Creating and Deploying APEs

Alternate property editors (APEs) are custom forms created specifically for your company in support of a corporate process. Workflow processes are created for use with the forms. They can be customized easily because they can be implemented in Java. Sample property editors for all application components are included.

However, an APE is not just a form. It is a StarTeam SDK application that is executed instead of the default properties dialog for the item type. The files you must check in to the StarFlow Extensions project or an APE are name.propertyeditor.xml and a name.jar file.

StarTeam Extensions provide the workflow engine, form customization capability and distribution architecture. You are not required to use this software for APEs because any application can be executed as an APE, allowing maximum flexibility in tailoring the StarTeam Cross-Platform Client to work in a manner required by your process needs.

You must define an APE for any project that will use workflows. You can use APEs:

Without workflow

For example, if you do not like the standard properties dialog for an item type, you can replace it with an APE of your own design. In this way, you can hide properties on the standard properties dialog from view and put all custom properties in easily accessible locations on the form, instead of on the Custom tab. To use an APE without workflow, you select an APE for the item type in the project and check in a disabled workflow. See “Disabling a Workflow”.

With workflow but without notification

For example, if the workflow is well understood and everyone knows exactly who will be responsible for the next step, notification is unnecessary. Everyone can sort items based on responsibility and creation or entry time, and work on the items for which they are responsible in the order in which they entered the system. To use an APE with workflow but without notification, you select an APE for the item type in the project and check in a workflow that has no notification lists.

With workflow and notification

For example, if you use notification, you can ask several people, in turn, to take responsibility for an item at a given step. You can also notify supervisors if no one accepts responsibility, or if a step is taking longer than expected.

To use an APE with workflow and notification, you select an APE for the item type in the project and check in a workflow that has notification lists. See “Controlling the Behavior of an Item in a Step”.

While an APE is for a specific component, you do not have to use the same APE for all the projects or views in a server configuration. You can create different forms per-project or per-view.

StarTeam Extensions simplifies the process of creating custom forms in JBuilder or another Java development environment by providing a variety of JavaBeans. The StarTeam JavaBeans allow you to customize the APEs using a graphical form designer.

In addition, Java code can be added to the form to access the Server with the StarTeam SDK. Such code can provide additions to the form and enforce workflow side-effects as required.