1. NITRC USER GUIDE INTRODUCTION

1.1. Getting Started

This section describes the basic functions that allow you to access and utilize the other functions within the NITRC system.  It also walks you through the NITRC Home page.

1.2. User Functions

This section describes how different users may take advantage of NITRC for their specific purposes.

1.3. Tool/Resource Functions

This section explains the functions of the NITRC system related to any particular tool or resource.

1.4. Site-Wide Functions

This section explains the functions available to visitors and all users of the NITRC system.

2. GETTING STARTED

2.1. NITRC Users

The NITRC community is made up of researchers, developers, academics, clinicians, administrators, scholars, and others interested in finding, developing, improving, and sharing functional and structural neuroimaging tools and resources.  Depending upon the tool or resource, site users may fill different roles as they utilize different functions.

NITRC has been developed to have roles with predefined permissions.  This allows users to easily move from acting in one role in one tool/resource (for example, acting as a team member) to another role in another tool/resource (for example, acting as a developer or reference). Below is a general definition of the roles to help you understand your options:

Unregistered user: Everyone starts out as an unregistered user. Unregistered users, or observers, may see the NITRC Home page and access NITRC Community functionality.  An observer may visit public tools and resources, read postings by others in public forums, read wikis and news, browse documentation, and download tools and resources. For public tools and resources observers may view the feature request and bug trackers to see what may be coming or what may be a problem in a tool or resource.  If you are an observer or a registered user who has not logged in and you attempt to perform any function that requires registration, you will be taken to the Login page.

Registered user: Registered users may do everything unregistered users can do.  In addition, registered users may receive e-mail about changes in tools and resources they are following, respond to surveys, rate and review public tools and resources, contribute to public discussion forums, and submit documentation to the NITRC Community that may be posted at the discretion of the NITRC Community administrator. A registered user may request to join tool and resource development teams, and as a tool/resource member or developer, he may be given additional capabilities by the tool/resource administrator. A registered user may also register his own tool or resource with NITRC, and once approved by a NITRC administrator, become a tool/resource administrator for that tool or resource.

Member: Members are registered users who have been granted permission to join a tool or resource development team.  A registered user may request to join any public tool or resource by clicking the “Request to Join Development Team” link on the Tool/Resource Summary page.  The tool/resource administrator reviews the request and accepts or rejects it.  The level at which the member is allowed to participate is set by the tool/resource administrator through the role the member is assigned.  A member may be able to fully participate in discussion forums, submit documents, and edit wikis. A member may be able to suggest enhancements to tools and resources and report bugs through the trackers.  A member may also be able to administer the document manager.

Reference: References are members who have elected to be a point of contact for the tool or resource and have been assigned the role of “Reference” by the tool/resource administrator. If other users have questions about a tool or resource, they may contact anyone listed as a reference for that tool or resource.

Developer: Developers are members who have chosen to help build or improve the tool or resource and have been granted permission to do so by the tool/resource administrator. Developers may download and upload code for a tool or resource, offering changes and enhancements. They may also be assigned specific tasks by the tool/resource administrator, or they may volunteer to take on tasks in the tool/resource task manager.

Tool/Resource administrator: Tool/resource administrators are decision makers for the tools and resources on the NITRC site. Using NITRC, they can manage their tools and resources more easily. They decide who may be a member or developer, which suggestions for enhancements will be accepted, which bugs will be assigned to which developers, which documents and files will be published for their tools and resources, and what news is presented for their tools and resources. They also have the ability to delegate these responsibilities, or limit them to certain users. A tool or resource may have only one tool/resource administrator or it may have many administrators. The person who first registers the tool or resource is the default administrator, and that tool/resource administrator may designate other tool/resource administrators.

2.2. NITRC Home Page

Use a supported browser to go to www.nitrc.org. Once you are using the NITRC site, you may access the NITRC Home page from other NITRC pages by clicking the “Home” menu link below the NITRC logo.

The NITRC Home page contains a lot of useful information at a glance. On this page you may read about NITRC and what it does, catch up on the latest NITRC news, or scan some interesting statistics about NITRC.  The statistics show you how many tools and resources are currently in NITRC, how many people are registered to use the site, and which tools and resources are new.

Latest News: This section shows the latest news with the most recent post first. News that is displayed on the Home page is selected from submissions directly to the NITRC Community and from news posted for individual public tools and resources.  Selections are approved by the NITRC News Team for publication on the Home page. The five most recent posts are shown with some descriptive information, including the author, the date of submission, the tool/resource for which the news was submitted, and the first few lines of text. To read the full news article or submit comments on the article, click on the article title or on the "[Read More/Comment]" link.  (Note:  If the full article is already displayed, then the link will just read "[Comment].")  The five previous posts are also shown with just the article title and submission date. To see older posts, click "[News archive]" at the bottom of this section.

If you are a registered user, you may submit news for the NITRC Community that may be posted on the Home page if approved by the NITRC News Team.  At the bottom of this section, click "[Submit News]" as a registered user to send your NITRC Community news to the NITRC News Team.  You will receive an e-mail message indicating whether this news was accepted or rejected for publication.  If the news items was accepted, it will be displayed in the Home page.

Hosted Tools/Resources: This is the total number of approved public tools and resources that have registered with NITRC. This statistic does not include private tools or resources, and it does not include recently registered tools and resources that have not yet been approved.  To view all the hosted public tools and resources, click the "Tools & Resources" menu link.

Registered Users: This is the total number of active users who have registered with NITRC. This statistic does not include users who are pending, deleted, or suspended.

Recently Registered Tools/Resources: This is a list of the last ten public tools and resources that have registered with NITRC and have been approved. The month and day that the tool or resource submitted its registration with NITRC is included in the list. You may click the tool/resource name to get the Summary page for that tool or resource.

The NITRC Home page is also the place where you may access NITRC Community Web feeds.  Your browser's feed icon is enabled for the NITRC Home page when using a browser that provides Web feed support.  Three RSS feeds are available for the NITRC Community:

NITRC Community News RSS: Contains the news items that are posted to the NITRC Home page.  These are news items that are of general interest to the NITRC Community and have been approved for publication by the NITRC news team.  The most recently published news item is displayed first.

All Tool/Resource News RSS: Contains all the news items that have been posted for any public NITRC tools and resources.  The most recently published news item is displayed first.

Tool/Resource Listing RSS: Lists all the approved public tools and resources registered with NITRC.  The most recently registered and approved tool/resource is displayed first.

2.3. Registering as a New User

To register as a new user, click the “Register Now” link in the banner below the NITRC logo. You will be taken to a form where you may fill in the following data:

Required Fields:

Login name: You need a unique user name to access to the system. Login names must be all lower case. If the name you choose is already in use, the system will tell you. Be sure to use a name you can remember; the system will not remind you if you have forgotten your login name, and you will have to set up a new account and reset all your preferences.

Password: Passwords must be at least six characters.

First name, last name: If you use a middle name, include it in the first name field.

Email address: Your e-mail address is the one to which NITRC will send a confirmation e-mail message to activate your registration. When you receive the confirmation message, you will need to connect to NITRC using the URL in the message to activate your account.

Suggested Fields:

Time zone: The NITRC site uses GMT as the default, but you may want to change your time zone, as all dates are shown relative to the time zone.  (For example, if your time zone is EST and you register at 4:43 pm, with your account set to GMT your registration time will show as 20:43 instead of 16:43.)

Receive email about site updates: This box is checked by default. If you leave this checked, you’ll periodically receive information about the NITRC site. The traffic is very low; we recommend that you activate this option.

Receive NITRC Community mailings: This box is unchecked by default.  Check this box if you are interested in other notices of interest to the NITRC community.

Click the “Register” button and your registration is automatically accepted on NITRC—it does not have to be approved by a NITRC site administrator. Within minutes you will receive an e-mail message with a URL to click on to establish your account. When you do, you will be asked to log in, and then you will see a welcome screen; NITRC is happy to have you join!

NOTE: If you happen to lose the e-mail message with the URL to establish your account, do not submit a new registration. At the bottom of the New User Registration page, and at the bottom of the Login page, is a “Resend confirmation email to a pending account” link. Click this link, enter your username, and click the “Submit” button. A new account registration e-mail will be sent to you to complete the registration process.

2.4. Logging In

You may log in to NITRC by clicking the “Log In” link in the banner below the NITRC logo. You will be taken to the Login page where you may enter your username and password. Click the “Log In” button to be taken to your personal page.

If you have forgotten your password, click the “Lost your password?” link and fill in your username. You will receive an e-mail message at the address associated with your account. Click on the URL in that message to set a new password.

2.5. Logging Out

To log out from NITRC, click the “Log Out” link in the banner below the NITRC logo.

2.6. Registering a New Tool or Resource

You must be logged in to register a new tool or resource.  Click the “Register New Tool or Resource” sub-menu link below the “Tools & Resources” menu link. You need to insert the following information to register a tool or resource:

Required Fields:

Full Name: The official name of the tool or resource. This is the name that will be displayed on the NITRC site.  As the tool/resource administrator, you may change this name after registration through your Admin Edit Public Info page.

Purpose and Summary: A brief summary of the tool or resource. This description will be used by the NITRC team to decide whether to approve your tool or resource. This is not the public description—that is entered below.

License: The license (if any) for your tool or resource. If your tool/resource license is not in the list of existing license, select "Add new license" below the list and enter a name and a description of your license in the appropriate boxes.

Public Description: A description of the tool or resource. This description will appear on the Tool/Resource Summary page.  As the tool/resource administrator, you may change this description after registration through your Admin Edit Public Info page.

Unix Name: This is how the NITRC database will identify your tool or resource. This name must respect the following rules:

1. It cannot match the Unix name of any other tool or resource.
2. Its length must be between 3 and15 characters.
3. It must be lower case.
4. Only characters, numbers, and dashes are accepted.

The Unix name will be used in NITRC URLs.

NOTE: Although you might change the public name of your tool or resource as it develops, the Unix name can never change.

SCM: You have a choice of two source code management systems for your tool or resource. You may select CVS or SVN. Once you have registered your tool or resource, you will not be able to change the SCM.

Optional Fields:

Forge Import: NITRC has the ability to automatically pull in pages from an existing GForge-based site.  If your tool or resource already resides in SourceForge or a GForge environment, you may provide your existing site's URL and specific Project ID here. NITRC will automatically set up your tool/resource links to redirect to your "Forge" site.  In the event that invalid links to your SourceForge or GForge environment are generated, the NITRC moderator will contact you directly to complete the registration process.  Once your registration is approved, you can remove or modify any of the links to the "Forge" site through your Tool/Resource Administration Custom Tool Menu Entries page.  Please refer to that section of this User Guide for more information on managing NITRC tool/resource menu links.

Click the “Submit” button to send the tool/resource registration to the NITRC site administrators for approval. This approval step is to ensure that only functional and structural neuroimaging tools and resources are part of NITRC. When the tool or resource is approved, you will receive an e-mail message from the NITRC site administrators confirming that the tool or resource is active.

Private Tools/Resources:  All tools/resources registered with NITRC are initially made available to the public, but tool/resource administrators do have the option to make their tools and resources available only to members.  To make your tool or resource private, click the "Admin" link in your Tool/Resource menu.  To the right of the Admin page, in the Group Members section, click the "Edit Observer" button.  Here you change the tool/resource privileges setting from "Public" to "Private."  If you later wish to make your tool/resource available to the public, follow these same steps, and change the tool/resource privileges setting from "Private" to "Public."

2.7. Becoming a Tool/Resource Member

Public Tools/Resources:  Some tools and resources restrict collaboration activities to users who are members of their group.  As a registered user, you may request to join a public tool or resource in NITRC so that you may fully participate in that group.  To the right of the Tool/Resource Summary page, in the Member Info section, click the "Request to Join Development Team" link.  The information you submit here will be sent to the tool/resource administrator who will approve or reject your request.  You will receive an e-mail notification of whether your request was approved or rejected.

