Posted on

Can I customise UI to show my most used commands?

Easy Customisation Using Cradle Start-Pages

Yes you can customise the front end UI shown to users.  The simplest way to  customise most used commands, is add them to a Start Page. The example below places a company logo, and the three most used queries on the start page. These are considered the most used actions by the company and therefore, they want them easily accessible when the tool starts. The links are customised to run the specific queries needed most.

Additionally an “Admin” section has been added to get at the User Preferences and Project Schema Setup. This could normally be shown collapsed or ‘rolled up’ as this is less frequently used.

Screen shot of a Cradle-RM Desktop edition with customised start page
Customised Start Page

This is the most basic of examples, set so everyone in the project sees the same page when they start up. However, in large teams, start pages can be customised to the Cradle user, personal, team or user type. The selection of page is set in the User Preferences.

Project Phases

In an enterprise environment the company process may be more tightly defined. Customisation of the flow through the project lifecycle would be better represented as groups of actions in the Phase sidebar.

Cradle 7.4 Start Page Enhancement

It is now possible to copy panels and entries and to refresh your list of queries.

When you insert an entry into a start page, the newly created entry is created beneath the selected one, rather than at the bottom of the list. You also have the option to copy start page panels and start page entries.

When creating start pages, it is possible to add queries. If you found there was a query missing that you needed, and you or a colleague created it, it is not automatically added to the cached list in the start page setup. Clicking the  Refresh icon will now relist all the available queries.

Start Page query refresh
Query list refresh button

For more information on Start Pages click here

Updated 09/08/2018 – Cradle 7.4 Enhancement
Posted on

Can I See, Who is Using What and Where?

Report on Who and Where.

It is easy to see who, using what, where from the Users report in Project Manager.  This details the host system user name, their Cradle login name and the project they are connected to.

Why is there an Executing Client and Display Client shown?

These would show different values if your system is set to have the executable running on one machine with the UI redirected to another. For example a Windows® user may remotely log on to a Linux® machine, and start WorkBench, viewing the output on a Windows X terminal emulation.  The machine running the Cradle Database Server may be a third machine.

User report from Project Manager showing users and licences
User Report

Additional brief information detailing which module licences they currently have in use is also given. For full details on the licence usage users would run the Licence Usage report.

Posted on

URL to Launch WorkBench/Web Access Open Item/Query

Can You Specify a URL For a Cradle Item?

If you need to create a text ‘link’ or ‘URL’ to enable directly starting Cradle WorkBench or WebAccess and opening a particular item you can. The link shared, say by being pasted into an email or a Microsoft® Word document.

Creating the Uniform Resource Locator

This can be done from the item itself within WorkBench. Use the ‘Cradle URL’ button on the Tools menu on the ribbon, or on the command line with the c_url utility.

Dialog for Cradle URL creation
Cradle URL

You have an option to create a URL to open in WorkBench or Web Access.  You can optionally include the username that you want to use to connect.

A URI scheme defines the structure of  your Uniform Resource Locator.

cradle:[username][:password][;AUTH=authentication]@project[:access][?action&params…]

This gives a few more options on how the link will behave. For an item you can specify the ‘Form’ for a Query you can specify the ‘View’

Open your URL

Copying and pasting the created link into a browser, will launch the appropriate application. If opening a WorkBench URL you may need to ‘Allow’ your browser to open it. If given the option you may need to select the file ? rather than the search ? option. Then enter your login details.

Et Voilà!

Cradle WorkBench or WebAccess will be displaying your query or item.

Posted on

Running a Spell Checker

Nott Shoor of the Spelling?!

Items in a database can have many different fields, some or all of which may need their spelling checked. On Cradle installations with Tool Suite the Spellchecker tool can check items that are returned by a query.

  1. Launch Spellchecker, and login. (This can be done by launching the standalone application or selecting it from the Tools menu in WorkBench)
  2. Choose the query you want to run
  3. Check which attributes are required to be checked
  4. Run the checks and correct any errors.

Note: Locked items can not be checked.

Posted on

What can you get for 249* New Pound Coins?

Starting from £249* for Cradle‐RM Desktop

There are a number of versions of the Cradle single user licence. All the same great product suite, just with different parts enabled. If you have 249* new pound coins you could get your requirements into shape. The new pound coin  was introduced on 28th March 2017. Follow information about it, and other money facts, with the Royal Mint. (#NewPoundCoin) 3SL are quite happy to accept the old coins up until the 15th October 2017. With a little more, your requirements and end to end processing with the Pro version.  Add on further and get the system engineering version, which includes modelling.

