Automated Build Studio 6 introduces about 90 new operations for automating more compilers and tools and also offers new and improved features. Below is a complete list of changes:

• Overall Improvements
• Source Control Support Improvements
• New Operations and Supported Tools
• Other Changes in Operations
• Client/Server and Web Interface Improvements
• Miscellaneous

Overall Improvements

• Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Automated Build Studio 6 adds support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and extends the Microsoft Compilers category with three new operations for compiling Visual Studio 2010 projects:
  • Compile Visual C# 2010 Project
  • Compile Visual Basic 2010 Project
  • Compile Visual C++ 2010 Project
  The Compile Visual Studio Solution operation now also supports Visual Studio 2010 solutions.
• Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Automated Build Studio now integrates into Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, so you can create, view and run Automated Build Studio projects directly in Visual Studio IDE.

  Automated Build Studio now integrates into Team Explorer 2010, which allows you to enhance Team System builds with Build Studio macros and run those macros directly from Team Explorer.

• Integration with Team Build. Automated Build Studio now integrates with Team Build, allowing you to extend build targets specified for your build projects with Automated Build Studio macros that define the custom sequence of actions to be performed during the build run. Integration with Team Build 2005, 2008 and 2010 is supported.
• Support for CodeGear RAD Studio 2010. Automated Build Studio 6 supports CodeGear RAD Studio 2010 and adds three new operations to the Borland Compilers category that allow you to compile projects created in RAD Studio 2010:
  • Compile Delphi 2010 Project
  • Compile C++ 2010 Project
  • Compile RAD Studio 2010 Project Group
• Using one-line scripts in operation properties. Operation property values can now be specified as one-line scripting expressions in VBScript, JScript or DelphiScript. During the macro run, Automated Build Studio evaluates these expressions and uses the resulting values as the values of the appropriate operation properties.

  The scripts can contain mathematical expressions, calls to intrinsic functions of the scripting languages as well as routines and objects provided by Automated Build Studio. To indicate that a property value is specified by a scripting expression, you need to place the Script: prefix before it, for example, Script: Variables.FileCount + 1 (the scripting language is determined automatically).

• Debugging scripts in macros. Automated Build Studio now includes a script debugger that helps you troubleshoot scripts embedded in your macros and quickly fix problems in them. You start script debugging by tracing into the desired script during the macro run and can use all usual debugging facilities: set breakpoints on script lines, step through scripts line-by-line, add watches, evaluate expressions and so on.
• Autocompletion of variable and constant names in operation properties. Automated Build Studio 6 makes it easier to insert variable and constant names in operation properties using the automatic completion. Now, as you start typing the variable or constant name following the % character, a drop-down list with possible completions for that name opens automatically. You can accept the desired suggestion by pressing Enter.

  Also, inserting the variable (constant) names in this way keeps the previously entered value, as opposed to choosing the variable from the Variables and Constants dialog, when the old value is replaced with the selected variable (constant) name.

• Specifying build title. Specify titles for your builds with the new Set Build Title operation. The build titles are displayed in the macro log, the Client panel, Web Interface and Automated Build Studio’s gadget for Windows Sidebar.
• Customizing estimated build progress. By default, Automated Build Studio calculates the macro run progress as the ratio of completed macro operations to the total number of operations. However, this value may be inaccurate as some operations run for longer than others (for example, compiling operations are time-consuming). Now Build Studio provides the Set Build Progress operation that lets you customize the build progress values throughout the macro run.
• Fine-tuning macro configurations. You can now enable and disable multiple configuration support for individual macro operations. A new Support configurations property is now available in all operations. If this setting is disabled, the values specified in an operation are shared among all configurations defined in the macro; if enabled — you can have different property values in different configurations. For instance, disabling this setting for an operation with shared property values will prevent you from accidentally applying changes in these values to the active configuration instead of all configurations. The default Support configuration value for new operations added to the macro is specified by the Default support configurations macro property.
• Source control login options. Automated Build Studio adds new options that specify how to log you in to the source control system when working with source-controlled macros. You can choose to either log in automatically using the current user account or the last used source control account, or enter the login and password manually each time you access the source control. The options for selecting the desired behavior are available in the Source Control settings.
• Start Page. Automated Build Studio’s new Start Page provides a quick way for you to access your most recently used macros and MSBuild projects or create new ones. It also contains links to useful Automated Build Studio resources so that they are always available. You can configure Automated Build Studio to display the Start Page each time it is launched, or access it any time by selecting Help | Start Page from the main menu.