Private Tools/Resources:  Since private tools and resources are not available to non-members to request to join, new members must be added by an administrator.  As a tool/resource administrator, click the "Admin" link in your Tool/Resource menu.  To the right of the Admin page, in the Group Members section, click the "Add Users From List" link.  Select the user you want to make a member, and click the "Finish" button.  Select the role for the user, and click the "Add All" button.

3. USER FUNCTIONS

3.1. My Personal Page

Your personal page is your customized view of NITRC, and this page appears when you first log in and when you click the “My NITRC” main menu link or the “My Personal Page” sub-menu link. On this page you will see:

My Assigned Items: This list shows the Tracker items assigned to you. Only currently open items are listed with the most recently entered item shown first. Click on the item name to get more details.

My Submitted Items: This list shows the Tracker items you submitted.  Only currently open items are listed with the most recently entered item shown first. Click on the item name to get more details.

Monitored Forums: This list shows the Forums you are monitoring. Forums are discussion groups about specific tools or resources. If you choose to monitor a forum, every time there is a new post to the forum you will be sent an e-mail with the direct link to the new message. To search or post to a forum, click on its name.

Monitored FileModules: FileModules are tool/resource releases. You may monitor FileModules to receive e-mail when new releases are issued. This section lists the FileModules you are monitoring.

My Tasks: This list shows the Task items assigned to you.  Only currently open items are listed. Click on the item name to get more details.

My Bookmarks: This list shows your bookmarked pages. When you click on a bookmark, you’ll go directly to the page you bookmarked. When you click the “Edit” link to the right of the bookmark, you can edit your bookmark title or URL.  Click on the trash can to the left of the bookmark to delete it.

My Tools/Resources: This list shows the active tools and resources in which you are a member. When you click on a tool or resource name, you will go to the Summary page for that tool or resource. Click on the trash can to the left of the tool/resource name to remove yourself from that tool or resource.  (If you are a tool/resource administrator, the trash can icon has a red X over it; you must drop your administrator status before you can remove yourself from this tool or resource.  This can be done by clicking the “Admin” menu link in your Tool/Resource menu.  In the Group Members box on the Tool/Resource Administration page, you may update your role from Admin to another role that does not have administrator privileges.)

3.2. Bookmark This Page

This feature allows you to bookmark the page you are currently viewing.  Click the “Bookmark This Page” sub-menu link under the “My NITRC” main menu link to bookmark a page.  Your bookmarks are displayed on your personal page.  There your bookmarks can be edited or deleted.

3.3. Diary and Notes

This feature allows you to keep notes on the NITRC site.  Click the “Diary & Notes” sub-menu link under the “My NITRC” main menu link to access the Diary and Notes page.  You may make a note public, or keep it private. If you make it public, those who are monitoring your notes will receive notification any time you add a public note.  To edit an existing note, click on the summary name in your list of notes, make your changes, and submit.   Notes cannot be deleted.

3.4. Account Maintenance

When you click the “Account Maintenance” sub-menu link under the “My NITRC” main menu link, you go to a page where you may change your personal information and your preferences. You may change everything except the registration date, user ID (which is created by the system), and your login name. If you change the e-mail address NITRC has on file for you, you will have to confirm the new e-mail address by responding to an e-mail message sent to this address.

The Account Maintenance page also allows you to view your user profile and establish your skills and experience profile.

3.4.1 User Profile

You may access your user profile by clicking the “View My User Profile” link toward the top of the Account Maintenance page.

Your user profile is what other users will see when they want information about you.  The profile information is taken from your account data.  Your profile includes a link to your skills and experience profile (which displays only if you have made it public), your name, address, e-mail address, and phone number.  More information about your skills and experience profile is provided in the next section.  If a user wishes to send you an e-mail message, he may click on the e-mail address displayed to get a form for sending a message.

The User Profile is also where other users may view and request to monitor your public diary entries.  Users view your public diary entries by clicking the “View Diary & Notes” link in the Diary and Notes section of the page.  Users request to monitor your public diary entries by clicking the “Monitor this Diary” link in the same section.  To stop monitoring a diary, the user must click "Monitor this Diary" again.

3.4.2. Skills and Experience Profile

You may access your skills and experience profile by clicking the “Edit My Skills and Experience Profile” link toward the top of the Account Maintenance page.

In this section you may enter your skills, most recent investigations, training, projects, proposals, or other relevant experience. You can set your skills and experience profile to public, so everyone may see it, or to private, so that only you can view it.

When you add a skill, you must enter:

• A name (title) for the skill, such as “PHP coding,” “Oracle DBA,” “Technical writing,” “QA testing,” etc.
• A description of the skill up to 255 characters.
• The period in which you gained the skill (month/year to month/year).
• The type of skill—project, training, proposal, or investigation.

Any skills you enter may be edited or deleted at any time from this same page.

4. TOOL/RESOURCE FUNCTIONS

The tool/resource functions become available through a separate menu that is displayed when you select a tool or a resource.  You may select any tool or resource displayed on the Home page, or you may look for a particular tool or resource. Tools and Resources can be found by using the search mechanism in the banner or by browsing by category, or by top downloads through the sub-menu links under the “Tools & Resources” main menu link.  If you are a member of a tool or a resource you may easily access that tool or resource from My Personal Page in the My Tools/Resources section.

4.1. Summary

Clicking the tool/resource menu “Summary” link shows summarized information about the current tool or resource. The following information is displayed:

Tool/Resource General Information: Description and general information about the tool or resource. 

Ratings & Reviews: The tool/resource description is followed by a summary of the user-provided ratings and reviews.  For detailed user-provided ratings and reviews, click the "User Reviews" link in this section.  If the tool or resource has any published reviews, there is a "Published Reviews" link next to the "User Reviews" link.  Click "Published Reviews" to view the reviews in Community Docs.  Users can review a tool or resource by clicking on the tool/resource "Contribute Reviews/Ratings" menu link.

Attribute List Classification: This section also includes the attributes set by the administrator for classification in the Attribute List.  (The Attribute List is a tree that allows users to browse for tools and resources by drilling down through particular attributes that interest them.  The Attribute List is accessed by clicking the “Tools & Resources” main menu link.)  To get a general description of an attribute, click the "i" icon next to the attribute name. To see a list of tools and resources assigned to a particular attribute, click the attribute name.  The tool/resource administrator manages the classification through the Admin page.

Registration Date: The date and time the tool or resource was registered is also displayed.  This is the date and time when the tool/resource administrator submitted the request to register the tool or resource.

Statistics: You can find out more about how active the tool or resource is by clicking on “statistics.” On the Tool/Resource Activity page you can see graphs of opened and closed tracker items, posted forum messages, submitted documents, opened and closed tasks, and downloads.

NOTE: The tool/resource administrator can choose to not display this information.  As the tool/resource administrator, go to the Admin Edit Public Info page and uncheck the box next to "Use Statistics" in the Active Features section.

RSS Feeds: The “RSS feeds” link takes you to a page that will allow you to add a Web feed to your browser to track what is happening in the tool or resource.  Web feeds are available for tool/resource news and file releases. 

If you are using a browser that supports detection of Web feeds, you can also access the feeds by clicking on your browser's feed icon from any of the tool/resource pages.

Images: The “images” link takes you to a page that shows any images that an administrator has uploaded for this tool or resource.  Images may be laboratory or tool/resource logos, software screenshots, or other images.  The tool/resource administrator can manage the images through the Admin Manage Images page.

Help Wanted: If this tool or resource has any posted jobs, that also will be indicated here along with a link to a list of those jobs.  The tool/resource administrator posts jobs through the Admin Post Jobs page and manages jobs through the Admin Edit Jobs page.

Member Info: List of administrators and members.  This section gives you the names of the tool/resource administrator(s) and other members involved in the tool or resource.  Each name is a link to that user’s public profile. By clicking on “View Members” you can see the role of each member and a link to that user’s skills and experience profile.  If you are a registered user and would like to participate in this tool or resource, you may click on “Request to Join Development Team”. Your name will be sent to the tool/resource administrator for approval.

Latest File Releases: Latest file releases published via the File Release System (FRS).  The tool/resource FRS administrators can apply different levels of access to packages and releases for their tool or resource.  Observers and non-members can only access active releases in active public packages.  Tool/resource members can access active releases in active public and private packages.  FRS administrators can access all releases in all packages for their tool or resource.   Only the latest release for a package is shown on the Summary page.  To see more releases and all the files in a release, click  "View All Tool/Resource Files" at the bottom of the list.

You may view the release notes for a particular listed release by clicking the notepad icon.  If you are a registered user, you may monitor the releases in the package by clicking the envelope icon.  When you monitor a package, you will receive e-mail messages whenever there are changes to the package.  If you would like to download a file from the package, click "download."  On the File Release System page, click the name of the file that you want to download.

Public Areas: NITRC tracks the number of Tracker items, the number of messages in public forums, the number of approved documents, the number of mailing lists, the number of surveys, and the number of source code repository commits/updates and adds for each tool or resource.  This section shows these counts and provides links to the tool/resource functions.  (Note:  The source code repository counts are updated nightly; whereas, all other counts are updated as items are added/removed/approved.)

This section of the page also contains a link to the tool/resource home page.  Upon registration, the home page link is set to this Summary page.  The tool/resource administrator may use the Admin Edit Public Info page to change the home page link to go to an external Web site.

Latest News: This section of the page shows the news headlines and allows you to click through to the story. As a registered user, you may also create or join a discussion forum related to any news item.  If you are a tool/resource administrator, you will have a “[Submit News]” link at the bottom of this section.

4.2. Reviews and Ratings

Clicking the tool/resource menu “Reviews/Ratings” link or the "Display Reviews/Ratings" sub-menu link shows a detailed list of all ratings and reviews for the tool or resource. The summarized ratings are displayed first, including the number of reviews that contributed to the ratings, followed by all the individual reviews.  If the tool or resource has any published reviews, there is a "Published Reviews" link next to the "User Reviews" link.  Click "Published Reviews" to view the reviews in Community Docs.

If you are a registered user, you may provide your review of a tool or resource.  Click the “Contribute Reviews/Ratings” sub-menu link.  Select your rating, provide any comments, suggestion, or recommendations, and submit the review.  Your association with this review is kept confidential by the NITRC team, but if you are willing to be contacted regarding this review, you should include your username within the comments text box.  Other NITRC users may perform a “People” search with your username to find your user profile, which includes any contact information you have chosen to provide.

4.3. Administration

Clicking the tool/resource menu “Admin” link allows you to administer the tool or resource.  Only members with full administrator privileges will see this menu link.  By default, the person who registers the tool or resource is given administrator privileges.  Other members may be granted administrator rights by a tool/resource administrator.

4.3.1. Admin

The Tool/Resource Admin page presents the you with Misc. Tool/Resource Information, Attribute List Classification, Tool Admin, Group Members, Pending Requests, and Edit Roles.

Misc. Tool/Resource Information: This shows the public description of the tool or resource and the location of the tool/resource home page, which other users can access from your Tool/Resource Summary page.  The description and home page link can be modified through the Admin Edit Public Info page.  When you first register your tool or resource, the home page link is set to your Tool/Resource Summary page.  If you have an external Web site, you should provide that link.  Go to the Edit Public Info page to change the home page location.

The “Download Your Nightly SCM Tree Snapshot” link allows you to download the nightly compressed collection of SCM files for your tool or resource.

Attribute List Classification: In order for people to be able to find your tool or resource, it must be classified in the Attribute List. The Attribute List is a tree of attributes by which like tools and resources are grouped. Click the “Edit” link in the Attribute List Classification section to select up to 15 classifications for each attribute. After you submit the selections you will be returned to the Tool/Resource Admin page. Attribute List classifications may be changed at any time.

Tool Admin: This section provides links to the administration pages for the tool/resource functions.

Group Members: This displays the names of the members participating in the tool or resource development team, and it allows the tool/resource administrator to add members or delete them. To add a member, enter the login name into the box provided, select a role, and click the “Add User” button; or follow the “Add Users From List” link to get a list of registered users who can be added to the tool or resource.  To remove a group member, click the “Remove” button to the right of the name. To change a user’s role, select a new role next to the user’s name and click the “Update” button.  (Note:  Every tool or resource must have an administrator, so you may not change the role of a lone administrator.) To change permissions for an observer, click the “Edit Observer” button and you will be presented with a page for making tool/resource functions accessible to the observer.

