Reporting Issues

From KnowledgeTree Document Management Made Simple

Contents 1 Reporting an Issue 1.1 Choosing a project 1.2 Choosing an issue type 1.3 Other values 2 Maintaining your issue

Reporting an Issue

In order to provide the best response to problems, the KnowledgeTree team recommends the use of this process:

If it looks like a bug:

1. If it isn't obvious it is a bug (ie, no "Fatal Error"), check on the forums to ensure that the behaviour you are experiencing may not be a misconfiguration or poorly documented part of the system

Bug or request for improvement:

1. Search the [issue tracker] for the bug or improvment to reduce duplicates (and, for bugs, in case a former reporter didn't specify the affected versions correctly and it does not appear in the Known Issues list for the version of KnowledgeTree you are using)
2. Add the issue to the [issue tracker]

Choosing a project

Which project to choose when reporting bugs depends on where the issue in KnowledgeTree is. There are two main categories for the server side of KnowledgeTree, KnowledgeTree Server, and KnowledgeTree Extra Plugins. Unless you downloaded an extra plugin (or developed one yourself) for KnowledgeTree, you want to use KnowledgeTree Server. Users of the KnowledgeTree Certified Servers will have the option of using that category, and should use it for any problems they encounter.

Choosing an issue type

There are three main issue types:

• Bug - use this if KnowledgeTree is supposed to behave one way and it doesn't
• Improvement - use this if KnowledgeTree would work better if some minor changes were made
• New feature - use this if you want KnowledgeTree to implement something unrelated to existing functionality and/or requiring large changes in future

Two other issue types exist:

• Task - this is for the KnowledgeTree development team use to remind them to do something
• Contribution - use this if you have developed an improvement to KnowledgeTree and wish for it to be included in KnowledgeTree for all to use

Other values

The summary field should contain a concise but descriptive explanation of the issue. Often, the summary field will be used to remember which issue is being referred to, or on which issues to work on, so a good summary works in your favour.

Priority should initially be set to how it affects your use of KnowledgeTree. Critical should be used if you have experienced data loss. Major if the loss of (or missing) functionality majorly affects your usage of KnowledgeTree. Minor should be used if the issue affects an aspect of KnowledgeTree that is rarely used. Trivial is for spelling mistakes or issues that either are easily worked around or which would make KnowledgeTree a bit easier to use if implemented.

In the Affects Version field, choose the version of KnowledgeTree you are currently using if a bug. If you know that the bug exists in other versions of KnowledgeTree, choose those too. Leave this field empty if you are asking for an improvement or new feature.

In Environment, provide the platform on which KnowledgeTree runs. This would include the operating system and version ("Ubuntu 5.10", "RedHat Enterprise Linux 4", "Windows Server 2003"), the PHP version ("PHP 4.3.2"), the SQL database ("MySQL 4.0.14"). For Certified Server users, provide the operating system and the version of the certified server ("Professional 1.0").

In Description, provide as much information as necessary to resolve your issue. For bugs, it is recommended that you use the following formula:

1. From a high level, what you were trying to achieve
2. What actions you took to achieve this
3. What you expected to happen
4. What did happen in response to your actions

Also include how you got to the page before you had the error (provide the breadcrumbs and URI too), what values you used, and what the page with the error looked like (provide the breadcrumbs, URI) and the full error.

It is also recommended that you provide a screenshot for the page before the error and the page with the error, especially it is hard to describe where the bug happens and how to reproduce it.

Maintaining your issue

As contributors to KnowledgeTree look at and comment on your issue, you will receive emails about the activity. Often, bugs are hard to reproduce, and additional information (including screenshots) may be necessary to locate the problem. If no replies are received for these requests for information, the issue will have to be closed to maintain an accurate and informative list of issues affecting KnowledgeTree.