately in its own branch. When completed, it can be combined (merged) back into the model's origin branch. This way, a new feature can be developed and tested independently from the rest of the model.

To fine-tune your development workflow, it is possible to create multiple branches for multiple features:

Branching example containing two feature branches, a hotfix branch, and a sub-feature branch

Overview of models and branches

menu Models > Model overview

• The Models tab contains a list of all models in the Software Factory development environment and allows you to create new models and branches.
• The Branches tab contains a list of the MAIN branch and all other branches of the selected model and allows you to add a new branch and modify the generic settings for these branches.
• The Quality dashboard tab gives an overview of the overall quality of the selected model.

Select a model and branch on start-up

Upon starting the Software Factory, you need to select the model or branch in which you want to work. By default, your most recent model and branch are selected. This can also be a model or branch you just created and continued working in.

If only one model and branch are available in the prefilters for My models/branches , the Software Factory will automatically start this model and branch. In that case, you can still switch to another model or branch.

See:

• Switch to another model or branch
• Add a model or branch to the 'My models/branches' prefilters
• Remove a model or branch from the 'My models/branches' prefilters.

Switch to another model or branch

To indicate which model and branch you are working in, a breadcrumb trail is available on every screen, displaying the model and branch.

Model/branch breadcrumb

If you want to work in another model or branch, it is possible to switch:

menu Models > Switch branch

1. Select a Model.
2. Select a Branch.

tip

If necessary, use the lookup to select a model or branch. If the model or branch you are looking for is not visible, deselect the My models/branches prefilter.

See also Add a model or branch to 'My models/branches' prefilter and Remove a model or branch from 'My models/branches' prefilter.

After switching to another model or branch, all open windows will be closed to prevent working in your previous model or branch.

The Software Factory keeps track of the model and branch you selected and will automatically select these again when you log in.

Add a model or branch to 'My models/branches' prefilter

It is possible to add models and branches to the My models/branches prefilter.

menu Models > Model overview > tab Models / tab Branches

1. If necessary, deselect the prefilter My models/branches . Now, all available models and branches are visible.
2. Select the model or branch you wish to add to the prefilter.
3. Execute the Add to 'My models/branches' task.
4. Reselect the prefilter My models/branches . Now, the model and branch you added are still visible.

Remove a model or branch from 'My models/branches' prefilter

It is possible to remove models and branches from the My models/branches prefilter.

menu Models > Model overview > tab Models / tab Branches

1. Select the model or branch you want to remove.
2. Execute the Remove from 'My models/branches' task.

Models

Create a new model with a MAIN branch

To create a model with a MAIN branch:

menu Models > Model overview > tab Models

1. Execute the Create model task.

2. Add a Model name and Description.

3. The first branch is added automatically with default name 'MAIN'. You can change it in the field Branch.

4. If necessary, change the RDBMS Type. The default is set in the menu Maintenance > Configuration.

5. Press Execute.

   Add a new model

   The following configuration settings are retrieved from the Default configuration (menu Maintenance > Configuration).

   • Company name.
   • Model folder specification.
   • Sub name group.

After creating the MAIN branch, a job will be scheduled automatically to generate its definition. You can view this job in the menu Maintenance > Jobs.

Model settings

After creating a new model, set more details:

menu Models > Model overview > tab Models > tab Model overview

1. Select whether the model is a Base model. If it needs to be linked to new models by default, select Def. base model. Only the MAIN branch of a base model is automatically linked to a new model.

   Base models are models that are only used by other models. A base model contains the necessary details for the correct operation of a model, a supplement, or an addition, such as a standard theme or default translations. Also, Thinkstore models can be used as a base model inside your work model. For more information, see the chapter Base model.

2. Select whether the model is a Work model.

   A new model usually is a work model since you are going to develop it. When you create a new work model, the Software Factory will automatically link default base models to it. Only base model branches without origin or default base models will be linked.

tip

To archive a model, deselect this checkbox. Then, it will no longer show in tasks for selecting a model or switching to another branch. It will also be hidden by prefilters on the screens.

3. The Notification email address is used for sending notifications to the development team about the start and finish of definition generation and source code generation. Make sure the notification settings are set in the Default configuration screen to receive emails.

Model settings

Switch to a newly created model or branch

After creating a new model or branch, answer the question if you want to switch to it. This prevents working in the wrong branch.

