ReportingHowTo

Welcome to the ESI Tools issue tracker

The ESI Tools issue tracker is the system for placing bug reports and feature requests for ESI Tools. Please take a few moment to read over this page to get an understanding of what you need to do in order to help the developers improve the ESI Tools. Below are guidelines, tips and expectations for using this service.

Note: you must log in to create a bug report or feature request. See the Log in link at the top left of this page

General Guidelines

These guidelines should be taken into consideration when posting to the issue tracker.

• Search the issue tracker to see if the ticket has already been discussed.
• Search the Forums to see if the issue has been discussed there.
• Do not create a new ticket because an old ticket was closed. Reply to the old ticket if you have additional information and the developers will make the determination if the ticket should be re-opened.

• Please use the following syntax when inserting code. It helps the code stand out making it easier to read.

  {{{
  MsgBox(0, "", "This is source code")
  }}}

• If you must post a large piece of code then please attach the file instead of posting it in-line.

• Do not demand priority for your issue. People always suggest their issue should receive priority because it's important to them. It is up to the developers to choose what they want to work on and when it gets worked on. Changes to the tools resulting from new or changed requirements resulting from an approved EWG decision will take priority
• Do not argue about the resolution a ticket is given unless you can prove that closing the ticket was a mistake.
• Do not ask for support. This is for bug reports and feature requests only. See the ESI Tool Help Forum to ask for support.
• Tickets should be stand-alone. They should contain all the information necessary to reproduce the issue without the need for links to the forum. It is acceptable to link to the forum so the developers may see the discussion that lead to the discovery of the bug. However, linking to the forum without extricating the pertinent information and using that to create the ticket may slow down the implementation of the bug fix.
• Each ticket should cover one issue. Tickets that cover multiple issues are confusing and hard to resolve since some parts may not be completed in a way that matches the ticket's resolution. If you think you've found multiple related issues, post on the forum first. Chances are, fixing one issue will resolve the related issues, otherwise they should be separate tickets anyway.

Bug Report Guidelines

These guidelines should be taken into consideration when creating a bug report.

• If you are asking a question then you do not have a bug to report, use the ESI Tool Help Forum to ask questions.
• Please provide examples of files that illustrate the bug (e.g. Change Request, CR Status, XML database). The files should not contain more than the bare minimum necessary to reproduce the problem. If the bug can be shown when using an officially released file then please provide the version number of the release (from the SISO file library) - don't just say latest since that file may not be the latest when the developers get round to investigating the bug
• Please choose the correct version and component for the ticket. If in doubt about the component then specify the tool that exhibits the bug
• Please set the type of ticket to Defect

Feature Request Guidelines

These guidelines should be taken into consideration when creating a feature request.

• Ensure the idea isn't on the list of things we won't do.
• Seriously, go and read this page again. Do not ask for these things.
• When creating a feature request, please unset the version field. The version field is not used with feature requests. In addition the blocking and milestone fields should be left empty as well.
• Don't assume that just because you need a feature that the majority of people will use the feature. In other words don't ask for very niche things. Things added to the tool set are intentionally very broad to reduce bloat.
• Please set the type of ticket to Enhancement

Commenting Guidelines

These guidelines should be taken into consideration when replying to a ticket.

• You cannot re-open a ticket but you may still leave a comment if you have additional information to add.
• In-depth discussions should take place on the Developer's forum.

Description of Ticket Fields

• Type - The type of ticket, either a defect (bug report) or an enhancement (feature request).
• Component - The tool that the problem or request affects.
• Severity - The developers use this field to highlight tickets that are important and need fixed before a specific release. Only developers may set this field.
• Cc - Specify an email address here to receive an email notification when the ticket is modified.
• Milestone - This field is set to the version of ESI Tools a change appears in. For example, if the milestone is set to 3.3.5.0 for a bug report then that bug will be fixed in ESI Tools 3.3.5.0. A bug may be fixed in a version of ESI Tools that has not come out yet. Only developers may set this field.
• Version - When creating a bug report, specify the version the bug appears. When creating a feature request please unset this field, it is not used.
• Keywords - Keywords can be specified here that will help in searching for the ticket. This field is seldom used.