The Seapine View

Remember when you used to be able to track test cases and pass/fail results in a simple spreadsheet? It took all of 30 minutes a week to update the data, and no one asked for it more often than that. However, over time, the need for more precise and timely test information grew and the spreadsheet grew too. At the same time, the applications you test also became more complex. You started with 100 test cases but you’re currently up to 400 and counting.

Your spreadsheet now includes more information about each test case, such as when a test case was run, how long it took, where it failed, if a defect report was created, how long it took the defect to be resolved, and much more. That spreadsheet now has several dozen columns, with a jumble of dates, numbers, and text. You can’t easily view or report on the data you’re tracking.

Continue reading…

Andrew Horner, one of our Sales Engineers, was recently on-site with a customer that purchased Surround SCM, and had a large amount of source code which they wanted to import into Surround SCM from another tool. The customer had also been using a source code plug-in that allowed them to perform source code control (SCC) actions from within Visual Studio. Surround SCM has a similar plug-in that allows you to perform all of the standard SCC actions as well as other actions specific to Surround SCM, such as attaching source code changes to an item in TestTrack Pro.

In this post, Andrew explains how to bind to Surround SCM as the source code provider for an existing project. This example uses one of our sample Visual Studio solutions, Bug Reporter, that is currently bound with Visual SourceSafe, and shows you how to change the binding from Visual SourceSafe to Surround SCM Integration Provider. If you’re converting from another source code management tool, the steps will be similar.

Continue reading…

Seapine will be exhibiting at the EuroSTAR Test Tools and Services Exhibition, which runs alongside the EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2011. This year, EuroSTAR 2011 takes place from November 21-24 in Manchester, UK. The exhibition segment of the conference opens on Tuesday and closes after the last coffee break on Thursday evening. You can find Seapine at Stand 90.

Continue reading…

Seapine Software has released preliminary support for Apple’s Xcode 4.2 IDE. This is a beta and a pre-release, which may be somewhat buggy.
You can obtain the installer package here:

http://downloads.seapine.com/pub/beta/scm/xcode/SurroundSCM_xCode4.2_beta.zip

Pop quiz, hotshot: You’ve got a major release due, you’re under the gun to get it out on time…and suddenly the developer in the next cubical turns into a brain-eating ghoul. What do you do? What do you do?

There’s no shortage of survival guides for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Heck, even the CDC has tips. Sure, you can pick up Max Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide—and we recommend you do—but what happens if the brains hit the fan while you’re at the office?

Continue reading…

TestTrack ships with a SOAP-based SDK that allows you to extend TestTrack and incorporate its core features, such as issue management and tracking, into your own applications. The SDK documentation was recently updated and now includes a web-based Programmer’s Guide that provides examples of common SOAP tasks, such as populating custom fields and editing items. If you’re using the TestTrack SDK, be sure to take a few minutes to check out the new guide and let us know what you think.

Buzzwords have been known to make me cringe, which is why I can’t believe I’ve jumped on the Agile bandwagon. Or dipped my toe in the Agile pool. Or gone for a swim in the Agile ocean. But let me explain.

In Alan Bustamante’s last blog post, he let the marketing and Kanban cat out of the bag. Seapine isn’t exclusively an Agile company, but Agile seems to be working its way into teams and processes throughout the company. The marketing team started using a Kanban board this past spring for a number of reasons. I’d like to share some thoughts and observations with you.

Continue reading…

Seapine Software has released Seapine ALM 2011.1, the latest version of its popular suite of tools for application lifecycle management. Several new, customer-requested features and enhancements make Seapine ALM 2011.1 a strong solution for organizations in need of a tightly integrated ALM solution.

Seapine ALM 2011.1 includes enhanced test case management, more administrative options, and increased automation technology support for TestTrack, Surround SCM, and QA Wizard Pro. Extensive improvements have been incorporated into the product suite to enable better creation and re-use of test cases, tracking test execution progress, and ensuring adherence to best practices and compliance requirements during testing.

Seapine added workflow history diagrams and improved task board and traceability reports to TestTrack, as well as extensive TestTrack TCM enhancements. One such enhancement is a detail grid view that provides a new format for analyzing test run results. Powerful compliance options for test runs are also new for TestTrack TCM in 2011.1.

New QA Wizard Pro features include a new Keyword View, status tool enhancements, and general report improvements. In addition to the Microsoft Silverlight support added in 2011.0.1, Seapine also added support for the regression testing of Adobe Flash applications with QA Wizard Pro.

Surround SCM received an upgrade as well, and now includes support for shelving in-progress changes, enhanced trigger capabilities, and other enhancements that provide tighter integration between Surround SCM and the rest of the Seapine ALM 2011.1 product suite.

“As a fully integrated ALM solution, Seapine ALM 2011.1 simplifies the implementation of quality-critical processes,” said Jeff Amfahr, director of product management, Seapine Software. “This release of Seapine ALM makes it faster and easier for development teams to meet their compliance and best-practice objectives.”

More information on Seapine ALM 2011.1, including a recorded webinar that demonstrates the new features, can be found at www.seapine.com/alm20111/.

For the eighth year in a row, Seapine Software has been named by SD Times as one of the Top 100 companies that “write the code that makes the whole software-development industry succeed.” Seapine was recognized in the ALM & SCM category for offering a suite of solutions that encompasses the entire development lifecycle.

“We’re incredibly honored to be in SD Times 100 for eight years running,” said Rick Riccetti, president and CEO, Seapine Software. “Our goal has always been to help our customers develop quality software, and being chosen again and again by SD Times makes us feel like we’re accomplishing that goal.”

Read more about the SD Times 100.