• If you choose to switch, all open documents will be closed, and your session will be updated to the new model or branch. The Model overview screen will be reopened automatically with the new model/branch combination as the selected row.
• If you do not switch, the Software Factory keeps all documents open in the context of the original model/branch combination. In addition, a new Model overview screen is opened with the new model/branch combination as the selected row.

To switch to the model or branch at a later moment, see Switch to another model or branch.

Start working in the new model or not

Rename a model

At the moment, it is not possible to rename a model or branch because that would cause a loss of history.

Export a model

It is possible to export your own work and base models. By exporting a model, you can share it between different environments. This is a fast and easy way to enrich your models.

Exporting a model only makes sense when it has a branch (a model without a branch is empty).

menu Models > Model overview > tab Models

1. Execute the Export model task.
2. Enter a Model and Branch name.
3. Click Execute.
4. Select a folder and, if necessary, change the name. The default name contains the date and time of the export, the model, and the branch name. Note that .dat is the only allowed extension for importing a model.
5. Click Save.

The entire model and branch will be compressed and exported, excluding trace columns and non-default runtime configurations. You can download it via the pop-up.

Import a model

It is possible to import a model into another model or even another Software Factory.

note

• You can only import a model into a model without a branch or into a new model that does not yet exist.
• You can only import a model into another Software Factory if the platform version is the same as the Software Factory from which the model was exported.

menu Models > Model overview > tab Models

1. Execute the Import model task .
2. Select the File path of the .dat file you wish to import.
3. If necessary, change the Model and Branch name.
4. Click Execute.

The model will be decompressed and imported. Trace columns will be filled with the user name 'Imported' and the current system date and time.

Branches

Create a new branch

A branch is created within a model. The origin is tagged with the current point in time, and the branch is copied from that point in time.

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab List

1. Execute the Create branch task.

2. Select the Origin branch you want to base your new branch on.

3. Select the point in time you want to base your new branch on:

   • Current point in time - Based on the current branch, as it is now.
   • Specific point in time - Based on an earlier point in time, for example, yesterday at 9 AM.
   • Select model version - Based on how the branch was at a certain point in time. See Model versions.

4. Enter a New branch name.

5. If necessary, select a folder (Branch folder) and the database (Branch database name).

Create a new branch

note

Only the creator of the branch has access to the active runtime configuration. All other users can activate the runtime configuration for this branch in the menu Maintenance > Users. Select the user, open the tab Runtime configurations, and find the corresponding runtime configuration.

Model versions overview and status

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Model versions

Column Status indicates the stage or environment of the branch.

The following statuses are available for model versions:

• Test - When the development phase is completed, the branch can be tested.
• Acceptance - During the acceptance phase, the users can become acquainted with the system and detect any final errors.
• Production - When the system is accepted, it is put into production. The branch can no longer be modified once it is put into production.

To make a model version available for upgrade logic, the checkbox Use upgrade logic and a Description are required. See Version specific upgrade scripts.

• The prefilter Named versions shows all model versions with a description.
• The prefilter Use upgrade logic shows all model versions where Use upgrade logic is checked.

Model versions

Rename a branch

Not available at the moment

At the moment, it is not possible to rename a model or branch because that would cause a loss of history.

To change the name of the branch, including all children:

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab List

1. Execute the Rename branch task.
2. Enter a new Branch name.
3. Click Execute.

Correct foreign key casing

Because incorrect casing may cause problems in the user interfaces or service tier, a task is available to correct the casing, if necessary.

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab List

1. Execute the Correct foreign key casing task.

Locate an invalid XML character

Some characters, such as the 0x0A linefeed character, can cause problems when serializing the model to XML. These (control) characters, which are often not displayed, can be located using this task.

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab List

1. Execute the Locate invalid XML character task.
2. Select the Model and Branch.

Retrieve the number of rows

It is possible to query the number of rows for all tables in an end-product database. This number is stored in the NO_OF_ROWS table tag and can be used to automatically enrich the model. For example, by changing the look-up control or screen type of an entity based on the number of rows in the database, to optimize the performance or user experience.

