What percentage of our windows are mandated to use safety glass?
With a change in the overall cost for safety glass this may be one of the questions asked at the board level. You may now be tasked to provide some quick data analysis. Cradle provides a metrics module which can provide a range of data analysis options.
In this case, applying the coverage metric to the windows in the database, it can be seen that 25% of the windows in the range mandate safety glass. A further 62.5% have it as an option. Therefore, from a costing point of view, the firm must revisit the pricing of a quarter of their range. Additional work will be needed for those customer or location based offerings.
Simple Metrics – Illustrating quick data analysis
Why windows? We produce biological markers for flu viruses!
For illustration, hopefully this is a simple topic understandable by all. It is an example of quick data analysis. With such a diverse range of customers and industries, it would not be possible to pick a universal example. Metrics that find mean or highest values would not make sense for the above pick-list values, but would be really useful for analysing test results. Read on to discover the full range of metric options in Cradle’s data analysis.
Work through the following checklist as setting up the ldap_config file to match your LDAP settings can be difficult:
Enable the trace log by setting the LDAP_TRACE attribute to TRUE in the ldap_config file. The ldap_trace.log file is written to a file in the logs/user directory this can be used to diagnose your problem.
Enabling tracing in the ldap_config file
If you are using Windows® Active Directory, run the Active Directory Users and Computers browser from the Windows Domain Controller and check what the DN (Distinguished Name) is for the domain. From this browser you can also find out where the users are stored.
On other LDAP servers, use the setup tool for the LDAP server to find out the correct DN and user areas.
Check the correct Protocol is being used.
Check that the correct level in the LDAP directory structure is being used as the BIND_DN and also that the correct BIND_PASSWD is being used.
If the LDAP server is running securely, is the ldap_config file setup correctly?
To test that you are connecting to the LDAP server correctly without checking the user authentication, set AUTO_LDAP_LOGIN from TRUE to FALSE. This would help to show where the problem is, i.e. either an issue with the connection to the LDAP server or whether there is a problem searching the correct user location on the LDAP server.
LDAP verification will not succeed if the user’s LDAP structure contains multiple UIDs, e.g. if you have UID=manager and UID=yourname.
If you are failing to login and you receive an LDAP message confirming the password or username could be incorrect but the LDAP response message is blank then it is likely you have a case match issue with the entered username and the username returned from LDAP, and Cradle is rejecting the entered username. To resolve this issue you can set the UID_IGNORE_CASE to true.
For further information on LDAP see our previous blog entry or for more on Cradle integration with LDAP please refer to our online help.
When using the Cradle Configuration Management System (CMS) you may come across the ‘Item Not Completed‘ message.
Item Not Completed Dialog
This happens when a Draft item associated with a Change Task gets deleted. As a result, the lack of the deleted Draft item, means the Change Task cannot be completed and the item cannot be added to a new baseline.
If you have an item stuck in a Change Task, fear not, there is a solution!
Resolving the ‘Item Not Completed’ Warning
To resolve the issue where an item is ‘stuck’ in a Change Task, perform the following steps:
Open Project Setup and make sure the ‘Disable copying of baseline items‘ option is unchecked.
Disable Copying of Baselined Items in Project Setup
In a query select the item shown in the ‘Item Not Completed‘ dialog. From the right-click context menu select ‘Copy‘ and create a new Draft of the ‘stuck’ item.
Submit, Review, Register the newly created Draft item as necessary until it is in a Baseline, then close the Baseline.
The ‘Item Not Completed‘ message should no longer show and it should now be possible to Complete the Change Task.
If required, re-enable the ‘Disable copying of baseline items‘ option in Project Setup which was disabled in step 1.
Wherever you are in the universe, as Douglas Adams wrote, “Don’t Panic”. We all like a bit of comfort and security, and if that means taking a towel with you that’s fine.
Happy Towel Day 2017
However, if you would like the comfort and security knowing you requirements and designs are fully covered, and traceable, may we suggest Cradle might be better?
One or more requirements or system notes can be merged into either a new item or an existing item. Merging items combines their frames, concatenating frames that appear in two or more of the source items. Cross references are created between the requirements being merged and the merged result.
You can control the effect on the item’s key, origin, reference and category codes. The merged item can be cross referenced to everything that the sources were, as well as to the sources themselves. The source requirements can be deleted after the merge (if you have read-write access to them) if required.
When multiple items are merged, conflicts arise when their components differ. Fields in the Item Merge dialog with a blue border show conflicts between the selected items. The Options section in this dialog helps define how such conflicts can be resolved.
Item Merge dialog
Click here to see the steps on how to merge your requirements/system notes.
Would you like to save the state of your WorkBench environment so you can restore to this state again?
If you do, try using WorkBench sessions. You can use a session to save the state of your WorkBench environment so you can return to the same point each time you login by choosing the required session from the Login dialog.
What is a Session?
Sessions store information about your WorkBenchenvironment, such as:
Current project
Currently set navigation in the primary WorkBench window
Current window dimensions
Currently opened definitions (only if saved definitions)
Currently set navigation for each query pane
Saving a WorkBench session preserves the size and position of the main screen and which queries are active. Then next time you login to WorkBench you can choose the session to use.
How can I Save WorkBench Sessions?
To save a session select Save or Save As from the WorkBench Window tab. You can then enter a name for the session before confirming.
How can I Restore WorkBench Sessions?
To restore a session select Reload from the Window tab. Once you confirm the session is restored to how it was when you logged in initially.