Source Control Support Improvements

• Enhanced support for Team Foundation Version Control:
  • Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Version Control. The Team Foundation Version Control operations and the Team Foundation Version Control File Change task trigger now support Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Version Control and also include some new TFVC 2010-specific properties.
  • Managing shelvesets in source control. Three new operations have been added to enable the build processes work with shelvesets in Team Foundation Version Control:
    • Shelve Pending Changes — Creates a shelveset of pending changes.
    • Unshelve Pending Changes — Unshelves the pending changes and restores them to the workspace.
    • Delete Shelveset — Unshelves the pending changes and deletes the shelveset from the server.
  • Rolling back changes in source control changesets. A new Roll Back Changesets in TFVC operation allows you to roll back one or more changesets in Team Foundation Version Control to an earlier version.
  • Configuring proxy for source control. A new Configure Proxy for TFVC operation makes it easy to configure the proxy settings for Team Foundation Source Control during your build process: automatically detect and configure proxy, add or delete specific proxy servers, enable or disable proxy.
  • The Team Foundation Version Control File Change trigger now populates the MS VS Version property value automatically based on the highest Microsoft Visual Studio version found on the local computer. It now also has the Collection URL property that allows you to specify the URL of the Team Project Collection on a Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation server.
• Mercurial support. Fifteen operations of the new Mercurial category enable your build process to interact with Mercurial source control repositories: pull and commit changes, create and clone repositories, add and delete files from the repository, track file status, check the revision history and so on.
• Sharing and branching files in Visual SourceSafe. Two extra operations of the Microsoft Visual SourceSafe category — Share File(s) in VSS and Branch File(s) in VSS — enable you to automate file sharing and file branching in Visual SourceSafe databases as part of your builds.
• The StarTeam File Change trigger has a new View property. This property allows specifying the view of the project whose files the trigger traces.

New Operations and Supported Tools

• Support for localization tools. Automated Build Studio 6 adds support for software localization tools and enables you to automate the building of localized software products. The following localization tools are supported in this release via the appropriate operations of the Prepare Code category:
  • Multilizer
  • Passolo
  • Sizuliser
• Easy GUI automation. A new category of operations, User Interface Actions, enable build process to automate arbitrary Windows applications by simulating various actions over their GUI: click buttons, send keyboard input, move and resize windows, obtain text in a window and so on.

  Also, the If Window Exists operation has been moved from the Misc category to the User Interface Actions category.