Pending Requests: This section displays the names of users who have requested to join the tool or resource development team. You may reject the request by clicking the “Reject” button to the right of the user’s name, or accept the request by selecting a role for the user and clicking the “Accept” button.

Edit Roles: Certain permissions for user roles may be edited by selecting a role and clicking the “Edit Role” button.  You may then change the name of the role and set permissions for the file release system, the source control repository, the document manager, forum management (as well as permissions for individual forums), tracker management (as well as permissions for individual trackers), and task management (as well as permissions for individual task categories). You may also set tool or resource-wide administrative permissions.

New roles can also be created.  Click the “Add Role” link to create a new role.  You must enter a name for the role and define the permissions for that role. Roles may be created, but cannot be deleted. All roles inherit the observer permissions as minimums.

4.3.2. Edit Public Info

This page enables you to change the basic information and functionality available for your tool or resource.  You may modify the tool or resource (group) name, description, and tool/resource home page link that are displayed on the Tool/Resource Summary page.  (Note that the home page link is initially set to your Summary page.  If you have an external Web site, you should provide that home page link here.)  You may also activate or deactivate the built-in NITRC functions for your tool or resource.  Most of these functions are accessed through your tool/resource menu.  The available NITRC built-in functions are:

Mailing Lists: If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "Mailing Lists" link.  You can create mailing lists that any NITRC user can subscribe to.  You can also create private mailing lists that only your members may subscribe to.

Surveys: If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "Surveys" link.  You can create surveys to poll NITRC users for information.

Forums: If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "Forums" link.  Three discussion forums are automatically created for your tool/resource, and you can create other discussion forums as desired.  Each forum can be open to all NITRC users or restricted to your members.

Task Manager: If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "Tasks" link.  You can manage work that needs to be done for your tool/resource similar to MS Project.

Source Code Repository (SCM): If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "Source Code" link.  You may use NITRC as your version control repository for all your source code.

News: If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "News" link.  You can post news bulletins that will be displayed on your Summary page.  These bulletins may also be selected by the NITRC news team for display on the NITRC Home page.

Doc Manager: If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "Docs" link.  You and members of your tool/resource can upload documents that all NITRC users can view.

Tracker: If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "Tracker" link.  You can manage items that need to be tracked, like bugs or feature requests for your tool or resource.  All NITRC users can view these items, but only registered uses can submit items and comment on them.  Only designated members of your tool/resource can modify tracking information.

File Release System (FRS): If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "Files" link.  You can upload software that other NITRC users can download and use.

Statistics: If checked, your Summary page will display a link to tool/resource statistics.  The Statistics page shows graphs of activity for your tool/resource, including opened and closed tracker items, posted forum messages, submitted documents, opened and closed tasks, and downloads.

One Click Backup: If checked, NITRC will create a nightly backup of your tool/resource.  You must set up a virtual machine to upload and view a backup of your tool/resource.

CVS 2 Tracker: (Only displayed if CVS was chosen for source control management.) If checked, NITRC will look to link your CVS log messages to Trackers and Tasks when files are committed to your CVS repository.  If your CVS log message contains text in the form [#NNN] for Tracker (for example, [#54] or [#243]) and [TNNN] for Tasks (for example, [T68] or [T132]), the message will be shown on the Tracker or Task Detail page with links to the involved files.

MediaWiki Plugin: If checked, your tool/resource menu will have a "MediaWiki" link.  You can provide wiki pages that all NITRC users can view and your members can contribute to.  You can also create private wiki pages that only members can view and edit.

In addition, you may link to your own tool/resource functions.  Click "External Links" to get a page where can enter the URLs for your external functions.  Refer to the Custom Tool Menu Entries section below for more information on that page.

The Edit Public Info page also allows you to set the e-mail address to which notifications of document submissions are sent.

4.3.3. Manage Images

The Image feature is an important publicity tool.  You can build branding awareness by uploading your laboratory logo or your tool/resource logo.  You can also post images of your software in action, highlighting features you believe will most interest potential users.

Existing Images: Any images that you have already uploaded are displayed in this section.  If an image has been made the default image, it is highlighted by a red box and the "Make Default" checkbox is checked.  The default image is displayed on your Tool/Resource Summary page.  If you would like set or change the default image, check the "Make Default" box for the image that you want displayed on the Summary page, and click the "Update" button.  If you do not want any of your uploaded images displayed on your Summary page, then make sure all the "Make Default" boxes are unchecked.

An image description is not required, but may be useful.  Users access your uploaded images by clicking on the default image or the "images" link displayed on your Tool/Resource Summary page.  The description is displayed below any image that they enlarge.  If you would like to change the description of an image, make the change to the "Description" field, and then click the "Update" button. 

If you would like to delete an image, make sure you check the "I'm Sure" box, and then click the "Delete" button.

Add New Image: You may add a maximum of six images.  In order to add a new image, either enter the file location or click the "Browse" button to select the file.  The file must be a GIF, JPEG, or PNG that is no larger than 500kb.  We suggest that the image has a resolution between 150x150 pixels and 640x480 pixels.  You may enter a description for the image, and you may set it as the default image if you want it displayed on your Tool/Resource Summary page.  Click the "Add" button to upload the image.

4.3.4. Tool/Resource History

This page presents a history of the tool or resource, indicating dates for major changes such as adding or removing members, modifying public information, changing Attribute List attributes, etc.

4.3.5. Custom Tool Menu Entries

This page allows you to create new items in the menu for your tool or resource that will link to the page you specify here.  You first need to provide a name for your new menu item.  If you want to replace one of the built-in NITRC functions (like Forums or Tracker), then you would select the appropriate "Suggested Name" and leave the "Custom Name" field blank.  This will ensure uniformity across the NITRC tools and resources. (Note: If you have not already turned off the built-in NITRC functionality that you are replacing, the name will appear twice in your tool/resource menu.  You should go to the "Edit Public Info" page to remove the built-in NITRC function from your tool/resource menu.)  If you want to add a link to an external page or specific pages in NITRC, then you would select "Custom Name" and enter an appropriate menu name in the "Custom Name" field.  For example, you may want users to have easy access to a contact person for your tool or resource, so you may enter "Contact Us" for the "Custom Name."

Once you have given a name to the menu item, you must provide the link for the page.  Enter the full URL beginning with http://, https://, or ftp://.  If you would like the NITRC banner and menu system available when the page is displayed, check the box under "Display with NITRC Menu"; otherwise, leave the box unchecked, and your browser window will only display your page.  Click the "Add" button to insert your new menu item, allowing users to access your page from the tool/resource menu.

The Custom Tool Menu Entries page also allows you to update and delete custom menu entries that have already been created for your tool or resource.  You may change the menu name (either selecting a "Suggested Name" or entering a "Custom Name"), update the URL, and check or uncheck the box under "Display with NITRC Menu."  Click the "Update/Refresh" button to save your changes.  If you would like to remove the custom entry from your tool/resource menu, check the box next to "I'm sure" and click the "Delete" button.  (Note: If you would like to remove a built-in NITRC function from your tool/resource menu, click on the "Edit Public Info" link at the top of the page.)  Clicking the "Cancel" button will take you to the Admin page.

4.3.6. Manage Help Wanted

This page allows you to post and edit jobs for your tool or resource, so that registered users who visit the site can offer to help with the development.

Posting a job: To post a job opening, start by selecting a category for the job.  If your job does not fit well into one of the listed categories, please send a request to the NITRC site moderator at moderator@nitrc.org to have a new category added to the list.  Enter a short description and a long description and click the "Continue" button to post the job opening.  At this point you may edit the job posting, including setting up a skill inventory for the job.  Job descriptions remain on the site for two weeks.

Editing a job: To edit a job, click the link in "Click here to edit existing jobs."  This page starts the process of updating posted job openings.  You must click on the title of the job you want to update from the resulting list of jobs.  A detailed view of the selected job is displayed.  Click the “Edit Job” link at the top of the page to get the form to update the job information.

You may edit the category, short description, and long description text that you entered when the job was posted.  You may also indicate the status of the posted job (open, filled, or deleted).  Click the "Update Descriptions" button to submit changes to the job listing.

You may set up a new skill inventory or modify an existing skill inventory for the job.  To add a skill, select the skill, the experience level, and the length of experience, then click the "Add Skill" button.  If you do not see the skill you are looking for in the skill list, please send a request to the NITRC site moderator at moderator@nitrc.org to have the skill added to the list.  To modify a skill, select the new experience level or new length of experience, then click the "Update" button.  Click the "Delete" button to remove the skill from the inventory.

4.3.7. Stats

This section shows information about your tool or resource in graphical form. To view a graph, select a component of interest (under "Areas": tracker, forums, docs, tasks, or downloads), the type of plot (daily, weekly, or monthly), and start and end months.

4.4. Advanced Search

Clicking the tool/resource menu “Advanced Search” link provides a way of searching within the particular tool or resource.  Advanced search allows you to select any combination of forums, trackers, tasks, documentation, and news as appropriate for that tool or resource.  It also gives the option of searching “with all words” or “with one word” so that you may specify a particular search phrase, or multiple words, or just one of a few search words.

The search text must be at least three characters long.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found” is displayed under each heading (Forums Search Result, Tracker Search Result, Tasks Search Result, Docs Search Results, and News Search Result) on the Advanced Search page.  If one or more matches are found, a list of hits is displayed under each appropriate result heading on the Advanced Search page.  Clicking on the thread, title, or summary will open the appropriate page for more detailed information on the selected item.

4.5. Forums

Every tool or resource has its own discussion forums.  All users can access the NITRC Community Forums by clicking the "Community Forums" sub-menu link below the "Community" menu link.  Public tool/resource forums can be accessed by clicking the "Forums" link for that tool or resource.  Private forums can be also accessed by clicking the "Forums" link for that tool or resource, but only members will see private forums listed.  When a new tool or resource is created, three forums are automatically created:

Open Discussion: This is a public forum for general discussion.

Help: This is a public forum for help requests.

Developers: This is a private forum for tool/resource development discussion.

Tool/resource administrators can create other forums.

4.5.1. Creating a new forum

New forums may be created through the Forum Admin screens by a member with administration privileges.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "Forum Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "Forums" menu link, then select a forum and click "Admin" at the top of the page.  To create a new forum, enter the name of the forum with no spaces and the description of the forum; make the forum public (open to all users) or private (available only to tool/resource members); and indicate whether anonymous (observer) posts are allowed on the forum. You may provide an e-mail address to which all forum posts are sent.

4.5.2. Using the forum

Click the "Forums" link for the tool or resource.  The Forums page displays a list of available discussion forums for this tool or resource.  The list includes the forum name, its description, the number of threads, the number of messages, and the date of the last post.  Clicking on the forum name opens a listing of the threads for that particular forum.  The default view is "Ultimate," but there are four types of displays that are described below.  For each of the thread lists, you my select to display 25, 50, 75, or 100 messages per page.

Nested: Shows all messages grouped by thread with the most recent posting first.  All information about each message is displayed.  This information includes the author, the message subject/reply text, the post date, and the actual message.  Clicking the author name opens the User Profile page for that person.  Clicking the subject/reply text opens the Forum Message page, where you may post your response.

Flat: Similar to Nested, but the messages are displayed in chronological order.

Threaded: Shows all messages grouped by thread with the most recent posting first.  Only the  message subject/reply text, the author, and the post date of each message are displayed in a table.  Clicking the author name opens the User Profile page for that person.  Clicking the subject/reply text opens the Forum Message page, where you may post your response.

Ultimate: Shows only the "topic started" messages with the most recent posting first. Topic starters are the messages that begin a new thread.  The topic name, the author, the number of replies, and the date of the last post are displayed in a table.  Clicking on the topic name opens a detailed view of all posts for that topic.  Like the nested list, each post shows the author, the message subject/reply text, the post date, and the actual message.  Clicking the author name opens the User Profile page for that person.  Clicking the subject/reply text opens the Forum Message page, where you may post your response.

