What you're saying definitely makes sense, but it still makes it look like even BMC doesn't know how to use Advanced Interface Forms. As I may have mentioned when I posted this, the last time I had to do it was with the Admin Tool. It's much harder with Developer Studio despite me being completely comfortable with it otherwise. Even with a packing list (I tend to use Working Lists similar to how you use Packing Lists normally) it's still difficult because there's no way to select all 59 Active Links, for example, and have it create overlays on all of them, which is required to be able to select all of them and click "Edit" to add the new form to all of the records. It's not rocket science and it's only a problem the first time, but you would think that BMC would have shipped the AIF forms and workflows with overlays out of the box and maybe even some predefined grouping to make it more user friendly.
99% of what I do in SRM can be done with the normal types of forms so maybe it isn't as big of a deal as I am making it into. Thanks, Shawn Pierson Remedy Developer | Energy Transfer From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Carl Wilson Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 4:35 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG Subject: Re: SRM 7.6 Advanced Interface Forms ** Hi, You are correct in that the course material does mention this as: "Make copies of the workflow that was on the original form. By copying this workflow, you retain your copy during upgrades. You only need to perform this step one time for each Advanced Interface type form you are copying." You then use this "copied" workflow to add any additional AIF's that you build. This is recommended in a ROD environment. However, the Guides list the following: "To avoid migration issues, do not copy and rename the workflow that is attached to the included advanced interface forms." I do however mention to students to use the advice in the guides when I teach this course, as it is easy to miss key workflow when performing a copy. The easiest way to do a copy is to use a Packing List against the form in question to see the related workflow. There have been times during a migration when I have missed specific workflow in the .def file using Packing Lists, and the quick and dirty solution was to export the OOB AIF and related workflow, and import into the system (saved hours of work going through what was missed). Making a copy of the workflow takes longer to identify the missing parts when doing a migration, but it does preserve the original if it is ever updated during an upgrade. Both ways are valid, but I prefer the association to the original workflow as opposed to a copy due to the above situation previously encountered. ________________________________ Kind Regards, Carl Wilson http://www.missingpiecessoftware.com/ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Pierson, Shawn Sent: 21 May 2013 21:33 To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG<mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG> Subject: Re: SRM 7.6 Advanced Interface Forms ** In the Student Guide for BMC Service Request Management 7.6: Administering and Configuring on Page A - 28 it says: "Open BMC Developer Studio and copy the Active Links, Active Link Guides, and Filters from the SRS:AdvancedInterface_WithBackendMapping form to your new form. Make copies of the workflow that was on the original form." Of course there are several other mistakes in the manual about how to create an AIF including references to functionality absent in Developer Studio that was in the Administrator Tool. I hadn't reviewed the BMC documentation because I thought that the class my employer paid a lot of money for (which doesn't even cover AIF, other than mentioning that it is discussed in Appendix A) would be of better quality than the documentation we get included with our support contract. Apparently I thought wrong. Thanks, Shawn Pierson Remedy Developer | Energy Transfer From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Carl Wilson Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2013 3:23 PM To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG<mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG> Subject: Re: SRM 7.6 Advanced Interface Forms ** Hi, Not sure where you read that, but it is still the practise to copy an existing form and relate the existing workflow to your new form. ________________________________ Kind Regards, Carl Wilson http://www.missingpiecessoftware.com/ From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Pierson, Shawn Sent: 21 May 2013 14:11 To: arslist@ARSLIST.ORG<mailto:arslist@ARSLIST.ORG> Subject: SRM 7.6 Advanced Interface Forms ** Good morning, I'm working on my first AIF in several years, and in looking at the documentation it appears that the strategy has shifted in how they are to be built. In the past, we were told to use shared workflow and add the new AIF to all the existing active links and filters. In looking at the 7.6 documentation, it says not to do that, but rather to make copies of the workflow. If this is correct, is there an easy way to do this in bulk? The only thing I can think of is manually exporting .DEF files and editing them, which BMC seem to not want us to do. I'm also not going to waste my time manually copying 85 pieces of workflow one at a time. Is there a better way to do this that I'm missing? I'm trying the editing of the def file at the moment but I know that can be a hassle too, just much less of one than doing a one at a time copy. Thanks, Shawn Pierson Remedy Developer | Energy Transfer Private and confidential as detailed here<http://www.energytransfer.com/mail_disclaimer.aspx>. If you cannot access hyperlink, please e-mail sender. _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ Private and confidential as detailed here<http://www.energytransfer.com/mail_disclaimer.aspx>. If you cannot access hyperlink, please e-mail sender. _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ _ARSlist: "Where the Answers Are" and have been for 20 years_ Private and confidential as detailed here: http://www.energytransfer.com/mail_disclaimer.aspx . If you cannot access the link, please e-mail sender. _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org "Where the Answers Are, and have been for 20 years"