• ADO support. Using seven new operations of the ADO category, you can automate database operations via ADO: execute SQL statements and stored procedures, enumerate records returned by SQL queries, manage transactions and so on.
• Encrypting File System (EFS) support. Automated Build Studio includes a new Encrypting File System category with five operations that allow you to encrypt files and folders, remove the encryption, check whether specific files or folders are encrypted, manage users who can access encrypted files and perform other related operations.
• Serena Dimensions support. A new Serena Dimensions category includes fourteen operations that allow you to perform various actions over Dimensions streams: create new streams, delete streams, commit changes and so on.
• Source indexing for AQtrace. The AutomatedQA Tools category includes three new operations that let you index source code of your applications for AQA Source Server that is used by AQtrace:
  • AQtrace Index Modules for VSS — Indexes modules files for Microsoft Visual Source Safe.
  • AQtrace Index Modules for Perforce — Indexes modules files for Perforce source control system.
  • AQtrace Index Modules for Subversion — Indexes modules files for Subversion source control system.
• Tracking change requests in StarTeam. The StarTeam Change Request Enumerator operation added to the Issue Tracking category enables you to enumerate change requests in StarTeam and perform a group of actions on each request.
• TypeMock Isolator support. A new operation has been added to let you run unit tests on your .NET applications using TypeMock Isolator.
• Managing SharePoint Services. A new new SharePoint Service Tools operation enables the build process to interact with Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) sites through web services. You can use this operation to automate various SharePoint Services operations: manage users, documents, forms and lists, administer the site and so on.
• Calling web service methods. A new Execute Web Service Function operation added to the Execute category enables you to call a web service’s method and obtain the method result for use in your build macro.
• New supported installation builders. Two new Installers operations have been added:
  • MS Merge Module Project — Builds Windows Installer merge modules (.msm files) using Microsoft Visual Studio Installer.
  • DeployMaster Builder — Builds installation packages using DeployMaster.
• New supported help compilers. Automated Build Studio 6 adds more support for help compilers and extends the Help Compilers category with four new operations that let you compile help projects created with the following help authoring tools:
  • Document! X 2008
  • FAR HTML Batch Compile
  • HyperText Studio
  • RoboHelp HTML
• Reading assembly attributes. A new Get Assembly Info operation lets you read assembly attributes from assembly information source files in your build macros.
• Extended support for archivers. The Archivers category includes two new operation for file packing:
  • J2EE Packager — Packages J2EE components.
  • MHT Archiver — Creates a web page archive.
• Comparing files using Araxis Merge. The Files and Directories category includes two extra operations that enable your build processes to compare files and folders using Araxis Merge: Araxis Compare Files and Araxis Compare Folders.
• File concatenation. The File Concatenation operation added to the Files and Directories category enables you to concatenate two text files into a new one, append the file contents to another file or merge a file into another one.
• Simulating errors. Using the new Throw operation of the Standard category, you can simulate a custom error and affect the macro run as if a real error had occurred.
• Controlling continuous integration from macros. Automated Build Studio now allows you to have greater control over your continuous integration tasks and provides three new operations for managing tasks directly from your build macros:
  • Enable/Disable Tasks
  • Enable/Disable Task Triggers
  • Enable/Disable Task Blockers
• Support for TestComplete 8 and TestExecute 8. The AutomatedQA Tools category now includes new TestComplete 8 and TestExecute 8 operations that provide support for the next version of AutomatedQA’s software testing tools — TestComplete and TestExecute.
• Support for AQtrace 1.5. The AutomatedQA Tools category now includes new AQtrace 1.5 Packager and AQtrace 1.5 .NET Packager operations that provide support for the next version of AutomatedQA’s error tracing and reporting tool — AQtrace.
• Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer. A new Run SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer operation has been added to the Microsoft SQL Server category. Use this operation to verify practices in Microsoft SQL Server databases using the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Best Practices Analyzer utility.

Other Changes in Operations

• Support for InstallShield 2010. Automated Build Studio now supports InstallShield 2010. The corresponding operation has been renamed to InstallShield 7—2010.
• Enhanced EurekaLog for RAD Studio support. The EurekaLog 6 operation now supports CodeGear RAD Studio 2009 and 2010 and allows you to build your Delphi and C++Builder applications created in these RAD Studio versions with EurekaLog.
• Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2008. The SQL operations now support Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and 2008. The SQL category was renamed to Microsoft SQL Server.
• Working with 64-bit registry. The Set Registry Value, Get Registry Value, If Registry Key or Value Exists, Delete Registry Key or Value and Wait For Registry operations include a new Type option that lets you specify the registry version — 32-bit or 64-bit — that you want to access when Automated Build Studio is used on a 64-bit operating system.
• Targeting specific .NET Framework versions with MSBuild. The MSBuild operation now has the Framework version option that allows you to target a specific version of .NET Framework when building the project.
• Using default values of stored procedure parameters. The Execute Stored Procedure operation has two extra properties that enable you to use default parameter values when calling stored procedures:
  • Use default input value — Instructs Automated Build Studio to use the default value for the appropriate parameter of the stored procedure.
  • Fail if stored procedure has parameters that are not specified in the list — Specifies the operation behavior in case the stored procedure being called has more parameters than specified in the operation. If this property is disabled, Automated Build Studio will use the default values of the omitted parameters. Otherwise, the operation will fail and report the missing parameters to the macro log.
• Improved remote macro execution. The Remote Group and Remote Execution Stack operations now have the options to control whether the Initialization and Finalization operations included in the macro should be executed on the remote computer. You can use these options to force initialization or finalization actions when necessary or avoid them if they are not needed.
• Enhanced macro termination options. The Stop Macro Execution operation now lets you specify whether or not Automated Build Studio should execute the Finalization operation included in the macro, if any, before stopping the macro run.
• Improved CD/DVD burning. The Burn CD/DVD, Create ISO Image and Burn ISO Image operations now have the Timeout property that allows you to terminate the operation execution upon timeout. Also, the execution of these operations is now terminated when the macro is stopped.
• Specifying class paths for JUnit. The Run JUnit Test operation includes a new property, Classpath, that lets you specify the class paths for JUnit and your test classes directly in macros. These paths are temporarily appended to the CLASSPATH environment variable during the macro run.

