RQS Draft User Manual
Originally released on June 12, 2013 (3rd edition)
This document describes general information and internal logic of the program RQS.
This user manual refers to RQS v.1.0.11.0 which is released on June 12, 2013. This program is still being developed so some moments can be differ from described in this manual. Check version of the RQS that you are using before reading this manual to avoid misunderstanding.
The content of this draft manual are incomplete and are subject to change by the author. This manual should be used as an introductory resource to the features and functionality of RQS program.
For additional information please contact author directly.
1 Introduction
1.1 License
1.2 Features
2 Installation
2.1 Requirements
2.2 Permissions
2.3 Build from source code
3 User interface and logic
3.1 Main window
3.2 Search requirements
3.3 Search history
3.4 Setup
4 Appendix
RQS is a program which allows to search the requirements in MS Excel (.xls) files which are created in special format.
RQS is published under GNU GPL license. This means that RQS is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
You can find text of license in appendix of this manual. Also the license is distributed as text file together with the program.
There are short list of features of the RQS:
- Search requirement(s) by FR ID, FR TMS Task, FR text;
- Complete or partially copy of search results to clipboard;
- Sort search results.
Installation is not required. Copy an executable file and .dll library to your PC and run it. The good choice is to create a new folder on your PC and copy mentioned files, license file and source code archive to it.
When you run RQS at the first time it performs searching of the requirements in all Excel files which are located in the same folder together with the RQS program. So, you need to copy all Excel files with requirements into folder where RQS was installed. Location of the directory with Excel files to search in can be changed to any other from Setup[1].
It is necessary to have Microsoft .NET 3.5 installed to run RQS.
RQS is designed to run on Windows platforms only. If you using another operation system like Linux you still have ability to run RQS by using wine.
There are two permissions required to run RQS:
- read and write to registry;
- access file system.
First permission is absolutely required because RQS uses registry to store system and user-defined parameters. Second is needed to read Excel files with requirements.
You can build your copy of RQS by yourself. There is no need to have Microsoft Visual Studio installed to do that. It can be done by using special script which can be found in archive together with source code called makefile.
There are three main options on the main window:
- main menu is used to switch between search, setup and about frames;
- search criteria options are used to specify search criteria and perform searching;
- search results are used to display found requirements.
- "Search by" drop down list
Select an option to specify column in Excel files which will be used for qualifying requirements.
- "Search for" input box
Define the search keyword or keywords into this field which will be used for requirements searching. This can be requirement number(s), tms task number(s) or some word(s). This field can be dropped down to see search history you are performed previously.
- "Search" button
Press "Search" button to start searching or for cancel searching.
- "Limit search results" check box
Leave this check box checked if you don't want to have big list of results.
RQS allows to search requirements by FR ID, FR TMS Task and FR text. You should specify search criteria by selecting appropriate option from the “Search by” list[2]. Then you should define search keyword(s). All searching is caseinsensitive.
Search keywords can be separated by comma or semicolon. In this case found requirements will be contain all specified keywords (AND logic). There is one more option available and can be used for searching groups of requirements by FR ID only. For this purpose specify two numbers separated by dash.
There are examples of search keywords:
When keyword is specified you need to press Enter or click “Search” to perform searching.
There is one more option in search criteria called “Limit search results”. If this option is enabled RQS will break searching in case more than 100 requirements are found[3]. Turn this option off if you really need to found all requirements. But the best way is to leave this option enabled, specify more clear search keywords and repeat searching in case more than 100 requirements are found.
Once you pressed the “Search” button it will be renamed to “Cancel” button. This means that you can stop searching. Note that search results will not be shown in such case.
You can access to search history using drop down list of search text box with mouse or using hotkey 'Ctrl+Space'. Highlight needed record and press 'Enter' to repeat searching or select record by mouse and press 'Search'.
History is saved when you are closing application and limited by 30 records.
Setup frame is used for changing default program parameters and consist of the blocks. Each block is used for controlling one of the program option.
Note that all changes of the parameters are applies immediately once you changes they. But permanent saving performs during closing RQS.
Following blocks are available:
- Location of the .xls files
Value of the parameter is displayed after “Current location” text and indicate the directory where Excel files with requirements are be stored. Value can changed using “Change location” hyperlink.
- Results limit
Value of the parameter controls the maximum number of search results and used together with “Limit search results” check box. Value can be changed by input new number.
- Table colors
Values of the parameter controls the colors of even and odd lines in the results grid for better reading. Values can be changed by selecting needed colors from the lists.