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab List

1. Execute the Retrieve number of rows task.

Revert a branch

In some situations, you may want to revert a branch:

• Without a merge session: if something went wrong in a branch and you want to make a fresh start, you can revert the branch to, for example, yesterday.
• After a merge session: when you completed a merge session and the result is undesired, you can undo the merge session by reverting the branch. For example, when resolved conflicts do not turn out as intended. When executing a merge session, two model versions will be created in the target branch to indicate the moments before and after.

Model versions, before and after a merge

Reverting a branch to an earlier point in time will simply undo any changes done to the model:

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab List / tab Model versions

1. Execute the task Revert branch .

2. If necessary, change the Model and Branch you wish to revert.

3. Select whether you want to revert to a Specific point in time or a Specific model version.

4. Select whether you want to revert to the branch immediately or review the changes first.

   Reviewing the changes first will take you to a merge session that shows all the actions that will be taken as if the reversal was initiated in a branch. This type of one-sided merge session will never have conflicts.

Revert a branch

Settings for a branch

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Form

• Status
  • Active - Select or deselect. A branch can be either active or inactive.
• Database storage location
  • Model folder specification - This is the location on disk that is used for temporarily storing program objects for the Functionality modeler, GUI theme exports, and the Deployer manifest. It should always be available to Indicium. Thinkwise advices to use a UNC path here.
• Data migration and upgrade
  • Source branch and Source model version - Shown here for informational purposes only. They can be changed in menu Data > Data migration > tab Tables with the Set source for data migration and upgrade task. They can also be changed in the Creation process, when generating the definition or executing all creation steps.
• Merging
  • Origin branch and Origin model version - Shown here for informational purposes only. They indicate from which branch and model version the specified branch originates. This information serves as input for a merge session when the specified branch is being merged again.

Model settings

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Model settings

• General
  • Multiple live versions - select to allow more model versions. By default, only one model version can have the status 'Production'.
• Task
  • Enable for empty subject - To enable the table task when no records are present on the screen. Adjusting this setting afterward will not change the existing rows. It will only affect the default value for new rows.
• Report
  • Enable for empty subject - To enable the table report when no records are present on the screen. Adjusting this setting afterward will not change the existing rows. It will only affect the default value for new rows.
• Data
  • Use domains - Enabled by default. When you disable it, all tables will use standard data types instead of the user-defined data types for the domains. Disable it when, for example, you wish to use SQL Data Synchronization to synchronize data between Azure databases since this tool cannot process user-defined data types. If you change this option, all tables need to be rebuilt. They will automatically be set to status 'changed' and added to the data conversion (and therefore to the upgrade script).

Platforms

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Platforms

Lists the available platforms (Windows, Web and Universal GUI) for this model and the default theme and menu per platform.

Application languages

In the Software Factory, languages can be set at different levels:

Setting
Thinkwise supported languages	Thinkwise supports a basic set of languages. New languages outside this set can be added in the Master data: Advanced menu (right-click on the Default menu): menu Master data > Model > Application languages Windows GUI Here, you can also set a flag icon, visible for the user when they select a language from the ribbon.
Application languages for a branch	For all Thinkwise-supported languages, a base model with GUI translations is available in: menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Base models - An overview of the languages in a branch is available in menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Application languages. - Translation objects are generated for all application-specific terms and need to be translated in every specified language. - To add a new language, link its corresponding base model. See chapter Base models. - All GUI labels and messages are added and translated for all linked Thinkwise-supported languages. - Translations for database errors and warnings are available in a base model for English, German, and Dutch (DB2_MSG_TRANSL, ORACLE_MSG_TRANSL, SQLSERVER_MSG_TRANSL). Each supported database platform contains their own errors. Only base models with the same database platform as the work model will be shown.
Fallback language	Universal GUI The fallback language is applied when a user uses a language that is not available for the application. The fallback language can replace the selected language when starting the application via IAM and when starting the application directly on the Software Factory. A language can, for example, be available if the application is started via IAM but not if it is started directly on the Software Factory. In that case, the fallback language is used in the Software Factory. - To set the fallback language for a branch: menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Model settings > tab Model settings - To set the default fallback language for a new model: menu Maintenance > Configuration
Login language	Global translations are used for the login process in web applications, when a user's identity and application language are not yet known: IAM > menu Settings > Global translations

File storage locations in the Software Factory

The Thinkwise Platform provides multiple options for storing files like documents and photos.

