Promoting Files

Promoting a file is the process of moving a particular revision of the file from one stage of the development process to the next. For example, when a developer is happy with a file and it is ready for testing, they would promote that particular version of the file to the Testing promotion level. The person responsible for testing would then refresh all files at the Testing promotion level and run the tests. Meanwhile, the developer could continue modifications to that file.

Using Promotional Modeling is a method of guaranteeing that all files involved in a particular release go through certain predefined steps in the development process.

To promote file(s) to the next level in the promotional hierarchy, select the relevant objects in Version Manager and select Action/Promote to <xxx>, where <xxx> is the next higher promotion level.

Before the files are promoted you will be presented with the following dialog box to allow you to review the selection criteria applied to the files you are promoting:

In particular, the current View (if any) is displayed along with the selection criteria that that view defines. If you are happy with the criteria, pressing the OK button will promote all selected files to the next promotion level.

In order to promote files from one promotion level to the next, you must have defined and selected a View based on the promotion level below the one you want to promote to. With this view active, selecting Action / Promote to <xxx> will promote the selected files to the next higher level:

If you need to make changes to a revision of a file that is at a particular promotion level, for example to fix a bug reported by QA, you need to re-promote the fixed files through the relevant promotion levels.

The concept of Views and Promotion Levels can be difficult to grasp so are best described using examples. Real-world examples of how Views and Promotion Levels can be used can be found in the Scenarios section of this manual.

See also: Scenario 7