The Forum Message page shows the details of the selected message, followed by the "Threaded" list of related messages and an area for users to post a response to the message.  Only registered users may post messages, unless the administrator allowed anonymous (observer) postings when the forum was created.  Click the "Post Comment" or "Post Comment Anonymously" button at the bottom of the page to submit your response to the message.

Math commands can be used in forums.  Simply embed your LaTeX math commands between <tex> and </tex> tags in your message.

4.5.3. Available options

The forums have two very powerful options for registered users:

Save place: This function returns you to this point in the message list, highlighting new messages added since your last visit to the forum.

Monitor forum: If you choose to monitor a forum, every post to the forum will be sent to you by e-mail. This allows you to be informed about new messages without being logged on to NITRC. The name of the monitored forum will appear on your personal page in the Monitored Forums section. 

If you no longer want to monitor a particular forum, then click "Stop Monitor" on the Forum page.  You may also stop monitoring the forum by going to your My NITRC page and clicking on the trash can icon next to the forum name in the "Monitored Forums" section.

4.5.4. Forum Admin

Members with full forum administration privileges may add new forums (see above), and members who have been granted administration privileges for a particular forum may update that particular forum.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "Forum Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "Forums" menu link, and then click "Admin" at the top of the page.  Select an existing forum to change the forum name, add or change the e-mail address to which all forum posts are sent, and change the forum description. The page provides links to pages where you can delete individual messages (and responses) or delete the forum entirely.

4.5.5. Searching

You can perform a simple search within a forum.  Make sure “This tool’s/resource’s forums” (or "This forum" for a particular forum) is selected in the search drop down box in the banner.  Enter the search text (at least three characters) and click the “Search” button.  The thread subject and message are used for the search.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found for <search text>” is displayed.  If one or more matches are found, a threaded list of messages is displayed, grouped by forum.  Clicking on the thread subject/reply text takes you to the Forum Message page, where you can view the message and post a response.

You can perform an advanced search within a forum.  Click the “Advanced Search” tool/resource menu link and refer to the Advanced Search section of this User Guide for more information.

4.6. Tracker

The Tracker allows users to report and store items like bugs, feature requests, patch submissions, etc.

You may use this system to track almost any kind of data. Each tracker may have its own set of permissions covering whether it is open to the public and whether it allows submissions from those who are not members of the tool or resource. You can also easily move items between trackers when needed.

Trackers may be set up for any kind of report, but when a tool or resource is created, NITRC creates four trackers automatically:

Bugs: Allows users to report and track issues/problems with the tool/resource.
Support: Allows users to request and receive support in using the tool/resource.
Patches: Allows developers to upload patches to the tool/resource.
Feature Requests: Allows users to request enhancements to the tool/resource.

The tool/resource administrators have the option to not display these or any tracker that may have been created for their tool or resource.

The following descriptions apply to any of the trackers.  The description uses the Bug Tracker, but the functionality for every tracker is the same.  To get to the Bug Tracker, click the tool/resource menu "Tracker" link, then click on the "Bugs" tracker name.

4.6.1. Submitting a new bug

Any registered user may submit a bug for a tool or resource.  Click on "Submit New" at the top of the page. A form will be displayed where you may insert/select the data:

Assigned To: If you have administration privileges on Bug Tracker, you may assign the item to a developer or other appropriate tool/resource member. Only members who have been granted "Tech" permissions for Bug Tracker can have bugs assigned to them.  Only those members are listed here.

Priority: If you have administration privileges on Bug Tracker, you may select the priority of the item. In the Browse Bugs list and the users' personal pages, priorities are displayed in different colors, and bugs can be ordered by priority.

Summary: Give a short description of the bug, e.g., Logout function gives an SQL Error.

Detailed Description: State the problem, giving examples, triggers, manifestations, etc.

Attach Files: You may also upload a file—a screen shot with the error or log file, for instance—as an attachment to the bug. To upload the file, select a file using the "Browse" button.

NOTE: Attachments to tracker items can be no larger than 256KB.

Other fields may also be displayed on the form, as the tool/resource administrator may define custom fields for each tracker.  When all required fields are filled, click the "Submit" button to insert the new bug.

4.6.2. Browsing bugs

Any user may browse existing bugs.  Click on "Bugs: Browse" at the top of the page.  The Browse Bugs page shows the list of bugs for the tool or resource. Under the Quick Query section, you may select to filter the bugs by Assignee or State. You may sort the items by ID, Priority, Summary, Open Date, Close Date, Submitter, or Assignee, and you may order them as ascending or descending.  If you change any of the browsing criteria, you must click the "Execute Query" button to update the list of bugs.  The colored priority field indicates different levels of priority for each bug, and an asterisk near the open date indicates that the request is more than 30 days old. The overdue time is configurable for each tracker; the default is 30 days. When you click on the summary, you go to the Bug Detail page where you can view more information on the bug.  Registered users may update the information on the Bug Detail page.

Registered users can create and store filters to narrow their browsing results even further.  To create a custom filter, click the "Build Query" button toward the top of the page.  In the Build Query window, enter a name for the filter, select the data you want to filter on and the sort criteria, and then click the "Save Changes" button.  Refresh your browser window to redisplay the Browse Bugs page.  The filter you created is now in a drop down box below the "Build Query" button.  Select the filter and click the "Execute Query" button.  The resulting list of bugs is now limited to those that match the filter you selected.  You can modify or delete the filter by clicking the "Build Query" button.  In the Build Query window, select the filter that you would like to modify or delete, select "Load Query," and click the "Save Changes" button.  If you want to modify the filter, make your changes, make sure "Update Query" is selected, and click the "Save Changes" button.  If you want to delete the filter, select "Delete Query," and click the "Save Changes" button.

Please note that the system remembers the last search that you performed for a particular tracker.  When you change the search filter through "Quick Query" or "Power Query," the system remembers this.  Even if you log out of the system and log back in, the initial list of bugs displayed is based on the last search that you performed.  To update the list of bugs shown, modify the filter and click "Execute Query" in the Quick Query section or select a saved filter and click "Execute Query" in the Power Query section.

Note:  If you are looking for a particular bug by ID or Summary, use the simple search feature as described in the Searching section below.

4.6.3. Modifying a bug

On the Bug Detail page, any registered user can add comments to the bug, and the user who submitted the bug can also upload files.  A member with administration privileges can modify all the data associated with the bug (see "Submitting a new bug" above).  In addition, an administrator can modify the following data:

Data Type: This drop-down box lists the trackers for the tool or resource. If you select a different tracker and submit the changes, the item will be reassigned to the selected tracker.  This is very useful when, for example, you want to reassign a bug as a feature request.

State: The state indicates the status of the item. When an item is inserted, it is created in the "Open" state. When you fix a bug, you should change the state to "Closed".

Resolution: This indicates the resolution of a "Closed" item.

Canned Responses: Canned responses are prefixed responses. You may create canned responses for your tool or resource by clicking "Admin" next to the drop-down box.  Enter the title and message for the response, then click the "Submit" button to create the canned response.  You may select a canned response from the drop-down box.  All responses are visible to all users.

The Change Log on the bottom of the Bug Detail page shows the changes applied to the item in chronological order with the most recent changes at the top.

4.6.4. Downloading bug list

Any user can download the list of bugs on the Browse Bugs page to a comma-separated value (csv) file.   Run a query to get the desired list of bugs, and then click the "Download .csv" link at the top of the page.  Depending on your browser and software configuration, you will either see the list displayed in a spreadsheet in your browser window or spreadsheet application or you will see the download dialog box.  In any case, you may save the bug list as a .csv file locally on your computer for future reference.

4.6.5. Monitoring bugs

Any registered user can monitor the Bugs tracker.  If you select "Monitor" at the top page, tracker monitoring will be enabled. When you are monitoring the Bugs tracker, every change to any bug will be sent to you by e-mail.

To disable Bugs tracker monitoring, click "Stop Monitor" at the top of the page.

To monitor a particular bug, click  "Monitor" next to the envelope icon on the Bug Detail page.  When you monitor a particular bug, you will only receive e-mail when there are changes to that particular bug.

To disable bug monitoring, click "Stop Monitoring" next to the envelope icon on the Bug Detail page.

4.6.6. Reporting

The Reporting functions allow you to views graphs of the activity of a bug.  Only tool/resource members may access the Reporting function.  Click "Reporting" at the top of the page, and then select one of the reports:

Response Time: This report shows the turnaround time for closed bugs (life span for a bug starts when it is inserted/opened and ends when it is closed), the number of bugs inserted, and the number of bugs still open.

By Assignee: This report shows information on each member of the tool or resource who has assigned bugs.  The information includes the number of bugs assigned to the member and the percentage of total bugs assigned.

4.6.7. Tracker Admin

If you are a tracker administrator, you may add a new tracker, change the settings and custom fields for the current tracker, clone the custom fields from another tracker for the current tracker, add or change canned responses, and delete the current tracker.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "Tracker Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "Tracker" menu link, and then click "Admin" at the top of the page.  On the Tracker Admin page, you may create a new tracker, or you may select an existing tracker to administer. 

Add Tracker: To create a new tracker, enter the following information:

Name: The name of the Tracker. This is the name displayed in the tracker list, e.g., Bugs.

Description: The description of the Tracker, e.g., "This is the tracker dedicated to the bugs of the tool or resource."

Publicly Available: By default, this checkbox is not enabled.  If this checkbox is enabled, all users may browse the tracker.  If this checkbox is not enabled, only tool/resource members may browse the tracker.

Allow non-logged-in postings: By default, this checkbox is not enabled.  If this checkbox is enabled, users who are not logged in may post items to the tracker. If this checkbox is not enabled, only users who are logged in may post items.

Send email on new submission to address: All new items will be sent to the address(es) inserted in the text box.

Send email on all changes: By default, this checkbox is not enabled.  If this checkbox is enabled, all changes to the tracker items will be sent out via e-mail. It is useful to check this box only if an e-mail address is inserted in the field above.

Days until considered overdue: The number of days a tracker item may remain open before it is considered overdue.

Days until pending tracker items time out: The number of days a tracker item may remain pending before it times out.

Free form text for the "submit new item" page: This allows you to put a specific introduction on the Submit New Tracker Item page.

Free form text for the "browse items" page: This allows you to put a specific introduction on the Browse Tracker Items page.

Click the "Submit" button to add the new tracker to the system.

Modify Tracker:  To administer an existing tracker, select the tracker from the list of trackers shown on the Tracker Admin page.  You may also access a specific tracker admin page by clicking "Admin" at the top of any of the specific tracker pages.  The Tracker Admin page for a specific tracker provides the following functionality:

New Tracker:  To create a new tracker, click the "New Tracker" link toward the top of the page.  See "Add Tracker" above for more information on creating a new tracker.

Update Settings: To update a tracker, click the "Update Settings" link toward the top of the page or the "Update Preferences" link toward the bottom of the page.  Here you can update the following information on the tracker:

Send email on new submission to address: All new items will be sent to the address inserted in the text box.

Send email on all changes: By default, this checkbox is not enabled.  If this checkbox is enabled, all changes to the tracker items will be sent out via e-mail. It is useful to check this box only if an e-mail address is inserted in the field above.

Days until considered overdue: The number of days a tracker item may remain open before it is considered overdue.

Days until pending tracker items time out: The number of days a tracker item may remain pending before it times out.

Free form text for the "submit new item" page: This allows you to put a specific introduction on the Submit New Tracker Item page.

Free form text for the "browse items" page: This allows you to put a specific introduction on the Browse Tracker Items page.

NOTE: If you want to view or change the observer settings on a tracker, you must go to the Tool/Resource Admin page and click the "Edit Observer" button.  Here you may change whether the tracker is public (open to all users) or private (available only to members) and whether or not anonymous (observer) posts are allowed.

