Part 5: Automating the entire process

So what have we achieved so far?

Well we now have the ability to drop and recreate an entire database including tables, packages, sequences, objects and load test data and run a complete set of unit tests and also email the results back to yourself!

You hopefully now see the power of the Daily Build. If your software is built and rebuilt on a daily basis problems will reveal themselves instantly, allowing you to fix them as soon as they appear (not at the end of the project when the deadline is upon you).

So here’s the icing on the cake.

Rather than having to start the Daily Build manually every day, you can instead, call the ANT build file from a simple .bat file. This can then be scheduled to run on a regular basis (usually at night) and so email you the results of the build when you get to work in the morning.

It’s worth mentioning again that this “Agile” technique affords the developers the comfort that a “branch” can be taken at anytime and you can be sure that you have a stable piece of software. This is ideal for the fast-paced world of e-commerce where rapid releases and quick changes to functionality are require to stay competitive.