nitrc:User Guide - Tracker Administration
From NITRC Wiki
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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 a Template 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.
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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, Feature Requests, or Support.
- Description: The description of the Tracker, e.g., "This is the tracker dedicated to the bugs of the tool/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. Separate multiple addresses with a comma.
- 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 this tracker's Submit New page.
- Free form text for the "browse items" page: This allows you to put a specific introduction on this tracker's Browse 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 at 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. Here you can update the following information on the tracker:
- Default Displayed Fields: The fields that are shown by default for the resulting tracker item list on the Browse page. All fields available for this tracker, including custom fields, are shown in this selection box. Select those fields that should be displayed by default. Registered users always have the option to create a Power Query to customize their displayed results.
- Send email on new submission to address: All new items will be sent to the address(es) inserted in the text box. Separate multiple addresses with a comma.
- 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 this tracker's Submit New page.
- Free form text for the "browse items" page: This allows you to put a specific introduction on this tracker's Browse 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/non-logged in) posts are allowed. |
Manage Custom Fields
To add new fields or to modify existing fields, click the "Manage Custom Fields" link at the top of 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:
- Custom 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 this tracker's Submit New page and its Browse 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 effect. View this tracker's Submit New page or its Browse 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 a Template tracker (Bugs, Feature Requests, Patches, and Support) 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.
| Note: It is important to note that the cloning is done from the Template tracker. If you have modified the custom fields for your Bugs tracker, for example, this will not be cloned; the fields from the Template Bugs tracker are cloned. |
Manage 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 "Manage Canned Responses" link toward the top 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. You will not be able to recover these once deleted.
Mass Update
If you are a tracker administrator, you can use the Mass Update function. This function is visible on the tracker's Browse 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.