Manage Custom Fields: To add new fields or to modify existing fields, click the "Manage Custom Fields" link on the page. All the existing custom fields are displayed first.  You may edit the name and alias of the field, delete the field, or copy the field to create a new custom field.  You may also edit the name of any defined elements and add new elements to a field.  You may not change the type of field.

To create a new custom field, you must provide the following information:

Customer Field Name: The name of the field displayed on the Tracker Detail page, when adding, updating, and viewing a tracker item.

Field Alias: The name of the field used by the system.

Field Description: The description of the field displayed in the help pop-up window.

Type of custom field: The type of field displayed on the Tracker Detail page.  Types include:

• Select Box
• Check Box
• Radio Buttons
• Text Field
• Multi-Select Box
• Text Area
• Status
  

Text Field Size/Text Area Rows: This sets how big the box is that is displayed on the Tracker Detail page.

Text Field Maxlength/Text Area Columns: This sets how much data can be entered into the field by a user.

You can customize the way these fields are displayed on the Submit New Tracker Item page and the Browse Tracker Items page. To modify the rendering of the custom fields, use the template links at the bottom of the page.

Download default template: Click this link, and then use your browser to view the source code. Save the source code as a text file. For each custom field, you may add or change the HTML attributes to customize the look of the labels. For example, you may change the color or style of the font. Make sure you save the file, so you may upload it for your tracker.

Add/Update template: Click this link, and then browse and select the file that you saved with the custom HTML rendering for this tracker. Click the “Submit” button to upload the file and make the custom rendering take affect. View the Submit New Tracker Item page or the Browse Tracker Items page to see the affects of the uploaded template.

Delete template: If you no longer want the custom field labels displayed with the customized rendering, click this link. This will not remove the custom fields; it will just remove the customized HTML that you had provided. The original default template will remain.

Clone Tracker: You may copy the custom fields from another tracker to the current tracker by clicking the “Clone Tracker” link at the top of the page. Select the tracker that has the custom fields you would like for the current tracker, and click the “Submit” button. If you do this more than once you will copy the custom fields to the tracker each time you click “Submit.” You can then modify these custom fields by going to the Manage Custom Fields page.

Add/Update Canned Responses: Canned responses are predefined responses that may be used when commenting on a tracker item. Creating useful generic messages can save you a lot of time when handling common requests.  Click the "Add Canned Responses" link toward the top of the page or the "Add/Update Canned Responses" link in the middle of the page.  To create a new response, fill in the Title and Message, and click the "Submit" button.  To modify a response, click the listed response name.  Modify the Title and/or Message and click the "Submit" button.

Delete Tracker: You may delete an existing tracker.  When you click the "Delete" link, you will be presented with a page that makes you confirm that you want to delete the tracker and all its items, as you will not be able to recover these once deleted.

4.6.8. Mass Update

If you are a tracker administrator, you can use the Mass Update function. This function is visible on the Browse Bug page and allows you to update the following information:

• Priority
• Assignee
• Status
• Canned Response
• Other fields as set by the tracker administrator
  

When this function is enabled, a checkbox will appear at the left side of each bug ID. You may check one or more of the IDs for the bug(s) you would like to update.  Modify one or more of the values in the drop-down boxes, and click the "Mass update" button. All selected bugs will be modified with these new values. This function is very useful if you need to change the same information for a group of bugs, as when you are assigning five bugs to one developer or closing ten bugs.

4.6.9. Searching

You can perform a simple search for a tracker.  Make sure the tracker name (or “This tool’s/resource’s trackers” for a more general tracker search) is selected in the search drop down box in the banner.  Enter the search text (at least three characters) and click the “Search” button.  The tracker summary, detailed description, and responses are used for the search.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found for <search text>” is displayed.  If one match is found the Tracker Detail page for the resulting tracker is displayed.  If more than one match is found, a list of resulting trackers is displayed.  Clicking on the summary takes you to the Tracker Detail page.

You can perform an advanced search within a tracker.  Click the “Advanced Search” tool/resource menu link and refer to the Advanced Search section of this User Guide for more information.

4.7. Mailing Lists

Clicking the tool/resource menu “Mailing Lists” link shows a list of available mailing lists for the tool or resource.  Clicking on "<list name> Archives" will allow you to browse messages posted to the selected mailing list.  To post a message to a mailing list, send e-mail to <list name>@www.nitrc.org. You may subscribe, unsubscribe or edit your subscription options for a specific mailing list by clicking the appropriate link.  Please refer to GNU Mailman user documentation for more information.

4.7.1. Lists Admin

Only tool/resource administrators can administer mailing lists.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "Mail Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "Mailing Lists" menu link, then click "Admin" at the top of the page.  This brings you to the Lists Admin page, where the following options are available to you:

Add Mailing List: Clicking "Add Mailing List" will allow you to create a new mailing list.  Please use a short, but meaningful name for your list.  The name cannot contain spaces or any characters or symbols that are invalid for an e-mail address. You can specify if the list is to be made public (people who are not members of the tool or resource can see and/or join the list) or not (only tool/resource members can see and/or join the list). You should also add a description of the list to guide people in posting appropriate messages. You will receive an e-mail with the administrative password to manage the settings for the mailing list.  (It may take up to 24 hours for your new list to be created.)

Update Lists:  Clicking "Update" allows you to change the description of the list and whether or not it is available to the public.  Simply make the desired change and click the "Update" button.  If you would like to remove the mailing list, click the "Permanently Delete List" link, and then check the checkboxes and click the "Permanently Delete" button.  (Note: It takes the system an hour to properly delete a mailing list.  Do not try to recreate the list within an hour of deleting it; the system will just create it and delete it simultaneously.)

Administrate Lists:  Clicking "Administrate" allows you use GNU Mailman to add members to the mailing list, set the properties of the list, set posting policies, and so forth.  Please refer to GNU Mailman list manager documentation for more information.

4.8. Tasks

The Task Manager is similar to the Tracker, with the following differences; it allows you to:

• Insert the start date of the item
• Insert the end date of the item
• Insert the number of hours for the item
• Assign more than one person to the item
• Track dependencies between tasks

Tasks are organized in subprojects. There are two predefined subprojects: To Do and Next Release. A member with task administration privileges can use the Tasks Admin page to create new subprojects. Task Manager allows you to create and manage tasks, or blocks of work, similar to the way projects are broken down in, for example, MS Project.

4.8.1. Submitting a new task

You may add tasks to the subprojects – for example, Write Design Doc, Review Doc, Update Doc, Write Code, Review Code, Update Code, Test, Log Test Results, etc. Tasks may be assigned to members of the team, have start and end dates set up for them, show dependencies on other tasks, indicate percentage completion, etc.

Only members with task administration privileges may insert a new task.  Click the tool/resource menu “Tasks” link to get a list of available task subprojects for the tool or resource.  You need to first select a subproject from the subproject list, and then click "Submit Task" at the top of the page.  A form appears, where you are requested to insert the following data:

Category: You can select a category if categories have been set by the tool/resource administrator.

Percent Complete: You can select the percentage of the completion of the work.

Priority: You can select the priority (1-lowest and 5-highest) of the task.

Task Summary: You must insert a brief description of the task.

Task Details: You must insert the most detailed description possible of the task.

Estimated Hours: You must enter the estimated duration of this task in hours.

Start Date: You can change the start date of the task.  The default is the current date.

End Date: You can change the end date of the task.  The default is one week from the current date.

Assigned To: You can select one or more assignees of the task. Only members who have been granted "Tech" permissions for a task subproject can have tasks assigned to them.  Only those members are listed here.

Dependent on Task: You can select one or more tasks upon which this task depends.

When all required fields are filled, click the "Submit" button to insert the new task.

4.8.2. Browsing tasks

Clicking the tool/resource menu “Tasks” link shows a list of available task subprojects for the tool or resource.  Click the task subproject name to display a lists of tasks for that subproject.  You may limit the list of tasks by specifying any of the following:

4.8.3. Modifying a task

On the Task Detail page, a member with task administration privileges can modify all the data associated with the task (see "Submitting a new task" above), except for the Original Comment (Task Details).  In addition, the following data can be modified:

Subproject: This drop-down box lists the subprojects for the tool or resource. If you select a different subproject and submit the changes, the item will be reassigned to the selected subproject.

Add a Comment: You may add any comment to clarify the original description or to describe any changes that you are making to the task fields.

Status: The status indicates the state of the item. When an item is inserted, it is created in the "Open" state. When you complete a task, you should change the status to "Closed."

The Task Change History on the bottom of the Task Detail page shows the changes applied to the item in chronological order with the most recent changes at the top.

4.8.4. Viewing a Gantt chart

Clicking on the "Gantt Chart" link at the top of the page shows all the tasks for the tool or resource on a Gantt chart.  A red and yellow striped bar extends from the start date to the end date of each task.  Any blue band in the middle of the bar extends from the left to the right based on the percent complete value that is set on the Task Detail page.  (There will be no blue band if the task is 0% complete; the blue band will stretch across half of the bar if the task is 50% complete; the blue band will stretch all the way across the bar if the task is 100% complete.)

You may limit the tasks shown by selecting an Assignee, the Status, or a Category.  You may modify the look of the Gantt chart by changing the Sort On criterion, the Resolution, and the Size of the chart.  Click the Browse button to update the chart with the new criteria.

4.8.5. Downloading task list

Members with task administration privileges can download the tasks to a comma-separated value (csv) file. Click the "Download .csv" link at the top of the page.  Depending on your browser and software configuration, you will either see the list displayed in a spreadsheet in your browser window or spreadsheet application or you will see the download dialog box.  In any case, you may save the bug list as a .csv file locally on your computer for future reference.

4.8.6. Uploading tasks

Task data can be manipulated outside of NITRC and uploaded through the Upload CSV function.  Only members with task administration privileges can upload a .csv file.  Click the "Upload .csv" link at the top of the page.  Use the Browse button to select the .csv file with the changes that you want to upload, and then click the Submit button to store the changes.

4.8.7. Reporting

The Reporting functions allow you to check the status and lifespan of the tasks. The lifespan is the duration of a task; it starts when the task is inserted (opened) in the Task Manager and ends when the task is closed.  Only members with task administration privileges may access the Reporting function.  You need to first select a subproject from the subproject list, and then click "Reporting" at the top of the page.

Aging Report: The Aging Report shows the turnaround time for closed tasks, the number of tasks inserted, and the number of tasks still open.

Report by Assignee: The Report by Assignee shows information on each member of the tool or resource who has assigned tasks.  The information includes the number of tasks assigned to the member, the number of closed tasks, and the number of tasks still open.

Report by Subproject: The Report by Subproject shows information on each task subproject that has assigned tasks.  The information includes the total number of tasks for the subproject, the number of closed tasks, and the number of tasks still open.

4.8.8. Tasks Admin

Tasks Admin allows a member with administration privileges to add new task subprojects and edit existing task subprojects.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "Task Manager Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "Tasks" menu link, and then click "Admin" at the top of the page.

Add a Subproject: This allows you to add a subproject to a tool or resource in order to group similar tasks. You need to include the subproject name and description, and indicate whether the subproject is public (open to all NITRC users) or private (open only to tool/resource members). You may also provide an e-mail address or addresses to which all updates of tasks for this subproject are sent.

Edit/Update Subproject: This allows you to change the subproject name, description, or update the e-mail address(es). This page also allows you to delete a subproject. You may add categories to the subproject or change category names (though categories may not be removed).

NOTE: If you want to view or change the observer settings on a subproject, you must go to the Tool/Resource Admin page and click the "Edit Observer" button.  Here you may change whether the subproject is public (open to all users) or private (available only to members).

4.8.9. Searching

You can perform a simple search within a task subproject.  Make sure “This tool’s/resource’s tasks” is selected in the search drop down box in the banner.  Enter the search text (at least three characters) and click the “Search” button.  The task summary and original comments are used for the search.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found for <search text>” is displayed.  If one or more matches are found, a list of tasks is displayed, grouped by task subproject.  Clicking on the task summary name takes you to the Task Detail page, where you can view all the task information.

You can perform an advanced search within a task subproject.  Click the “Advanced Search” tool/resource menu link and refer to the Advanced Search section of this User Guide for more information.

