StarTeam SDK New Features

The R2 release adds several new SDK Features.

SDK apps now have access to the credential storage system in the StarTeam toolbar. The server object has new static and instance methods to let you determine if a cached authentication is available and allow you to log in using the stored credentials. You can't actually get the credentials in your code, but you call do server.autoLogOn() to use them. Randy mentioned that there are anti-spoofing mechanisms in the toolbar to prevent people from getting at your credentials.

There are a new series of objects collectively known as the CheckoutManager that give you access to capabilities previously reserved for Borland apps. For example, you can now enable MPX checkouts from the SDK. You can also get checkout events and exceptions. You can route checkouts to java or .NET streams rather than files. You can intercept the data, munge it with a Filter, then pass it back to the SDK (carefully...if you're doing MPX, your filter needs to be thread-safe, as the downloads can be happening in parallel). And, you can cancel a long set of downloads at any time.

There's better support for dealing with Not-In-View items or folders. There's also work in progress for the client and SDK to notice the difference between Not-In-View and Deleted-From-Project (aka Obsolete). Currently, the SDK can't tell the difference.
You can now do eventing without MPX, sort of. The SDK provides you with classes to handle the polling you would normally do in the background with heavy optimization.

Randy dropped a couple more hints. The new merge tool will definitely be useable from the SDK. They also have a WinForms implementation of the CPC in house, and they're debating what to do with it. They're looking at doing view merges in a temporary workspace, allowing you to build and test your merged code before committing it to the repository. Sweet.