The Seapine View

TestTrack 2010, our biggest TestTrack update in recent memory, shipped yesterday. There is something for everyone in TestTrack 2010, including the introduction of our new requirements management tool called TestTrack RM.

Take a look at what’s new in TestTrack 2010 and learn more about TestTrack RM. From requirements management through development, testing, delivery, and customer feedback, TestTrack 2010 provides unparalleled management and traceability of development artifacts. Said another way, TestTrack 2010 is sure to become your best friend if you’re involved in the management of software product development.

We recently released an upgrade to our software configuration management solution, Surround SCM. A few of the more notable new features in Surround SCM 2009.1 are the following:

• Support for storing all data in Oracle databases. Surround SCM now supports Oracle, MS SQL Server, and PostgreSQL as data storage options.
• Windows Explorer and Mac Finder integration, which lets you access Surround SCM commands directly from the operating system without launching the Surround client.
• Microsoft Office 2007 integration so you can manage documents in Surround SCM directly from Office 2007.
• Dreamweaver CS4 integration lets you manage Web site and Web application assets in Surround SCM without leaving the Dreamweaver CS4 IDE.

Here is a more complete list of the new features in Surround SCM 2009.1.

Today is an exciting day at Seapine. TestTrack 2010 is entering public beta, and with it TestTrack RM. The TestTrack 2010 product family includes TestTrack Pro for issue management, TestTrack TCM for test case management, and TestTrack RM for requirements management. For cradle-to-grave traceability, you’ll find the TestTrack product family is a unique and complete solution.

So what can you do with TestTrack RM? Here are some of the key features:

Requirements Management

• Whether you use functional requirements, technical specifications, or user stories, you can configure requirement types to match your methodology.
• Ensure the information you need to properly define, evaluate, and prioritize your requirements is captured with custom fields.
• Organize requirements by release, by functional area, by project, by team. You get to decide.
• Reuse requirements by sharing them between requirement documents.
• Get started quickly with the ability to import existing requirement documents from Microsoft Word. You can also export to Microsoft Word to share requirements with users who will not or should not log in.
• View traceability information, status information, project volatility, and more with built-in reports.

Continue reading…

SD Times recognized Seapine in the application lifecycle management and software configuration management categories of their annual SD Times 100. Of 78 vendors spread across 14 categories, we were one of only 12 vendors recognized in more than one category.

Thank you Seapine customers for helping us achieve six consecutive years of success in the SD Times 100!

Today we released QA Wizard Pro 2009.1, a major update to our automated software testing solution. While only receiving a .1 increment in the version number, QA Wizard Pro gains a number of significant new features, the coolest of which is drag-and-drop scripting. In QA Wizard Pro 2009.1, you can drag controls onto scripts, statements onto scripts, statements onto controls, controls onto statements, and even scripts onto scripts to build tests. So, whether you think in action-object or object-action constructs, we’ve got you covered.

There are many other new features and enhancements in QA Wizard Pro. Check it out.

A little know fact, even within Seapine, is that the digital tree is not our original logo. I recently copied files off an old Macintosh Quadra 700 and came across some of our early logo designs. Looking at those designs took me through the evolution of the Seapine logo we use today. Here’s the back story.

When working on the design of our logo in June of 1995, the engineer in me took the logical approach—the logo must consist of the sea and a pine tree. It was so obvious! So we fired up Illustrator and Canvas and went to work.

Continue reading…

Requirements traceability is a best practice for developing quality software. The complexity and cost of today’s requirements management tools prohibits many companies from realizing their benefits or even purchasing a tool. Well, we’ve developed a great requirements management solution that reduces complexity and costs less. We call it TestTrack RM. Since the release of TestTrack 2009 in February, it’s been full steam ahead for the entire TestTrack team to deliver TestTrack RM.
Continue reading…

Most of the TestTrack Pro integration examples on our labs site are written for Windows, usually using C#. Accessing TestTrack Pro objects using Java is also straightforward and has the added benefit of running on multiple operating systems.

Take a look at our new Java Defect List lab article for information on how to access and display TestTrack Pro objects, such as defects, using Java.

For performing peer code reviews, there isn’t a better tool than Smart Bear Software’s Code Collaborator. Even if you already have a working solution, their free book “Best Kept Secrets of Peer Code Review“ is a great read.

Code Collaborator 5.0 is in beta and SmartBear has added direct support for our version control tool, Surround SCM. You can learn about Code Collaborator 5.0’s new features and download the beta at their web site. If you don’t already use Surround SCM, you can get a free single-user license.

Jeff Atwood recently explored the Pseudocode Programming Process and asks

“What’s your take? Is pseudocode a useful tool in your programming? Do you write pseudocode before writing code?”

His entry took me back to my software architect days at now-defunct Access Corporation (not the one that acquired Palm OS and BeOS). Back in the day (the early-nineties), we were working on a very large project to develop an engineering drawing image management system for IBM’s AS/400. Continue reading…