4.9. Docs

The Document Manager allows you to view and publish documents on the site.

4.9.1. Submitting a new document

Any tool/resource member may submit new documents to be published on the site.  Click the tool/resource menu “Docs” link, and then click "Submit New Document" at the top of the page or "Add document here" in the tool/resource main folder section or next to a document folder. You must provide the following information:

Document Title: The document title refers to the relatively brief title of the document.

Description: A brief description of the document contents.

The actual document must be uploaded to the site or the external URL where the document can be found must be provided.

Upload File: Select the file to be uploaded. You can upload text files (.html, .txt) or binary files (.zip, .doc, .pdf).  Do not upload a file if a URL is being provided.

URL: Enter the external site URL where the document can be found.  Do not enter a URL if a file is being uploaded.

Language: Indicate what language the document is written in.  English is the default language.

File this document in: Allows you to categorize documents into folders.  Additional categories can be created by a tool/resource administrator.  If the document is general in nature for the tool/resource, file the document in the tool/resource main folder.  On the View Documentation page, approved documents that are filed in the main folder are shown in the tool/resource main folder section rather than hidden under a document folder.

Fill in all the fields, select the folder from the drop down list if appropriate, and click the "Submit Information" button.  If you have document administration privileges, your document will immediately be available for viewing.  For all other users, the document will be placed in the Pending Submissions section of the Document Manager Admin page to be approved or rejected by a tool/resource document administrator.  The document will not be viewable until the administrator has approved it.

4.9.2. Viewing existing documents

Any user may view approved documents for a tool or resource.  Click the tool/resource menu “Docs” link to display a list of document categories.  Documents containing general information for the tool or resource are displayed first in the tool/resource main folder section, followed by a list of document folders that have been created for the tool or resource.  Click a document folder to show any documents under that folder.  You may click on a document name to view the document.

4.9.3. Deleting an existing document

4.9.4. Docs Admin

A member with document administration privileges can administer the documents.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "DocManager Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "Docs" menu link, then click "Admin" at the top of the page.  The Docs Admin page shows all documents by state and category. The Admin section allows you to:

Add/Edit Document Groups: Each document must be categorized. Document groups (folders) are set up for that purpose.  Click "Add/Edit Document Groups" to show the existing document groups and to add more document groups. 

To edit a document group, click on the document group name.  You may change the document group name or make it a sub-group by selecting another group that it belongs to.  Click the "Edit" button to submit your changes.

To add a document group, enter the new group name.  If the group is a sub-group, select the group that this one belongs to.  Click the "Add" button to create the new document group.

Edit Documents: You may edit the document information (see "Submitting a new document" above), including uploading a new version of a document.  Click on a document group, then click on the document name that you would like to edit.  The Edit Document form will be displayed.  You may change any of the document information, including the document state.  The document states include:

Active Documents: Active documents are displayed are displayed to all users on the View Documentation page.

Deleted Documents: Old, outdated documents may be deleted, but they can always be recalled from the Docs Admin page.  To reinstate a document, edit the document, changing the state.  Deleted documents are not displayed to users on the View Documentation page.  (If you want to actually delete a document from the system, you must click "Click here to permanently delete this document and all its corresponding information.")

Pending Documents: Pending documents are waiting for your approval.  Pending documents are not displayed to users on the View Documentation page.

Hidden Documents: Hidden documents are not displayed to users on the View Documentation page.

Private Documents: Private documents are displayed only for members of the tool or resource on the View Documentation page.

Approve/publish pending submissions: You may approve pending documents by changing the state of the document.  Click on a pending document group, then click on the document name that you would like to approve.  The Edit Document form will be displayed.  You may change any of the document information, but you must change the State from "pending" to "active" to post the document.  Click the "Submit Edit" button to submit your changes.

Note:  Document administrators can receive e-mail notification of submitted documents that are awaiting their approval for publication.  The tool/resource administrator provides their e-mail addresses at the bottom of the Admin Edit Public Info page.

4.9.5. Searching

You can perform a simple search of the tool/resource documents.  Make sure “This tool’s/resource’s documents” is selected in the search drop down box in the banner.  Enter the search text (at least three characters) and click the “Search” button.  The document title and description are used for the search.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found for <search text>” is displayed.  If one or more matches are found, a list of documents is displayed, grouped by category folder.  Clicking on the document name opens the document.

You can perform an advanced search of the tool/resource documents.  Click the “Advanced Search” tool/resource menu link and refer to the Advanced Search section of this User Guide for more information.

4.10. Surveys

Surveys allow tool/resource administrators to ask questions of developers and users and view the results. Surveys may be helpful if you need some feedback from the users. Surveys may address:

1. User feedback: to ask users whether they like your tool or resource.
2. Developer feedback: to ask developers about new features to be implemented.

4.10.1 Browsing surveys

4.10.2 Responding to a survey

4.10.3 Administering survey questions

Before you can create a new survey or modify an existing survey, you need to set up the questions for your surveys.  As a tool/resource administrator, click the tool/resource menu "Surveys" link, then click "Admin" at the top of the page.  Click "Edit Questions" at the top of the page.  Here new survey questions can be added, and all existing survey questions can be modified or deleted.  NITRC surveys handle the following question types:

1. Radio Buttons 1-5: These radio buttons give users five choices, from 1 (low) to 5 (high). This might be used to indicate priorities or quality feedback.
   
2. Radio Buttons Yes/No: These radio buttons give users two choices, Yes or No.
3. Comment Only: This allows you to display a comment, directions, or other information to the user.
   
4. Text field: Text fields allow users to insert free-form text in a small text field.
5. Text area: Text areas allow users to insert free-form text in a large text area.
6. None: This allows you to display a comment, directions, or other information to the user.

4.10.4. Creating a new survey

You can create a new survey by clicking "Edit Survey" at the top of the Survey Admin page. You'll be asked to insert the following data:

Survey name: The name of the survey that is displayed to the users.

Active: This flag indicates whether or not the survey is active.

Questions: A list of all your questions, from which you select those to include in the survey.

4.10.5. Modifying a survey

You can modify an existing survey, although this is not recommended if answers to the survey have already been given.  You should know that the results of a survey are not consistent if you modify the survey and users have already inserted answers.

To modify an existing survey, click "Edit Survey" at the top of the Survey Admin page.  Click "Edit" for the listed survey that you would like to change.  You may change the name of the survey and whether or not the survey is active.  You can change the order in which the questions are displayed on the survey by clicking "Up" or "Down" for the question you would like to move.  You may also delete a question from the survey by checking the box in the "Delete from this Survey" column.  Click the "Submit Changes" button to modify the survey.

4.10.6. Viewing survey results

You can view the results of the surveys by clicking "Show Results" at the top of the Survey Admin page.

4.11. News

The news section allows you to release news relative to your tool or resource. News can be monitored similar to tracker items and forums. News will be displayed on the Tool/Resource Summary page and also on the NITRC Home page, if the site administrators approve the news.

News is generally used to announce software releases, milestones, or significant changes in the software.

Clicking the tool/resource menu “News” link shows a list of available news items for the tool or resource.  Clicking on a news item shows the news message and the discussion forum related to that news item.

4.11.1. Inserting a news item

Only tool/resources administrators can post news about their tools and resources.  If you are a tool/resource administrator, you can insert a news item by clicking on the "Submit News" link at the top of the News page.  Enter the subject and details of your news, then click the "Submit" button.

NOTE: Only a portion of the details that you enter will appear on the Home page if your news item is selected to be displayed on the Home page.  The system looks at the first three sections of text that are separated by a line break.  If you put in two or more line breaks to separate a paragraph, then those line breaks will be counted as a section.  If the first section is less than 200 characters long and the second and third sections together are less that 300 characters long, then all three sections will be displayed on the Home page; otherwise, only the first section will be displayed on the home page.  There is a link through to the full article.

Example Details Entered	Example Home Page Display
This is my opening paragraph.  This is less than 200 characters. This is my second paragraph.  It is separated from the first paragraph by a line break. This is my third paragraph. It is separated from the second paragraph by a line break. This is my fourth paragraph. It is separated from the third paragraph by a line break.  As the fourth section of text, it will not be displayed on the Home page.	This is my opening paragraph.  This is less than 200 characters. This is my second paragraph.  It is separated from the first paragraph by a line break. This is my third paragraph. It is separated from the second paragraph by a line break.
This is my opening paragraph.  This is less than 200 characters. This is my second paragraph.  It is separated from the first paragraph by two line breaks, so it is actually the third section of text. This is my third paragraph. It is separated from the second paragraph by two line breaks.  As the fifth section of text, it will not be displayed on the Home page. This is my fourth paragraph. It is separated from the third paragraph by two line breaks.  As the seventh section of text, it will not be displayed on the Home page.	This is my opening paragraph.  This is less than 200 characters. This is my second paragraph.  It is separated from the first paragraph by two line breaks, so it is actually the third section of text.
This is my opening paragraph.  This is less than 200 characters. This is my second paragraph.  It is separated from the first paragraph by two line breaks, so it is actually the third section of text.  Assume that this text just goes on an on for more than 300 characters.  This paragraph will not be displayed on the Home page. This is my third paragraph. It is separated from the second paragraph by two line breaks.  This will not be displayed on the Home page. This is my fourth paragraph. It is separated from the third paragraph by two line breaks.  This will not be displayed on the Home page.	This is my opening paragraph.  This is less than 200 characters.
This is my opening paragraph.  Assume that this goes on for more than 200 characters.  This whole paragraph and only this paragraph will be displayed on the Home page. This is my second paragraph.  It is separated from the first paragraph by a line break.  This will not be displayed on the Home page. This is my third paragraph. It is separated from the second paragraph by a line break.  This will not be displayed on the Home page. This is my fourth paragraph. It is separated from the third paragraph by a line break.  This will not be displayed on the Home page.	This is my opening paragraph.  Assume that this goes on for more than 200 characters.  This whole paragraph and only this paragraph will be displayed on the Home page.

All posts for your tool or resource will appear instantly in the Latest News section on your Tool/Resource Summary page. You may include URLs, but not HTML in your submissions. URLs that start with http:// or https:// are made clickable.

The news item will go to the site moderator for approval for publication. Posts that are of special interest to the community are approved by a member of the NITRC news team and will appear on the NITRC Home page.

If you have chosen not to use the NITRC news manager for your tool or resource, you may still submit news for possible posting on the NITRC Home page.  As the tool/resource administrator, click the "Admin" menu link.  On the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "News Admin" in the Tool Admin section.  The News page will be displayed with a list of any previously submitted news items.  These items may be modified by clicking the on the news subject and then submitting the modifications.  To submit a new news item, click the "Submit News" link at the top of the page.  Enter the subject and the details of your news, then click the "Submit News" button.  The news item will go to the site administrators for approval for publication on the NITRC Home page.

4.11.2. Monitoring news

Any registered user can monitor News.  If you select "Monitor" at the top page, News monitoring will be enabled. When you are monitoring the News, the new bulletin will be sent to you by e-mail.

To disable News monitoring, click "Stop Monitor" at the top of the page.

4.11.3. News Admin

A tool/resource administrator may edit or delete a news item.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "News Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "News" menu link, then click "Admin" at the top of the page.  Select the news item that you wish to edit or delete from the list.  You may edit the subject and the details of the news.  If this news item had been posted on the NITRC Home page, modifying it will remove the news from the Home page.  If you want to delete the news item, select "Deleted" instead of "Displayed" and click the "Submit" button.  This will delete the news item from the site.

4.11.4. Searching

You can perform a simple search within news items.  Make sure “This tool’s/resource’s news” is selected in the search drop down box in the banner.  Enter the search text (at least three characters) and click the “Search” button.  The news item name and description are used in the search.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found for <search text>” is displayed.  If one or more matches are found, a list of news items is displayed.  Clicking on the news item name shows the news message and the discussion forum related to that news item.

You can perform an advanced search within news items.  Click the “Advanced Search” tool/resource menu link and refer to the Advanced Search section of this User Guide for more information.