New pound coins and vopy or Cradle-RM Desktop
Cradle-RM Desktop Version 7.2

Where Cradle really comes into its own is with the Enterprise version. Licences are tailored depending on the number of users and which functions they need to access. Contact us to discuss your requirements. * Price  March 2017 for up to date prices visit the shop.  

Update:

Sept 2017 – Only a month left

Countdown with a month to go – The legal tender status of the round £1 coin will be withdrawn at midnight on Sunday 15th October 2017.

Posted on

Multiple Data Cells – Preserve Line Breaks

Lots of Data in a Small Space

The purpose of Multiple Data Cells in a view is to allow more data to be consolidated in one place. It might me that a reference number is made up from categories storing ‘Part‘, ‘Sub-Part‘ and ‘Version‘. This may need to be formatted in a cell as part:sub-part/version. This can be achieved by setting the format of a multiple data cell in the Cradle view.

This image shows the TEST STATUS:TEST TYPE and Text from the test being combined in one cell.

Showing the difference between preserved and non preserved line breaks
Multiple Cell – Preserve Line Breaks

New Cradle-7.2 View Feature

Initially the cell string was formed by combining the text from single line entries from categories, the group, description and possibly piece of text from a frame. Customers have found the multiple data cell useful and have been combining data from frames with multiple lines.  Whilst the drive is still to show as much data in a combined block, those using, say lists as in the example shown, found that the removal of line breaks in the display altered what was being conveyed. It is now, therefore, possible to select the ‘Preserve line breaks’ option in the ‘Multiple Data Cell Setup’, ‘Edit Attribute’ dialog.

Posted on

Dashboard Dials – In Style

Traditional KPIs in a Dashboard

Cradle has supported KPIs being shown in the sidebar of WorkBench or Web Access for a number of years. This gives a quick overview of the health of the project. It’s giving a rating for each of the measurements and coloured highlighting to draw attention to those areas that need further input.

Showing the KPIs in a traditional dashboard table in sidebar
Traditional Dashboard

Due to its compactness, this table style allows many KPIs to be shown in a small space. However, one of the limitations with this approach is that the scale of the measurement and the relative position of the current value are not immediately obvious.

Bring on the Dials

A dial on the other-hand can display the full range, and the relative position. This allows a much faster assimilation of the data being shown to the user.

showing different sizes for dashboard dials
Dashboard Dial Sizes

New Cradle 7.2 Dashboard Dials Feature

Cradle’s dashboard dials are available in a number of sizes, thus allowing more important dials to be clearly seen. The size is set per dial as:

  • Large
  • Medium
  • Small
  • Minimal

There are also a number of styles available for the dashboard as a whole:

  • Round 270°
  • Round 180°
  • Round 140°
  • Text

These can be displayed with the following pointer types:

  • None
  • Triangle
  • Stick
  • Needle
  • Coloured
showing the different dial and pointer styles
Dashboard Styles

It’s also possible to print these dials to the standard Cradle outputs:

  • SVG (for display in a browser),
  • RTF (for display in Microsoft® Word and similar),
  • PostScript®
  • PowerPoint®
  • EPS
  • FrameMaker®
  • HPGL
Showing an rtf version of the dashboard dials
Dashboard RTF Output
Posted on

Import Overwrite Options When Loading from CSV, TSV or Excel

Cradle can import data from external files in different formats. One of the most common formats is CSV / TSV (comma separated value and tab separated value). When data is imported from CSV / TSV files, you can choose different import overwrite options. The option that you choose will control whether your data is imported and, if it is imported, which existing data in your database will be kept, or replaced by data from the import file.

Items and Attributes

To explain these options, let’s use a simple picture to represent an item and the attributes inside it:

Cradle item and attributes
An Item With Some Attributes

Example

Lets say in your Cradle database you have an item with the following attributes:

item in Cradle database
A Cradle Database Item with Some Attributes Set

meaning that the item in the database has values set in the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th attributes.

In a spreadsheet you have a row with data in columns corresponding to the 1st, 2nd and 5th attributes of the item in the database:

item in import file
An Item in an Import File with Some Attributes Set

Import Overwrite Options

Option A – Overwrite On

If Overwrite is On then, for each row in the spreadsheet or each record in the CSV / TSV file, Cradle will find the work-in-progress item (if any) and delete everything inside it, and completely replace the contents of the work-in progress item with the data from that record or spreadsheet row.

You would get the following result:

import overwrite options set on in Cradle requirement management software
Import Overwrite Options – On

As you can see, only the data from the file or spreadsheet (the yellow cells) are now in the item, all previous attributes (the blue cells) are now gone.

Option B – Overwrite Off

If Overwrite is Off then if there is an item in the database for the record in the CSV / TSV file, or row in the spreadsheet, no import will occur. If there is no item in the database for the record or row, then the result is the same as Overwrite set to On.

