Question

I creating a small addin to help with my source control.

Does anybody know how I could retrieve the Branch Name and Version Number of a source file in Rational ClearCase. I want to do this using C#. Where is all the information actually stored?

Answer 1

You need, from C#, to execute a cleartool command

More specifically, a descr with a format option only displaying exactly what you are after.

cleartool descr -fmt '%Sn' youFileFullPath 

That will return a string like /main/34, meaning /branch/version

System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo psi = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo(@'cleartool'); psi.RedirectStandardOutput = true; psi.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden; psi.Arguments = 'descr -fmt \'%Sn\' \'' + yourFilePath + '\''; psi.UseShellExecute = false; System.Diagnostics.Process monProcess; monProcess= System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(psi); System.IO.StreamReader myOutput = monProcess.StandardOutput; monProcess.WaitForExit(); if (monProcess.HasExited) {     //la sortie du process est recuperee dans un string     string output = myOutput.ReadToEnd();     MessageBox.Show(output); } 

Note: it is recommended to always use double quotes around your file full path, in case that path or that file name includes spaces

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As I have explained in this other ClearCase SO question, you could also use the CAL interface (COM object), but I have always found cleartool (the basic CLI — Command Line Interface –) more reliable especially when things go wrong: the error message is much more precise.