4.12. Source Code

Clicking the tool/resource menu “Source Code” link shows a page that contains information on how to access the source code management (SCM) repository for the tool or resource.  When the administrator registered the tool or resource, either CVS or SVN was selected for source code management.  Developer access information is provided on the main SCM - Source Code Repository page.  If the administrator has enabled anonymous public read access, anonymous access information is also provided.  Use this information to configure your client for CVS or SVN access. If public read access has been granted, you may download a compressed file of all the files in the repository by clicking "Download The Nightly CVS Tree Snapshot" or "Download The Weekly SVN Tree Snapshot."

In the Repository History section, the number adds and commits/updates are shown for the selected tool or resource.  These counts are updated nightly, so you will not see an immediate increase in these counts as files are added and committed/updated.  The "Browse CVS Repository" link or "Browse Subversion Repository" link is shown if public read access has been granted.  Clicking this link opens the SCM Web interface, where you can view the repository, view differences between revisions, and download versions of a file.

4.12.1. SCM Admin

Only tool/resource administrators can access the SCM Admin page.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "SCM Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "Source Code" menu link, then click "Admin" at the top of the page. 

For SVN, you may enable or disable anonymous public read access.  When access is enabled, the system grants non-members permission to view the SVN repository.  The "Anonymous Subversion Access" instructions are provided on the main SCM page, along with the "Download the Weekly SVN Tree Snapshot" and "Browse the SVN Repository" links.  When access is disabled, the instructions are no longer provided and the links are not displayed for non-members.

For CVS, you may enable or disable public read access and anonymous pserver access.  When public read access is enabled, the system grants non-members permission to view the CVS repository. The "Download the Nightly CVS Tree Snapshot" and "Browse the CVS Repository" links are shown on the main SCM page.  When the anonymous pserver access is enabled as well, the system creates an anonymous user for pserver access.  The "Anonymous CVS Access" instructions are provided on the main SCM page.  Please note that it may take up to two hours for the anonymous user to be created for your tool/resource group.  It may also take up to two hours to remove the anonymous user when you disable anonymous pserver access.  When you disable public read access, the links to the nightly snapshot and the CVS repository are no longer displayed for non-members.

4.13. Files

Clicking the tool/resource menu “Files” link shows a list of files that you can access for the tool or resource.  The FRS administrators use this feature to upload files to the NITRC site and to make these files available to the users in an easy and efficient way.  Files may be divided in different packages, and packages can be monitored by registered users; these users will receive an e-mail every time a new file has been added to the package.

4.13.1. Viewing and downloading files

Users may view and download files that they have permission to access.  Observers and non-members can only see active releases in active public packages.  Tool/resource members can see active releases in active public and private packages.  FRS administrators can see all releases and packages for their tool or resource. 

Click the tool/resource menu “Files” link to see a list of files available to you for the tool or resource.  The list includes the package name, the release name, the file name or URL name, the release date, the file size, the number of times the file has been viewed or downloaded, the architecture (processor) required for the file, and the file type.

To see the version release notes and change log, click the release name.  You may also view the release notes by simply placing the mouse over the release name; the release name will appear in the tool tip.

To view or download a file, click the file name or URL name.  Depending on your browser and the file type, the file may display in your browser window, download and display with an appropriate application, or invoke the download dialog box. 

If you are a registered user, you may monitor a package and be notified through e-mail of new releases to the package.  Click the envelope icon next to the package name to start monitoring the package.  If you would like to stop monitoring the package, go to your My NITRC page and click the trash can icon next to the package in the "Monitored FileModules" section.

4.13.2. Files Admin

The File Release System allows FRS administrators (members with file upload privileges) to upload a file to NITRC and make this file available to the public.  From the Tool/Resource Admin page, click "FRS Admin" in the Tool Admin section; from the tool/resource pages, click the "Files" menu link, then click "Admin" at the top of the page.

Creating a package: You must define a package before you can upload files. A package should have a descriptive name for the tool or resource, e.g., NITRC3.  To add a new package, insert a package name in the textbox at the bottom of the page, indicate whether the package can be viewed by the public or just privately by members, and click the "Create This Package" button.  Your package will appear in the Releases of Packages list toward the bottom of the page. 

Modifying a package: In the Releases of Packages section, you can modify existing packages.  You may change the package name or change the status (active or hidden).  An active package is displayed to all users with permission to view the package; a hidden package is only displayed to FRS administrators.  (Note:  Once a package is hidden, you will no longer be able to add releases to it.)  Click the "Update" button to submit changes to a package. 

NOTE: If you want to view or change the observer settings on a package, you must go to the Tool/Resource Admin page and click the "Edit Observer" button.  Here you may change whether the package is public (open to all users) or private (available only to members).

Deleting a package: In the Releases of Packages section, you can delete packages. You may delete the package and all of its releases and files by clicking "Delete" next to the "Update" button.  You will be presented with a page to confirm that you want to delete the package and all its contents.

Adding releases to a package: In the Releases of Packages section, click "Add Release" before the package name to add a new release to the package.  (Note:  You can only add releases to active packages.)  The Add Release form has the following fields:

Package ID: You can select the package name.  If you need to create a new package name at this point, you may click "create a new package" next to the select box.

Release Name: Insert the name of your release. The name should be indicative for the version of your file, e.g., pre-8 or NITRC 1.0.1.

Release Date: The release date is automatically populated with the current date and time.

File Type: Select the file type (.zip, .html, .exe, .tar. gz, etc).

File Name: Click the "Browse" button to select the file to upload. In some browsers you must select the file in the file-upload dialog and click OK. Double-clicking does not register the file.  Also note that the site administrator has set a 1024M limit to the size of uploaded files.  If your file exceeds the limit, please contact the site administrator at admin@nitrc.org.  (If you select a file to upload, do not enter an External URL or URL Name below.)

External URL: If "URL" is selected for the file type, then the URL to the external Web site must be provided here.  (If you enter an external Web site, do not select a File Name above.)

URL Name: If "URL" is selected for the file type, then enter the name of the URL here.

Processor Type: Select the processor required to run the application.

Release Notes: Enter the release notes.  If you have a text file of release notes that you would like to upload, release the file and go to the Edit Release page.

Change log: Enter the change log.  If you have a text file with the change log that you would like to upload, release the file and go to the Edit Release page.

Preserve my ASCII-style text: This checkbox applies to the release notes and change log fields.  The default in unchecked.  When the box is unchecked, the text entered in the fields is later displayed to a user with a proportional font and with word-wrapping at the end of the browser window.  All new line breaks are maintained, but extra spacing between words is not.  When the box is checked, the text entered in the fields is later displayed to a user with a fixed-width font and without word-wrapping.  A user may have to scroll horizontally to read all the text without word-wrapping.  All new line breaks and extra spacing between words is maintained.  Below are examples of how the text may be displayed:

Unchecked	Checked
123 3 X 2 X 1 X	1 2 3 1 X 2   X 3     X
This is just a sample of text that may be entered in the release notes field. New line breaks are maintained.	This is just a sample of text <You would have to scroll horizontally to read the rest of the text above.> New line breaks are maintained.

Click the "Release File" button. Your file will now appear in the list of files on the File Release System page.

Modifying a release: You may edit existing releases.  In the Releases of Packages section, click "Edit Releases" before the package name.  A listing of releases for that package is shown.  Click "Edit" next to the release name to change any of the information about the release.  The Edit Release page is split into three sections: 1. Edit Release, 2. Add Files To This Release, and 3. Edit Files In This Release.

Step 1. Edit Release: Here you can modify the release date, the release name, and the status (active or hidden) of the release.  (Note:  Hidden releases are only shown to FRS administrators.)  You may also modify existing release notes or change log, or you could provide new release notes and change log.  You may cut and paste in new release notes or change log, or you may browse and upload text files with the release notes or change log.  In all cases, you still have the option to allow the system to display the text with proportional font and word-wrapping or to preserve your ASCII-style text with fixed-width font and no word-wrapping.

Step 2. Add Files To This Release: Here you can upload new files for this release.  Select your file type, select the processor type, select your file or enter the external URL and URL name, and click the "Add This File" button.

Step 3. Edit Files In This Release: Here you can update the information for uploaded files.  You may not change the filename, but you may change the file type and the processor type.  You may also associate this file with a different release and change the release date.  Click the "Update/Refresh" button to submit the changes.  To remove a file from the release, check the "I'm sure" box, and then click the "Delete File" button.

Deleting a release:  You may delete existing releases.  In the Releases of Packages section, click "Edit Releases" before the package name.  A listing of releases for that package is shown.  Click "Delete" next to the release name to remove the release.  You will be presented with a page to confirm that you want to delete the release and all its files.

4.13.3. Web Services Interface

If you would like to upload files and packages to NITRC without going through the GUI-based interface, NITRC supports Web service access using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).  Technical reference to the provided services may be found at http://www.nitrc.org/soap/.

4.13.4. Searching

You can perform a simple search within file releases.  Make sure “This tool’s/resource’s releases” is selected in the search drop down box in the banner.  Enter the search text (at least three characters) and click the “Search” button.  The release name and notes are used for the search.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found for <search text>” is displayed.  If one or more matches are found, a list of releases is displayed, grouped by package.  Clicking on the release name takes you to a page that displays the release notes.  From here, you can click on the release name to get to the list of all file releases.

4.14. Wiki (MediaWiki)

Clicking the tool/resource menu “MediaWiki” link displays the MediaWiki Plugin page.  The information on this page is unique to each tool or resource as its members decide what to add to the wiki.  All users can view the wiki pages, but only tool/resource members can add to and edit wiki pages.  Please refer to the MediaWiki help page for information on creating and editing wiki pages.

Math commands can be used on wiki pages.  Simply embed your LaTeX math commands between <tex> and </tex> tags in your text.

5. SITE-WIDE FUNCTIONS

The side-wide functions are available anytime. They are not dependent on individual tools and resources. The site-wide functions handle data that are not relevant to a single tool or resource.

The site-wide functions available to the users are:

• Search
• Community
  
• Tool/Resource Browsing
• Code Snippet Library
• Help Wanted

5.1. Searching in NITRC

You may search for public tool and resource information within NITRC.  The search mechanism is displayed in the banner and is always accessible.  You may select from one of three search arguments (Site-wide, Tools/Resources, or People), enter your search text, and then initiate the search by clicking the Search button.

Site-wide: You may search by keyword(s) across all public tools and resources registered with NITRC.  This gives you the ability to find public information in forum discussions, mailings lists, wikis, and all other NITRC functionality used by the tools and resources.  This search is powered by the Google AJAX search engine indexing interface.  It does allow for Boolean logic and any other Google supported search format.  The display, ranking, and clustering of search results is dependent on the Google search engine.  If no matching results are found, "Your search - <search text> - did not match any documents." is displayed on the Search page.  If any matches are found, a link to the page along with a snippet of the resulting information is displayed on the Search page.  Clicking the link will then take you to the appropriate NITRC page containing your search criteria.

Tools/Resources: You may search for a public tool or resource based on its name or description.  Inserted text must be at least three characters.  The tool/resource name and public description are used for the search.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found for <search text>” is displayed on the Search page.  If only one match is found, the Summary page for that resulting tool or resource is displayed.  If more than one match is found, a list of tools and resources along with a brief description for each is displayed on the Search page.  Clicking on the tool/resource name will then take you to the Summary page for that tool or resource.

People: You may search for a user based on the user's name.  The search is not case sensitive.  Inserted text must be at least three characters.  The login name, first name, and last name are used for the search.  If no matching results are found, “No matches found for <search text>” is displayed on the Search page.  If only one match is found, the User Profile page for that resulting user is displayed.  If more than one match is found, a list of user login names along with their real names is displayed on the Search page.  Clicking on the login name will then take you to the User Profile page for the selected user.

5.2. Community

The NITRC Community area provides a lot of general information for the entire functional and structural neuroimaging community.  The Community sub-menu links are discussed briefly below, but the details of the functions are explained in the tool/resource functions section.

