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Definition

The Design Time Repository (DTR) is the repository of the SAP NetWeaver Development Infrastructure (NWDI). You use it to store files and folders. DTR allows synchronous or asynchronous work of more DTR servers in a landscape. In this way, you have always consistent versions of a resource, no matter which of the DTR servers you use. DTR provides a version history of a resource throughout each workspace in which it is checked out and changed, allowing you to have strong versioning control.

The DTR itself consists of two parts - the DTR client and the DTR server. From a logical point of view, the DTR uses files and folders for storage. The client part of the DTR uses the local file system.

Design Time Repository Architecture

There are different clients that you can use to work with the DTR:

  • SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio - you can perform all common tasks with DTR using the Eclipse-based client, that is, the Design Time Repository perspective.

  • DTR command line clients - for administrative tasks such as integrating files from one workspace into another, it can be executed in the command line client or in the administrator plug-in.

  • Web browser - you have access to the contents of the DTR using a Web browser and any other WebDAV enabled client.

The server part handles the file versioning. It uses a relational database to store all files. The resources are stored in a database. The resources are accessed in the context of a workspace; the versions are managed in the context of activities.

Integration

All data is transferred between the DTR client and server using the HTTP protocol according to WebDAV and DeltaV+.

WebDAV and DeltaV

SAP uses the open standards to communicate with the DTR server:

  • WebDAV enables developer teams to use a Web server as easily as if it was the local file server.

    For more information, see www.webdav.org .

  • DeltaV supplies WebDAV with versioning support.

    For more information, see www.webdav.org/deltav .

Features

DTR provides mechanisms for managing large-scale, multi-user application development that is distributed across geographical locations; it is based on access using files and folders. It supports development landscapes with multiple repositories, where resources and changes can be propagated between these repositories. The DTR provides:

  • Storage independent of file type.

  • Comfortable check-in/check-out mechanisms.

  • High performance through adaptive delta storage of files - only files currently in use are stored as full versions, all other versions are stored as deltas; they are restored in case they are needed again.

  • Comfortable upload mechanisms, to allow saving resources on the server without checking them in.

Key features of configuration management and distributed development support include the ability to:

  • Manage different versions of a development resource in the same repository.

  • Manage multiple states of a software component by modifiable workspaces and fixed baselines.

  • Organize development objects in hierarchical workspace folders containing workspaces.

  • Manage concurrent modifications done by multiple users on the same resource through concurrency control.

  • Track changes in activities and grouping modifications into logical transactional units.

  • Manage distributed development of the same resource in different workspaces, which may reside in the same repository or in different repositories present in different geographical locations.

  • Automatically detect conflicts between competing versions of a file in one or more workspaces - even across repository boundaries - through a global version history that is transported together with the file content.

The propagation management features provide fast and safe change management across workspace and physical repository boundaries:

  • Sequence-independent propagation of changes between workspaces even across physical repository boundaries.

  • Automatic detection of conflicts between imported changes and modifications done in your local workspace.

  • Tool support for resolving these conflicts, for example, by merging the imported changes with your modifications.

These key features of DTR considerably reduce development time and costs. You get even more benefits through its integration with the Developer Studio, which provides a complete infrastructure for development.