Option C – Overwrite Merge

This is the more interesting case!

If Overwrite is Merge then, for each row in the spreadsheet or record in the CSV / TSV file, Cradle will find the work-in-progress item (if any) and replace the attributes of that item with the columns from that row in the spreadsheet (or field i the CSV / TSV file) so any attributes in the item that have not been mapped to a column in the spreadsheet row (or field in the CSV / TSV file) will be left alone.

So the attributes that already exist in the item in the database and the attributes in the spreadsheet row or file record are merged:

import overwrite options set on in Cradle system engineering software
Import Overwrite Options – Merge

You would get the following result:

import overwrite options set on in Cradle system engineering software
Import Overwrite Options – Merge

Attributes in the spreadsheet row or file record have been loaded into the item. All other attributes in the item have not been changed.

Summary

Setting Overwrite to Merge is useful to add data to database items from an external CSV / TSV file or Excel spreadsheet. Any attributes not in the external file are not affected by the import.

To get more help importing information into Cradle, explore the Cradle help here.

Posted on

Find and Replace

Database Level Searching

Most people are familiar with a ‘find and replace’ function in a word processor document. However, when you have thousands of items in a database, it’s not very easy to open each one and search through for the replacement term. You could run a query, but then you’d still need to know which attribute of the item the query should match.

Allowing the search to take place at the database level ensures that the items are found that contain the term. Rather than just ‘finding’ in the visible text on the screen.

Shows dialog for find and replace within selected items
Find and Replace in Selected Items

New Cradle-7.2 Find & Replace Feature

If items are visible as the result of running a query, for example, it is possible to select all those items and perform the find and replace within the attributes of those items.

Clicking each item in the left hand column of the dialog will show the attribute in the right hand part of the dialog that matches.

The user can optionally double click the ‘Yes’ in the ‘Replace’ column to prevent this substitution occurring.

Alternatively users can select a query to run to source the items in which replace will occur.  In both cases a report to detail which items were changed can be printed by checking the box at the bottom of the dialog.

Find and replace result report
Find and Replace Results
Posted on

Digital Certificates in Cradle System Engineering Tool

Starting with the Cradle-7.2 release, we have included digital certificates in the executables in the Cradle system engineering tool distribution for Windows, including the Cradle installer itself.

Digital Certificates

Like a passport or a driver’s licence, digital certificates are issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) to provide proof of identity, in this case for verifying the identity of online entities. However, instead of containing a photograph and the signature of the certificate’s owner, a digital certificate binds the owner’s public key to the owner’s private key.

3SL (our full company name is Structured Software Systems Limited) has obtained a digital certificate from the CA Symantec that we can use to identify any file as being something that we have produced.

Cradle Systems Engineering Tool

3SL’s system engineering tool Cradle contains many executables and other files. These files are supplied as a single distribution file, such as:

Cradle72_Setup.exe

It is helpful to us, and to anyone who receives the Cradle software distribution or who looks at any executable that is claimed to be part of the Cradle system engineering tool, to know that:

  • The distribution
  • The files inside the distribution

have come from 3SL and have not been changed in any way after they were created by 3SL.

So, starting with Cradle-7.2, 3SL has digitally signed:

  • The Cradle software distribution
  • The executables inside the distribution

with our digital certificate.

Benefits

Using a digital signature brings several benefits to anyone who installs or uses Cradle.

Anti-Virus Products

Occasionally, some AV products have incorrectly claimed that a file in Cradle contains a virus. These incorrect reports are called false positives.

Now that Cradle executables are digitally signed, we expect that your AV product will report fewer false positives.

Installation

Since the Cradle installer is digitally signed, Windows will display the friendly blue User Account Control (UAC) dialog at the start of the Cradle installation:

cradle system engineering tool digital signatures
Windows Detects 3SL in Cradle System Engineering Tool Installer

instead of the warning yellow UAC dialog.

Executable File Properties

You can verify the digital signature in the Cradle installation files:

Cradle system engineering tool digital certificates
View Digital Certificates in Cradle Executables

If the file does not contain a digital certificate, then you know that the file has been tampered with since 3SL created it, or it was not created by 3SL at all.

Information Assurance

The use of digital certificates is part of 3SL’s commitment to ensuring that Cradle contributes to the information assurance practices in your organisation. You can find more details about other information assurance aspects of Cradle in our white paper here.

Summary

We hope that 3SL’s use of digital certificates in the distribution of, and executable files within, the Cradle system engineering tool will be helpful when you next install Cradle and when your AV products next scan a Cradle installation!