  Also, this operation now supports JUnit 4.0.

• Running library submacros in interactive mode. The Run Library Submacro operation now obtains a new Hide Automated Macro Player parameter that specifies whether the Automated Macro Player used for submacro execution should be run in interactive or non-interactive mode.
• Reading Unicode files. The Read From File operation now automatically detects whether the file data is written using the Unicode encoding and reads it correctly.
• In order to provide better support for database providers that do not support asynchronous working mode (for example, Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers), the Execute Stored Procedure operation from the Microsoft SQL Server group has been changed to work in synchronous mode. The new ADO Execute Command, ADO Execute Stored Procedure and ADO Table Record Enumerator operations also work in synchronous mode. All these operations do not support the Timeout property.
• The Edit Assembly Information operation was renamed to Edit Assembly Info.
• The AQtrace Packager operation was renamed to AQtrace 1.1 Packager.
• The Run SQL Best Practices Analyzer operation was renamed to Run SQL Server 2000 Best Practices Analyzer.

Client/Server and Web Interface Improvements

• Auto login to Web Interface. The login page of Automated Build Studio Web Interface now has the Remember me on this computer option that enables automatic login during subsequent visits to the Web Interface from the same computer.
• Easier adding domain users via Web Interface. When adding new users via Web Interface, you can now select Windows domain users from the list provided by the domain controller.
• Auto-populating domain user details. When adding new Windows domain users, the users’ display name and e-mail address are automatically populated from their Active Directory accounts.
• Better control over Automated Build Studio server from custom clients. New methods and properties have been added to absControl to let you extend the functionality of your custom client applications:
  • RegisterMacro and UnregisterMacro — Allow you to register and unregister a macro or macro preset on the server.
  • SetMacroDescriptionAndCategory — Lets you modify the description and category of a macro that has multiple presets.
  • GetMacroPresetProperties and SetMacroPresetProperties — Allow you to retrieve and modify properties of a specific macro preset.
  • CanManageMacros, CanAdministerServer, CanModifyMacroRunParameters — Indicate the current user’s permissions on the Automated Build Studio server.

Miscellaneous

• Better support for multiprocessor computers and multithreaded macros. When a macro that contains concurrent operation groups is run on a multiprocessor computer, Automated Build Studio now automatically selects the CPU to run each macro thread on. For each new macro thread, Build Studio selects the CPU on which the least number of macro threads is currently running.
• Enhanced search for operations. When you search for operations using the search box, which is at the top of the Operations panel, Automated Build Studio now highlights the matching text in the found operation names.

  Also, the search box now contains a list of items you have recently searched for.

• Scripting access to macro log and summary. Scripts embedded in macros now have access to the log and summary of the current macro run via the ABSUtils.Log and ABSUtils.Summary objects. This way, you can parse the log and summary information and generate custom reports.
• A new Multirun command-line argument lets you run several instances of the same macro from the command line.
• Automated Build Studio’s gadget for Windows Sidebar has a new Show build title in history option that toggles the build title display in the macro history window.
• The Auto-open last macro option in the Project settings has been replaced with the At startup option that lets you instruct Automated Build Studio to either open the last macro or the Start Page on startup, or start with a blank environment.
• Macro editing and debugging commands have been moved from the main toolbar to the toolbar of the Macro panel.
• New system constants specifying Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 path information have been added: VS10COMMON, VS10DIR, VS10IDE and VS10TOOLS.