Community Forums: The NITRC Community forums give registered users an opportunity to talk about NITRC, ask questions, and get answers from the functional and structural neuroimaging community.  Observers may browse and view NITRC Community forums.  The NITRC Community forum functionality is the same as that for individual tools and resources.  Please refer to the Tool/Resource Functions Forums section of this User Guide for more information on how to use forums.

Community Docs: The NITRC Community document manager gives registered users the ability to upload and read documentation that may be of interest to the functional and structural neuroimaging community.  Observers may browse and view approved NITRC Community documents.  The NITRC Community document manager functionality is the same as that for individual tools and resources.  Please refer to the Tool/Resource Functions Document Manager section of this User Guide for more information on how to use the document manager.

Community Wiki: The NITRC Community wiki gives everyone access to general information important to the functional and structural neuroimaging community.  Registered users can contribute to NITRC Community wiki pages.

Community Surveys: The NITRC Community surveys give registered users a chance to respond to surveys about issues of interest to the functional and structural neuroimaging community.  Observers may see a list of available surveys but may not view or respond to the surveys.  The NITRC Community survey functionality is the same as that for individual tools and resources.  Please refer to the Tool/Resource Functions Surveys section of this User Guide for more information on how to use surveys.

Submit Community News: Submit Community News gives all registered users the opportunity to submit news that may be posted on the Home page.  Enter a subject/title and details for the news bulletin, and then click the Submit button.  Your news submission will be sent to the site moderator for approval.  All approved news bulletins are posted on the NITRC Home page.

NITRC Community Trackers: The NITRC Community trackers give everyone a chance to see problems that have been identified within the NITRC site and to see new functionality and features that have been suggested for the NITRC site.  The NITRC Community tracker functionality is the same as that for individual tools and resources.  Please refer to the Tool/Resource Functions Tracker section of this User Guide for more information on how to use these trackers.

5.3. Browsing Tools and Resources

NITRC offers the ability to browse hosted tools and resources by the categories to which they have been assigned.  NITRC also offers the ability to quickly browse by top downloads.

5.3.1. Browsing by Attribute

The Attribute List can be accessed by clicking the “Tools & Resources” main menu link or the "Browse by Attribute" sub-menu link.  The Attribute List classifies tools and resources so that they can be found more easily.  It allows you to browse the tools and resources by one of nine standard attributes: 

• Category
  
• Development Status
• Environment
• Intended Audience
• License
• Natural Language
• Operating System
• Programming Language
• Supported Data Format

Each of these standard attributes is comprised of many sub-attributes.  To view a complete list of all the attributes to which a tool or resource can be assigned, click the magnifying glass with the plus sign above the list.  This will expand all the attributes to show the complete Attribute List.  To collapse the tree back to the nine standard attributes, click the magnifying glass with the minus sign above the list.

Tool List:  The resulting list of tools and resources is shown in the default "Tool List" display with the tools/resources listed alphabetically.  Any time the display is changed, you can return to this display by clicking the "Tool List" link at the top of the page.  The tool list includes the tool/resource name and description, the user ratings and reviews, and all the Attribute List attributes that have been assigned to each tool or resource.   Clicking on a resulting tool/resource name will take you to the Summary page for that tool/resource.  Clicking "Read Reviews" will take you to the Display Reviews/Ratings page for that tool/resource.  Clicking on an "i" icon next to an assigned attribute will show a detailed description of that attribute.  Clicking the funnel icon next to an assigned attribute sets a filter for additional tool browsing.

When you set a filter for any of the attributes listed by clicking the funnel icon next to that attribute, only tools and resources with this same assigned attribute will be listed as you browse through the tree.  The filters that have been set are displayed toward the top of the page.  A filter can be removed by clicking “Remove this Filter” next to the filter that should be removed.

Attribute Comparison:  You have the option of viewing a tool/resource attribute comparison table.  Click the "Attribute Comparison" link above the list of tools and resources to change the display to a comparison table.  The table shows the tool/resource names across the first row.  The table's first column shows the tool/resource name label, then the ratings labels (overall, installation, documentation), and then all applicable attributes/sub-attributes.  Any Category attributes are listed alphabetically first, followed by the rest of the attributes also listed alphabetically.  The table then shows check marks where a tool/resource has been assigned to a listed attribute.  This allows you to easily follow a particular attribute of interest across to see which resulting tools and resources have been assigned to that attribute.

Just as in the "Tool List" display, clicking on a resulting tool/resource name will take you to the Summary page for that tool or resource; clicking on an "i" icon next to an assigned attribute will show a detailed description of that attribute; and clicking on a funnel icon will limit further browsing to this assigned attribute.  In order to see the Display Reviews/Ratings page for the tool or resource, you must click on any of the rating stars for that tool or resource.  If you want to get back to the simple tool/resource list display, click the "Tool List" link at the top of the page.

Initially, the tools and resources displayed in the table are ordered alphabetically by tool/resource name.  If you wish to change the sort order, simply click on the row title (Name, Overall, Category, etc.) by which you would like the results sorted.

Tool/Resource Table:  You have the option of viewing the resulting list of tools and resources in a simple horizontal table, where the names of the tools/resources are listed in the first row with the review and attribute information in the subsequent rows.  Click the "Tool/Resource Table" link above the list of tools and resources to change the display to a simple table.  The table shows the tool/resource names across the first row.  The table's first column shows the tool/resource name label, then the ratings labels (overall, installation, documentation), and then the nine standard attributes with Category first, followed by the others listed alphabetically.  If a tool/resource has been assigned to an attribute, that attribute is listed under the tool/resource in the row with the appropriate attribute label.

Just as in the "Tool List" display, clicking on a resulting tool/resource name will take you to the Summary page for that tool or resource; clicking on an "i" icon next to an assigned attribute will show a detailed description of that attribute; and clicking on a funnel icon will limit further browsing to this assigned attribute.  In order to see the Display Reviews/Ratings page for the tool or resource, you must click on any of the rating stars for that tool or resource.  If you want to get back to the simple tool/resource list display, click the "Tool List" link at the top of the page.

Initially, all tools and resources displayed in table form are ordered alphabetically by tool/resource name.  If you wish to change the sort order, simply click on the row title (Name, Overall, Category, etc.) by which you would like the results sorted.

5.3.2. Browsing by Top Downloads

A list of the most often downloaded tools and resources can be displayed by clicking the “Browse by Top Downloads” sub-menu link under the “Tools & Resources” main menu link.  The Top Downloads page lists the tools and resources by name, ranking them in order starting with the tool or resource that has been downloaded the most.  The list includes the number of times each tool or resource has been downloaded.  You may click on the tool/resource name to get to the Summary page for that tool or resource.

5.4. Code Snippet Library

The Code Snippet Library can be accessed by clicking the “Download Code Snippets” sub-menu link below the “Tools & Resources” main menu link.  The Snippet Library function of NITRC allows users to collect all types of knowledge and information about incomplete fragments of code that are usually difficult to organize and share.  Examples include sophisticated shell commands, javascript functions, perl one-liners, SQL expressions that perform special queries, algorithms, etc.

Any user can browse the Snippet Library and download code snippets.  Only registered users can add new snippets and create snippet packages.

5.4.1. Adding a new snippet

You can add a new snippet by clicking the “Submit New Snippet” link at the top of the snippet library pages. A form is displayed, where the following information must be entered:

Title: Enter the title of the snippet. This will be displayed in the list of the snippets.

Description: Enter the description of the snippet.

Type: Select the type of the snippet: function, full script, sample code (HOWTO), README, class.

License: Select the license you want to use for your snippet.

Language: Select the language of the snippet (if it is language dependent).

Category: Classify your snippet in the category tree.

Version: You must enter here the version of the snippet. For a new snippet, enter 1.0.

Code: Paste the code of the snippet.

5.4.2 Browsing snippets

You can browse snippets by clicking the “Browse Snippets” link at the top of the snippet library pages. You may browse snippets by Language or by Category. The resulting table shows the list of all snippets of the selected Language or Category, and the table includes the snippet ID, the snippet title, the author, and a description of the snippet. You may click on the snippet ID number or the snippet title to view the details of the snippet. You may click on the author name to view the User Profile page for the author.

5.4.3. Modifying a snippet

You cannot modify an existing snippet, but you can add a new version of the snippet by clicking the “Submit a new version” link toward the bottom of the detail page for that snippet. Adding a new version does not delete the old version; all previous versions will be available. If you do wish to delete a version, you may click on the trash can under the Delete column for that snippet version on the detail page.

5.4.4. Creating a package

You can add a new snippet package by clicking the “Create Snippet Package” link at the top of the snippet library pages. A form is displayed, where the following information must be entered:

Title: Enter the title of the package. This will be displayed in the list of the snippets.

Description: Enter the description of the package.

Language: Select the language of the package (if it is language dependent).

Category: Classify your package in the category tree.

Version: You must enter here the version of the package. For a new package, enter 1.0.

After the package has been successfully submitted, you will need to add the snippets to the package.  Click the “Add Snippets to Package” link.  Select the snippet from the drop down list, and click the “Submit” button.  Continue doing this until all desired snippets are included in the package.

5.4.5 Modifying a package

You cannot remove snippets from a package, but you can add more snippets to an existing package by clicking on the pencil under the Edit/Del column for that package on the detail page.  The Add Snippets to Package page is displayed for you to select and submit the snippets to include with the package.

You can also submit a new version of the package by clicking the “Submit a new version” link toward the bottom of the detail page for that package.  Adding a new version does not delete the old version; all previous versions will be available.  If you do wish to delete a package, you may click on the trash can under the Edit/Del column for that package on the detail page.

5.5. Help Wanted

The Help Wanted page is accessed by clicking the “Help Wanted” sub-menu link below the “Tools & Resources” main menu link.  This is a “help wanted” board for non-commercial, tool/resource volunteer openings.  Commercial use is prohibited.  A listing remains live for two weeks or less if closed earlier by the poster.

5.5.1. Adding a help wanted listing

If you are a tool/resource administrator, you may submit help wanted requests through your tool/resource administration page.  Please refer to the Tool/Resource Administration Post Jobs section of this User Guide for more information.

5.5.2. Browsing help wanted listings

When you click the “Help Wanted” sub-menu link a page is displayed with categories by which you can search for tools and resources that are looking for help.  Below the category listing is a listing of the most recent job postings.

You can browse through the category menu to find tools or resources looking for help.  These categories include Unix Admin, Doc Writer, Graphic/Other Designer, Project Manager, Developer, Tester, and Support Manager.  If you click on a category name, the resulting table lists all job postings for that category.  The table includes the title of the position, the category, the date and time the job was posted, and the name of the tool or resource that posted the position.  You may click on the job title to view the details of that position.

The listing of most recent job postings looks just like the resulting table from a category search.  You may click on the job title to view the details of that position or you may click on the tool/resource name to see the Summary page for that tool or resource.

5.5.3. Modifying a help wanted listing

If you are a tool/resource administrator, you may update a job posting through your tool/resource administration page.  Please refer to the Tool/Resource Administration Edit Jobs section of this User Guide for more information.

5.6. NITRC Help

NITRC provides help in a variety of ways.  Clicking the "Help" menu link below the NITRC logo opens this User Guide.  The User Guide provides a general description of how to use the functionality within NITRC.  If you cannot find the information you need in this User Guide, please check the NITRC Community wiki: both the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section and the Getting Started: Listing Your Tool/Resource section may have answers to your questions.

Throughout the site, you may find context-sensitive help.  When you see a blue information icon  next to a field on a page, you may click on the icon to display a definition of that field.

Finally, if you still have not found the information you are looking for, please click the “Contact Us” sub-menu link under the “Help” menu.  The Contact Information page contains several useful links and e-mail addresses.  You may send general questions about NITRC functionality to the NITRC moderator, who will provide a response within two business days.

6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The NITRC User Guide has been adapted from the GForge Manual dated January 9, 2006, by Tom Copeland, Roland Mas, Ken McCullagh, Tim Perdue, Guillaume Smet, and Reinhard Spisser. The original document may be found at http://projects.semwebcentral.org/docman/view.php/6/4/gforge.pdf