How to Select a Session on Login
From the Login dialog there is a Session menu. From here you can choose the session you want to use when you login.
Want to ensure the files you have downloaded are the original files published by 3SL?
On our website as well as being able to download the Cradle software we supply two text files. These files contain checksums, which are used to ensure the integrity of a file after it has been transmitted from one storage device to another.
Checksums available on 3SL website
SHA512.txt
This file contains SHA512 checksums for the files. You can generate a SHA512 checksum using the sha512sum command. For example:
sha512sum Cradle72_Setup.exe
Compare the output to the contents of the sha512.txt file.
SHA512 Integrity Checksum on Windows
MD5.txt
This file contains MD5 checksums for the files. You can generate a MD5 checksum using the md5sum command. For example:
md5sum Cradle72_Setup.tar.gz
Compare the output to the contents of the md5.txt file. The md5sum utility is available for Windows from various websites on the Internet.
The short answer is yes you can reset an item’s auto numbering. The more complex answer is a word of caution. Firstly to reset the auto number for an item you need ACCESS_BYPASS, or PROJECT project privileges. This is to prevent any accidental operations by a user. Secondly you should ensure you understand the issue you are trying to resolve and the consequences of resetting in a live database.
Item Numbering
Every item in the database has a unique identity made from a combination of attributes. These usually include the Identity,Version and Draft. Model based information includes the Domain and MUID. The identity can be manually entered or automatically filled. There are benefits to both. For example; if your customer sent you a set of user requirements in a CSV file, you would want to retain whatever ID system they had used UF1.45 to UF6.78 having a Cradle Auto ID and then having to place their ID in the Name field would make little sense. On the other hand when raising a new Issue, you’d expect them to be sequentially numbered without having to find the previous item and mentally add ‘1’ and type into a field.
When Values Need Resetting
In the case where a batch of items have been imported or created, but whilst at draft a decision has been made that none of them are required, or are fundamentally wrong, they would normally be deleted. The next item to be created would then have an auto number of say “Res-103” which may not be appropriate. In this case resetting the count for the “Result” item type makes sense.
When Values Need Setting
It is possible that batches of requirements come in from various sources, it may be convenient to start each batch at a ‘nice’ number point “Reference-1 … Reference-560” and then “Reference-1000 … Reference-1304“. In this case setting the number by advancing the count would be appropriate. If new versions of the item were brought in by import expecting to overwrite the old ones, and the user forgot to mark “Ignore project’s current auto numbering” you would end up with two versions of the item. In that case 1..n and n+1..2n+1, deleting items n+1..2n+1 and choosing “Set Highest” would return the database to the point before the mistake.
When Caution Should be Exercised
Once the items are stored in the database, their Identities should remain fixed. Creating a new version of an item would normally involve the original version being baselined, a Change Requestbeing raised and a Change Task being issued to allow the work to create the next draft version of the item. In this case the identity remains the same but the two versions of the item are unique by their Version and Draft. Changing the auto number when there are items in the database and then creating new items of that type would cause conflict with items already stored. This is not a desirable effect. Therefore, the message is be careful, this feature is necessary and useful in some cases but incorrect use could have undesirable side-effects.
This feature provides the ability for Cradle to authenticate a user against an LDAP server instead of passwords held in Cradle user accounts within a Cradle project database.
Used to look up user login information from a server
Avoids the need for user to enter username and password entry when launching the tools
LDAP is an optional part of Cradle that you can enable or not (disabled by default)
Supported by all Cradle tools
Login dialog showing LDAP being used
Cradle supports two methods of LDAP authentication:
The first for systems where the username can be inferred from network username and the second for systems where the username can not be inferred from the network username.
Force Network Login Name
The first method assumes that Cradle username is to be inferred from the current network username (Force Network LoginName). A user authenticates against LDAP when they login to the network by supplying a network username and a network password.
This method is to allow a user to login to a Cradle project without specifying a username or password. In this situation, the users are already authenticated to their desktop or Citrix environment and we do not require them to login again with a username and password to gain access to Cradle. So, provided that a user has logged-in to their desktop or Citrix environment and they have a User Profile in a Cradle project, the users will be able to login to Cradle without supplying a username or password.
Username/Password validated via LDAP server
The second method allows users to enter username and password to be validated via LDAP server. A user authenticates against LDAP when they login to the Cradle tools, by supplying a username and password.
LDAP control with ldap_config
Contained within the ldap_config file is an attribute called AUTO_LDAP_LOGIN
If AUTO_LDAP_LOGIN is TRUE then Force Network Login Name method is used (login with current network username) If AUTO_LDAP_LOGIN is FALSE then Username/Password validated via LDAP server is is used (allows users to enter LDAP username and password)
For more information on how to setup Cradle to intergrate/interact with your LDAP server please refer to the online help section.
The aim of World Telecommunications Day is to highlight the importance of communication and how information travels across the world.
The day is closely connected with the International Telegraph Union (ITU), the committee formed in 1865 to handle the emerging technologies.
We’re celebrating Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency signalling (DTMF). This is in-band signal alongside the normal voice data, between equipment and other devices and usually at the exchange. DTMF was first developed in the Bell System.
DSDs are a graphical alternative to the composition specifications in data definitions. In our model of the DTMF, the signal is shown comprising of the Low Tone and the High Tone. These are made up of the individual optional low and high tone components.
If you want a teaser for World Telecommunications Day 2017, why is the 1633Hz frequency not shown?
