Walkthrough: Polarion Integration

Prerequisites

In order to set up integration between Polarion and Enterprise Architect, you must first:

• Be using a licensed installation of Pro Cloud Server (Version 4.2.62 or later) with the Integration Plug-ins component
• Select the 'Enable Pro Features (OSLC, WebEA and Integration)' option in the Pro Cloud Server configuration for each Database Manager System hosting your Enterprise Architect models
• Have network access between the PCS server and the Polarion server
• Have user credentials to access the external data
• Be using Enterprise Architect Corporate, Unified or Ultimate edition v15.2 or later

We will assume that the Integration Server and the Polarion Integration Plug-in are to run on the same machine as the Pro Cloud Server

Identify Polarion to Pro Cloud Server and Enterprise Architect

Work through these steps:

1. Double-click on the 'Pro Cloud Config Client' Desktop icon to open the Pro Cloud Config Client window.
2. Select the 'Integration' tab and select the 'Enable Integrations' checkbox. In the 'Port' field type the number of the Port the Integration Server will listen on for requests from the Pro Cloud Server.
   
3. Click on the Add button. The 'Add Data Provider' dialog displays.
   
4. Select the 'Enabled' checkbox.
5. In the 'Name' field, type an appropriate connection name, such as 'Polarion'.
6. In the 'Provider' field, click on the drop-down arrow and select 'Custom Integration'.
7. In the 'Prefix' field, enter an appropriate prefix, such as 'Polarion'.
8. In the 'Integration Plugin' panel, in the 'Port' field, type the number of the Port that the Integration Server will use to communicate with the Polarion Plug-in.
9. Click on the ellipsis button next to the 'DLL Path' field. Browse and select the 'PolarionSbpi.dll' file. This is located within the Pro Cloud Server Installation folder. E.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\Sparx Systems\Pro Cloud Server\SBPI\PolarionSbpi.dll
10. The fields in steps 10 to 13 make up the components of your Polarion web address; that is: <protocol>://<server>:<port>/baseURL
    In the 'Protocol' field, click on the drop-down arrow and select the protocol that the Polarion Plug-in will use to communicate with Polarion.
11. In the 'Server Name/IP' field, type the server name or IP address that the Polarion Plug-in will use to communicate with Polarion.
12. In the 'Port' field type the number of the Port that the Polarion Plug-in will use to communicate with Polarion.
13. In the 'Base URL' field enter the final portion of your Polarion URL (anything after the server name and port)
14. If you leave the 'User' and 'Password' fields blank, then each Enterprise Architect user will be prompted for their personal Polarion credentials, which can give a better usability.
15. If you prefer to set values in the 'User Name' and 'Password' fields, the values will be used in combination to access the data within Polarion. All current Enterprise Architect users of the Polarion installation will use the same set of credentials to read the external data.
16. Select the 'Create Items', 'Modify Items' and/or 'Post Discussions' checkboxes as necessary, to allow users of the Polarion Plug-in to create and/or update items and/or create Discussion posts in Polarion using Enterprise Architect.
17. If you want the Polarion Plug-in to ignore SSL-related errors that occur as a result of communicating with Polarion (e.g. if you are using a self-signed SSL certificate), select the 'Ignore SSL Errors' checkbox.
    
18. You can leave other fields blank or set to their default values. Click on the OK button to complete the configuration. This returns you to the 'Integration' tab of the Pro Cloud Server Configuration Client window.

Identify Enterprise Architect models to Polarion

On the 'Integration' tab of the Pro Cloud Server Configuration Client window, you will now see:

• On the lower left of the screen, the 'Data Providers' panel listing the Custom Integration for Polarion as a data Provider
• On the lower right of the screen, the ''Polarion' is bound to:' panel displaying a check list of the Enterprise Architect models from your Pro-enabled Database Manager(s)

You can either click on the checkbox against each Enterprise Architect model you want to bind to Polarion, or click on the to select all of them at once.

Click on the Exit button.

Restart the PCS Service to apply the changes you have made.

You can now go into one of your Enterprise Architect models and check the integration with Polarion.

Test the Integration

In Enterprise Architect open one of the models you have identified as being bound to Polarion.

1. Select the ribbon option Specialize > Tools > System Integration.
2. In the toolbar of the External Data window, click on the drop-down arrow to the right of the 'globe' icon.
3. Select 'Custom Integration' from the list.
   
4. Click on 'Polarion' in the breadcrumb trail, this represents the root of the Polarion repository.
   
5. Continue using the breadcrumb options to drill down into the Polarion projects and access Work Items (Tasks, Issues, etc).
   

Data Mapping

In order for Polarion and Enterprise Architect to smoothly exchange data items, you have to review and - where necessary - edit:

• What type of Polarion item corresponds to which type of Enterprise Architect element, and
• What property of a Polarion item corresponds to which property of an Enterprise Architect element.

These tasks are fully explained in the Configuration Help topic.

Review Polarion Data

When you tested the communication between Enterprise Architect and Polarion, on the External Data window, you used the breadcrumb trail to view lists of work items (e.g. Tasks).

If this list is too long, you can click on the 'Hamburger' icon in the window toolbar.

This menu provides options such as:

• 'Linked Items' to show only those Polarion items that are linked to Enterprise Architect elements
• 'Unlinked items' to show only those Polarion items that have not yet been linked to Enterprise Architect elements, or
• 'Items Linked to Current Context' to show only the Polarion items that are linked to the currently selected Enterprise Architect element

It's also possible to apply text based filters to the External Data table contents.

1. Right click the column header and select 'Toggle Filter Bar' (if it's not displayed already).
   
2. Type some text into the filter/search field just below the column name,
   

When selecting an item from the list each of the Properties window, Notes window, Inspector window and 'Discuss' tab of the Discuss & Review window have separate tabs or versions of the window to display any properties, notes, features and discussions (respectively) of the selected item. These are illustrated in the External Item Details Help topic.

Working with Polarion items and Enterprise Architect elements

Having created a working communication between Enterprise Architect and Polarion, you can:

• Create a new element in Enterprise Architect linked to a Polarion item
• Create a new Polarion item linked to an element in Enterprise Architect
• Link an existing element in Enterprise Architect to a Polarion item
• Update the Polarion item with changes to the Enterprise Architect element
• Update the Enterprise Architect element with changes to the Polarion item
• Update all linked Enterprise Architect elements with any changes to the Polarion items

These actions are all explained in the Linking Items Help topic.

Note, when creating a Polarion item from Enterprise Architect, it is placed in the Polarion Work Items group (as a new job to be done).

Learn More

• Integration Plug-ins
• Atlassian Access Tokens (Online resource)
• Create an Access Token (Online Resource)
• Troubleshooting