Conversion add-on to open non-standard ReqIF files and to import MS Word document files

RIF, ReqIF

Some ReqIF files are not following the format standard. ReqEdit can still open these files by converting to a compatible format. Following formats are supported:

IBM Rational DOORS compatible ReqIF file to ReqIF 1.0.1 format

Rational DOORS Next Generation

RIF 1.1a to ReqIF 1.0.1 format

The ReqEdit editor supports the ReqIF Format coming from tools that are on the market. So the file attachments and images are stored in the archives as they are (no conversion of any type necessary) and for formatting we are using the XHTML tags that are designated for this purpose.

Not all tool vendors share this spirit, and they have their own kind of implementations that need to be adapted. One of these tools, IBM Rational DOORS, uses for external file reference an OLE wrapping around each of the files. This is ReqIF compatible, but not the standard.

ReqEdit needs to un-wrap this OLE object to get to the original file. This is happening during the import. ReqEdit creates a new file, with all the original files inside. The filename is kept as the original one, but has an additional suffix called “_imported” in the name. This imported file can be edited. The linked external files can be opened with an application for the specific file type.

In order to edit files coming from DOORS (directly or via Atego Requirement Synchronizer) you need to execute an import, by clicking on File->Import.

NOTE:  IBM Rational DOORS version. 9.5.2 and Atego Requirements Synchronizer 2.4 have been tested.

By clicking the “Import” menu item, a wizard will be opened and guide you through the import process.

On the first page of the wizard you will find some information about the wizard and a link to the documentation. By selecting the “Do not show me this start page next time” check-box, this page will not be shown anymore on the wizard start-up.

In the next page of the wizard, the format of the file you want to import has to be selected. The available options are “IBM Rational DOORS© compatible ReqIF format” and “RIF 1.1a format”.

The following page lets you select the file you want to import and also the destination path and name for your output file.

After selecting the file paths and clicking next, the program will do a pre-validation check and verify the objects IDs. Some valid RIF IDs may not be valid in ReqIF format, thus creating invalid files. It is possible that some requirements management tools can also generate invalid ReqIF IDs. If some IDs are not valid, the wizard will ask if you want them to be fixed or not. If you agree, the wizard will fix the IDs and after the validation, you can continue with the importing process, or else the wizard will stop.

On the next page, the program will check the file structure and compare it against the ReqIF or RIF schema. If the process is successful, the file can be imported. If you click on the “Next” button, the file will be imported.

After the file is imported, a confirmation page will be displayed. You can select the “Open the imported file” check-box if you want to open the file after the wizard is closed.

NOTE: If you import a file from RIF format, another page containing mapping tables will be displayed after the pre-validation. This page contains tabs for each file (in case of a RIF archive) and for each document contained in the xml files. For each document you can set the destination attribute name for every source attribute.

MS Office Word Import

Note: a table mapping file is needed for importing Word files

Structure of the Word file

Simple structuring of the document is needed to mark headline depth which will be converted to nested objects

H1…H5

Table mapping

To convert tabular data to objects with attributes a manual mapping is needed that will be used throughout the document

ID | Renamed ID | integer
Heading | ReqIF.ChapterName | text
Text| ReqIF.Text | text
Comment | Comment | text
Integer | Integer | integer
Real | Real | real: .
Date | Date | date: dd.MM.yyyy

The mapping syntax is <table column name> | <target attribute name> | <attribute type>

Where attribute types can be

Word Import example

Mapping file

ID | Renamed ID | integer
Heading | ReqIF.ChapterName | text
Text| ReqIF.Text | text
Comment | Comment | text
Integer | Integer| integer
Real | Real | real: .
Date | Date | date: dd.MM.yyyy

Resulting ReqIF import will look similar to the following example