Before you can access resources stored in a Rational ClearCase repository (VOB) or add existing resources to ClearCase source control, you must create a Rational ClearCase view. A ClearCase view selects a specific set of file and directory versions from one or more VOBs so that you can access them on your computer. This directory is called the view's copy area.
Each ClearCase view on your computer is supported by a ClearCase server. A single ClearCase server can support many ClearCase views and client hosts, but each view is supported by exactly one ClearCase server. Most operations in a ClearCase view require you to connect to the ClearCase server that supports it.
When using the IBM Rational® ClearTeam Explorer™, there are two kinds of ClearCase views that are available:
A Web view is a copy-based ClearCase view that is tolerant of high-latency connections to a CCRC WAN server, although it may be used in both wide-area network (WAN) and local area network (LAN) environments. Many of the ClearCase operations you can perform using Web views require an explicit connection to a CCRC WAN server. However, a subset of operations are available that can be used, even when you are disconnected from the CCRC WAN server. A Web view uses a config spec to select a specific set of file and directory versions from one or more VOBs so that you can access them on your computer. Resources under source control must be loaded into a Web view before you can access them.
A Dynamic view is a ClearCase view that uses the MVFS file system to access versions of elements in VOBs. To be able to use Dynamic views in the Rational ClearTeam Explorer, you must also have the ClearCase native client (or "thick" client) installed on your machine in addition to the Rational ClearTeam Explorer. Like Web views, Dynamic views also use a config spec to select a specific set of file and directory versions from one or more VOBs so that you can access them on your computer.
Dynamic views must be mounted and started before they are available. After you create a Dynamic view, you can access it in the ClearTeam Navigator under the node. If your Dynamic view does not appear for any given session, you must right-click the My Views node in the ClearTeam Navigator and select Start Dynamic View from the context menu. Once the view has been started, expand the view name node. If the node is empty, the VOB is not mounted. To mount the VOB, click the View Menu option list icon (the small, inverted triangle) that is associated with the ClearTeam Navigator and select the Unmounted VOBs option. After the VOB name appears under the Dynamic view, click the VOB name to automatically mount the VOB. If, however, you have previously performed an Unmount VOB operation on that VOB, it is not automatically mounted when you select it. Instead, you must right-click the VOB name and select Mount VOB from the context menu.
There are two ways to modify a file version in a Web view:
When your modifications are complete, check in the file to commit your changes to the VOB and create a new version that other team members can access. (When you check in a file that was modified while hijacked, you might be required to merge your changes with those made by users who did not know that you were modifying the file.)
You can modify a file version in a Dynamic view by checking the file out from source control. Dynamic views do not support, Hijack, Unhijack, and Load operations.