Objectives

The new learning objectives of this exercise are to create a repository connection to a GitLab repository on the Syndeia Web Dashboard (SWD), view the repository including properties, relations and search, and create a reference connection.

Preparation

This exercise assumes the student has

·         Syndeia Cloud 3.4 installed with a valid user account,

·         A valid user account to a GitLab repository, and

·         A valid user account to a at least one other on-line repository, e.g. JIRA.

The user can use any GitLab repository they have available.  Because the content of your GitLab repository will be different, the specific examples in the following exercise instructions are only a guide and example for your actions. It is generally advisable to carry out these exercises in a non-production repository, a “sandbox”, set up for training and practice purposes.

See Video 1.9 for an introduction to the Syndeia Web Dashboard.

Background – GitLab

As envisioned by Intercax, the Digital Thread is composed of inter-model connections between models in different repositories, which Syndeia creates and manages, and intra-model connections between elements in the same repository, which the individual tool creates and manages. As of Syndeia release 3.4, the Syndeia Web Dashboard can extract and display some model information from the GitLab repository. Figure 1 shows a tree view of this information, with labels identifying the GitLab element types. Note the different icons. The label color coding indicates how the GitLab element type is mapped to the Syndeia Cloud element types: Repository (green), Container (red), and Artifact (blue).

In the case of the Syndeia GitLab integration, the Relations table (Step 7) and the Digital Thread Explorer (Step 9 onwards) do not display any intra-model connection types, only inter-model connections.

This information is important in formulating and interpreting Syndeia graph queries. A more complete diagram of the GitLab data model as it is understood by Syndeia is available through the web dashboard help menu on the left.