Pavel Matyasko - pavel.matyasko@pricefx.com - Version 21.06
Table of contents:
Why We Use Git
Used as source of truth.
Every finished feature / user story must be stored in Git.
If there is a difference between Git and partition content, Git is expected to have the correct version.
Provides versioning of project configuration.
Allows cooperation of several developers on the project.
Used for deployment of a project to the partition.
What Files Are Stored in Git
Generally, all project configuration must be in Git to facilitate potential recreation of the partition from scratch.
Files To Be Versioned
Configuration
Tables definition metadata, e.g. folders:
PricingParameter
ProductAttribute
ProductExtension
Logics definition and Groovy code, e.g. folders:
CalculationLogic
Workflow Formula
Configuration settings, e.g. folders:
AdvancedConfiguration
Preference
QuoteType
SavedChart
Project settings
.gitignore – This is vital, so that developers do not accidentally commit files not relevant to the Pricefx project.
pom.xml – This file is not needed for standard work using the Fetch/Test/Deploy actions, but it is a good practice to have the file in the project anyway. This file can be generated by the Pricefx studio plugin.
Note: The Project Object Model file (POM) is an XML file that contains information about the project and configuration details used by Maven to build the project. We use it for referencing of our unit testing (TDD4C) libraries and for Studio debug functionality.config.json – This file should generally NOT be in the version system, but as it does not contain any sensitive information, it could be beneficial for the team members to share this file too.
Beware: The previous version of the file – config.groovy – should never appear in the version control because it contains information which is specific per developer.
Note: config.json contains information for connection of Studio to Pricefx partition – particularly partition name and server URL. The username and password is stored in IntelliJ, not in the file.
Files NOT To Be Versioned
Data
Data are managed by customers, so we cannot have them in the version control system.
Backup of the data is always in the database backup of the server.
The only exception to the rule is the data used as "project/partition settings" which are managed by the solution implementation team (not by customer) and are not changed regularly. Such data are usually stored in Company Parameters, and Studio supports deployment of such CSV data to the Company Parameter table.
Interaction of Git with Other Tools
Let’s recap here how Git fits into the landscape and how it interact with other tools.
Local GIT repository:
Stored on the developer’s computer (in
.gitfolder under project working folder).Used regularly during day to store snapshots of the working versions of the project user stories or features.
Remote GIT repository:
Stored on DevOps/Source Collaboration platform.
Used for synchronization/cooperation among developers.
Pricefx Git Workflow
While implementing a solution, all developers should use the same common flow of work with Git. You can see all important aspects of the workflow in the picture.
If you are familiar with GitFlow, you will find this flow quite similar. The main reason for differences is that in Pricefx case, the configuration can only be tested against some partitions.
Branches
master – Used to store production version of the project. This version is also deployed on Production partition.
qa – Stores version of the project deployed on QA server which is tested by the customer. This version is also deployed on QA partition.
dev – The latest working version of development with all finished features.
feature/XXXX-XXXX – Keeps project version specific for development of one user story or feature. Each user story or feature (usually one JIRA ticket) should be versioned in one feature branch. The JIRA ticket number is then used as the name of the feature branch (the ticked ID is represented here by XXXX-XXXX). Every feature needs to be tested during the development on the customer-dev partition.
Partitions
Every project has typically 3 partitions:
customer – Partition name based on the customer name. It is used for production version of the project, and customer’s end-users use it daily.
customer-qa – Partition with suffix "-qa" is typically used for UAT (User Acceptance Testing) of new features by the customer.
customer-dev – Partition used by the implementation and integration teams for testing of newly developed features / user stories.
Branches vs. Partitions
You will notice that branches do not exactly match partitions. Specifically, the dev and feature/XXXX-XXXX branches which share the same partition for testing purposes.
This is because it is not practical (and sometimes not even possible) to have one partition for each feature branch. One reason for not having a 1-1 one relation is the size of data you might need to replicate for each partition.
The development team should establish some rules regarding the dev partition. Thought should be given to how the team will share the dev partition, while testing different feature configurations, while not overriding one another’s configuration.
Pricefx "GitFlow"
When working in Git, a common flow should be used. GitFlow was considered but since there are some specifics to the Pricefx development, we adopted GitFlow with a few changes. The main reason for these differences is that the configuration can only be tested against some partitions.
Differences to standard GitFlow:
hotfix branch is not really needed since we do not have a matching environment. Hotfixes therefore can be committed to the master branch.
We do not use multiple release branches, we only use a single qa release branch holding the latest release. This is because there is no way to use the previous release without the partition. A release commit can be tagged with a release name.