P4 Java API. How to work with temporary clients.

Check new series of the articles. Review and user experience on test management systems. Functionality and usability.

-------------------

There is not a lot of information about perforce Java API. However you may find the examples of how to apply the common use cases in your code. I tried to touch surrounding cases and faced the problem that had been resolved with the only decompilation help.

So assume you do not want to use the existing client and you do want to use the temporary one. How to address such the requirement. Here is the code from me.

package ar.p4apihelpers;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.UUID;

import com.perforce.p4java.client.IClient;
import com.perforce.p4java.core.IMapEntry.EntryType;
import com.perforce.p4java.core.file.FileSpecBuilder;
import com.perforce.p4java.core.file.IFileSpec;
import com.perforce.p4java.exception.P4JavaException;
import com.perforce.p4java.impl.generic.client.ClientView;
import com.perforce.p4java.impl.generic.client.ClientView.ClientViewMapping;
import com.perforce.p4java.impl.mapbased.client.Client;
import com.perforce.p4java.server.IServer;
import com.perforce.p4java.server.IServerInfo;
import com.perforce.p4java.server.ServerFactory;

public class P4APISyncUp{
 public static void main(String[] args) throws URISyntaxException, IOException, P4JavaException {
  // Generating the files to sync-up
  String[] pathsUnderDepot = new String[]{
    "//depot/path1/file1.java#head",
    "//depot/path1/file2.java#head",
    "//depot/path1/path2/file1.java#head"
  };
  // Instantiating the server
  IServer p4Server = ServerFactory.getServer("p4java://p4.fakeserver.com:1666", null);
  p4Server.connect();
  // Authorizing
  p4Server.setUserName("secretname");
  p4Server.login("secretpassword");
  // Just check you are connected successfully
  IServerInfo serverInfo = p4Server.getServerInfo();
  System.out.println(serverInfo.getServerLicense());
  // Creating new client
  IClient tempClient = new Client();
  // Setting up the name and the root folder
  tempClient.setName("tempClient" + UUID.randomUUID().toString().replace("-", ""));
  tempClient.setRoot("c:/temp");
  tempClient.setServer(p4Server);
  // Setting the client as the current one for the server
  p4Server.setCurrentClient(tempClient);
  // Creating Client View entry
  ClientViewMapping tempMappingEntry = new ClientViewMapping();
  // Setting up the mapping properties
  tempMappingEntry.setLeft("//depot/...");
  tempMappingEntry.setRight("//" + tempClient.getName() + "/...");
  tempMappingEntry.setType(EntryType.INCLUDE);
  // Creating Client view
  ClientView tempClientView = new ClientView();
  // Attaching client view entry to client view
  tempClientView.addEntry(tempMappingEntry);
  tempClient.setClientView(tempClientView);
  // Registering the new client on the server
  System.out.println(p4Server.createClient(tempClient));
  // Surrounding the underlying block with try as we want some action
  // (namely client removing) to be performed in any way 
  try{
   // Forming the FileSpec collection to be synced-up
   List<ifilespec> fileSpecsSet = FileSpecBuilder.makeFileSpecList(pathsUnderDepot);
   // Syncing up the client
   tempClient.sync(FileSpecBuilder.getValidFileSpecs(fileSpecsSet), true, false, false, false);
  }finally{
   // Removing the temporary client from the server
   System.out.println(p4Server.deleteClient(tempClient.getName(), false));
  }
 }
}

Please point the attention to the lines #42 and #50 of this code. Forgetting to call #42 leads to the following exception on execution #64:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.perforce.p4java.impl.mapbased.client.Client.sync(Client.java:496)
at com.perforce.p4java.impl.mapbased.client.Client.sync(Client.java:477)
at ar.p4apihelpers.P4APISyncUp.main

If you forget to call #50 you will get the exception like this:

Exception in thread "main" com.perforce.p4java.exception.RequestException: Error in client specification.
Error detected at line 10.
Null directory (//) not allowed in 'null//depot/...'.

at com.perforce.p4java.impl.mapbased.server.Server.handleErrorStr(Server.java:3834)
at com.perforce.p4java.impl.mapbased.server.Server.createClient(Server.java:2099)
at ar.p4apihelpers.P4APISyncUp.main

Selenium 2 tried released version

Okay. AFAIR I said that selenium 2 was not ready for enterprise testing. That time I used either beta or even alpha version of the webdriver. So today I decided to check out what's been changed since that time and probably to unsay :)
However I still cant do that :) What does prevent me now? First of all there is still lack of multiple-browser support. Internet explorer driver couldn't see the input elements for some reason however other drivers did so I couldn't even log in. Opera driver cant close the browser window on the test shut-down... So the latest build version is pretty much raw yet. Still don't recommend to move your frameworks to WebDriver.

About the technologies and the methodologies

Technologies deprave. When there were no technologies (like ones we know now) every process tended to be optimized. They optimized everything and everywhere. The efficiency of time consumption was one of the domains everyone paid the most of attention to (even the amateur). The last decade passed under the slogan "everything that could be invented had been invented".
So, I wonder where are new conceptions? Where are new paradigms? Every piece of efficiency increasing that takes place nowadays takes place at the expense of the technical progress but not of the progress of the theories, methodologies or approaches. The more powerful computers became available so the need of optimization of calculation procedures disappeared. The Internet become available so the need of optimization of advertising campaigns disappeared as well as the optimization of the consumer properties. Oil became available so the need of optimization of investments disappeared..
That's pretty much a pity... However that's seems to be the specific of the present.