It is possible to deviate from the intitially configurated file storage location type. For example, the Software Factory writes its code files to disk (default) but this can be switched to AWS. Then, if a system flow contains a Write file connector using the reconfigured file storage, Indicium would write it to AWS S3.

note

File storage locations cannot be switched from or to storage type "Database".

For more information about the available file storage types, see File storage types.

• For each branch, you can set the initial file storage location in menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab File storage locations. Here, you can create or update the file storage locations used by your application.

• For each runtime configuration, the base file storage location can be configured in the Software Factory: menu Maintenance > Runtime configurations > tab File storage locations. For more information, see the Runtime configurations manual.

• The file storage location can be overridden in IAM: menu Authorization > Applications. See File storage location settings in IAM.

File storage - allowed extensions

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab File storage location > tab Extension whitelist

For each file storage location, it's possible to create a whitelist with allowed file extensions. This list can be used to limit the file types that can be uploaded.

Whitelist for allowed extensions in file storage

OAuth servers

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab OAuth servers

OAuth 2.0 is the industry-standard protocol for authorization. It can be used to connect to other applications like Google, Facebook, Github, etc.

The OAuth servers that are created here, can be used in process flows to create a secure connection for HTTP-connectors to use.

1. In the Options group, you can specify the following settings:

   • Client - The public Client ID.
   • Client secret - A string used by the OAuth client to authenticate to the authorization server. It is essentially the application’s password and must be sufficiently random.

2. The settings in the User login group are only for the OAuth user login connector that uses this server:

   • Request refresh token - Request an additional token to allow refreshing the access token when it expires.
   • Prompt - Specifies how the user is prompted for authentication:
     • Consent - opens a consent dialog after the user signs in, asking the user to grant permissions.
     • Login - forces the user to enter their credentials, negating single-sign on.
     • Select account - sends the user to an account picker where all accounts remembered in the session will appear.
     • None - does not present any interactive prompt to the user. If the request cannot be completed silently via single-sign-on, an error is returned.

Override OAuth server settings

• To override these settings for development or testing purposes in the runtime configuration: menu Maintenance > Runtime configurations > tab OAuth servers.
• To override these settings in IAM: menu Authorization > Applications > tab OAuth server configurations.

Database storage locations

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Database storage locations

For SQL Server, the file locations for the database can be set here. When empty, the default server settings are used. For more information, see Database files and filegroups.

Printers

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Printers

Here, you can configure and edit the available printers.

Base models

Base models are models that are only used by other models. A base model contains details that are necessary for the correct operation of a model, a supplement or an addition, such as a standard theme or default translations. Also, Thinkstore models can be used as a base model inside your work model.

• To create a base model, see chapter Create a new model with a MAIN branch.
• For more information about base models for languages, see chapter Application languages.

You can link only one branch of a base model to a branch of a work model.

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Base models

This tab provides an overview of all base models and whether they are linked to this branch or not. If necessary, use prefilter Linked to view only the linked base models.

To link a branch of a base model to a branch of a work model:

1. Select the base model.

2. Execute task Link base model .

   note

   If you do not want to use the current MAIN branch, execute task Select a previous branch .

   When you link a base model branch to a work model branch, it needs to be generated to obtain the model of the base branch.

3. To generate the definition immediately, reply Yes to the question "Do you want to generate the definition for model [MODEL NAME] > [BRANCH NAME] immediately?". You can also reply No, link other base model branches, and generate the definition after the last one with task Generate definition .

More tasks are available:

• Unlink base model - To unlink a base model branch from a work model branch. Note that components of the base model will be removed from the work model during generation. Only components that are no longer in use are removed. It might take multiple generations before all components are cleaned up.

caution

Never unlink the base model SQLSERVER_MODEL_INFO from a work model. This base model is required for versioning when creating and upgrading code files.

• Merge base models into work models - To import the base models for the selected work model without generating. This is an expert function that can be used for testing new features from a base model in a work model.

Runtime configurations

It is possible to use different file storage locations for different runtime configurations. This allows you to, for instance, specify different locations for your development, test, acceptance and production environments. For more information, see runtime configurations.

Model versions

menu Models > Model overview > tab Branches > tab Model versions

A branch can be tagged as a model version at a certain point in time. This model version can be used for upgrades or branching and merging.

Quality dashboard

menu Models > Model overview > tab Quality dashboard

Here you can monitor the quality of this model. For more information, see: Quality dashboard.