The Edit Form Tab

Opening an Edit Form Tab

Edit Form Tab Layout

Special Subtabs

Working in an Edit Form Tab

Saving or Discarding Your Work

Working with Special Fields

Timestamp field

Multiple-Line Text and Log fields

Timespan field

Attachments field

Relationship field

Exporting an Issue Record (Printing)

Using AccuWorkflow Features

The AccuWork Edit Form tab provides a familiar, easy-to-use interface for creating new issue records A data record, consisting of values of data fields, stored in a Dispatch issue database. and modifying the contents of existing issue records. The edit form also provides access to an issue record's change package A set of entries, each in the form of a basis-version/head-version pair, recorded on the Changes tab of an issue record. The change package records the changes to one or more elements, made to implement the feature or bugfix described in that issue record. Each entry in the change package describes changes to one element: the changes between the basis version and the head version. See patch..

Opening an Edit Form Tab

To create a new issue record, choose Issues > New Issue from the GUI main menu, or click the button in the GUI main toolbar.

To modify an existing issue record, choose Issues > Look Up from the GUI main menu, or click the button in the GUI main toolbar. AccuWork prompts you to enter the issue record's unique issue number (an integer).

Notes (click to view):

Edit Form Tab Layout

Although each issue database has its own edit form, all AccuWork edit forms have these features in common:

Special Subtabs

Every edit form has two special subtabs, which appear and work differently than the standard fill-in-the-blanks "pages":

Working in an Edit Form Tab

You can enter and change values in any number of fields, and visit different pages in a multiple-page form. Here are some notes, describing aspects of AccuWork edit forms that may differ from other fill-in-the-blanks forms:

Saving or Discarding Your Work

Your entries in an edit form are not stored in the issue record until you click the Save or Save & Close button in the edit form toolbar. If you don't wish to save your work, just close the edit-form tab as you would any GUI tab.

When you save an issue record:

Working with Special Fields

AccuWork supports special field types, which have special user-interface "widgets" on an edit form. These are described in the following sections.

Timestamp field

A timestamp field value represents a point in time, with a granularity (set by the issue database designer) as large as one year, or as small as one second. You can fill in the individual subfields manually, or use the Select Date button to display choices ("tomorrow", "2 days ago", etc.) that fill in the subfields automatically. Once these subfields are filled in, you can revise them individually or by clicking the Select Date button again.

Multiple-Line Text and Log fields

The issue database designer can specify that a text field can have multiple lines, and can also specify both the width and the height of the textbox on the edit form. When you use the form you can use the control at the top of the textbox to temporarily expand the height. Click the control again (it's now ) to contract the height. A scroll bar appears on the textbox whenever the current contents of the field are not completely visible.

A log field is a variant of a multiple-line text field. You can type directly into such a field. And if you click the Add Timestamped Text control, a timestamp text line is inserted at the beginning or end of the field.

Timespan field

A timespan field is AccuWork's only numeric field type. You can type any value into the field, but when you leave the field, AccuWork automatically erases a non-numeric value. Negative numbers and decimals are allowed. If you enter an integer (e.g. 45), it's automatically converted to a decimal (45.0).

Attachments field

An edit form can contain one or more attachment fields. In each such field, you can specify one or more files and/or Internet addresses (URLs) to be attached to the current issue record. AccuWork displays the attachments data as a table.

In addition to specifying the location of a file or Internet resource, you enter a name and optional comment. AccuWork automatically fills in your username, the date, and the size of the attached file. (Internet URLs are assigned a size of 0.) If the edit-form field is not large enough to show all these attachment parameters, use the scroll bar to see all the data. You can also resize and rearrange the columns of an attachments table.

An attachment field includes its own toolbar, with these buttons:

New Attachment

Define a new file attachment for this issue record. A New File Attachment dialog appears, in which you can specify one or more files, a name for the attachment, and a comment string.

You can specify multiple files at once -- each one becomes a separate file attachment. In this case, the Attachment Name input field is disabled; each filename is automatically assigned as the attachment name. The comment string that you specify is assigned to each file attachment.

New URL

Define a new attachment to be the address (URL) of an Internet resource. A New URL Attachment dialog appears, in which you specify a URL, a name for the attachment, and a comment string. AccuWork inserts the string http:// in the URL field. You can erase this if you want to specify a location accessed by another Internet protocol, such as ftp:// .

Open Attachment

Open the existing attachment that is currently selected, using the appropriate program.

Save Attachment As

Create a copy of the currently selected attachment on the client machine.

Properties

Launch a Properties window, displaying the definition of the currently selected attachment. You can use this window to change the attachment's Name or Comment value.

Delete Attachment

Remove the attachment from the issue record (and from the depot). A URL attachment can be deleted at any time. A newly added file attachment can be deleted if you haven't yet Save'd the issue record.

When you save the issue record, each file is copied to the depot, so that the data always remains available through the issue record, even if an original file is deleted.

Relationship field

AccuWork supports several kinds of relationships between a pair of issue records:

IMPORTANT NOTE: This relationship is independent of change package dependency A relationship between the change package of an issue record (A) and the change packages of one or more other issue records (B,C,D, ...), expressing the fact that promoting A would also cause some or all of the changes in B,C,D, ... to be promoted. relationships among issue records, which are maintained automatically by AccuRev.

You cannot create "relationship chains": for example, if B duplicates A, you cannot make C a duplicate of B.

Issue record relationships can be viewed only in the AccuWork GUI. The edit-form tables that display issue relationships are not included when you export an issue record (for viewing or printing). These tables are not included when you use the AccuWork command-line interface accurev xml command -- see the AccuRev User's Guide (CLI Edition) to dump the contents of an issue record.

When you create or delete a relationship between issue records, the change to both issue records is stored in the issue database immediately. There is no need to invoke the Save command on the issue record.(The Save button is not enabled in the edit-form toolbar.)

Viewing and Maintaining an Issue Record's "Duplicate" Relationships

The "duplicate" relationship is not symmetrical: "A duplicates B" is not the same as "B duplicates A". Accordingly, an edit-form field displaying a duplicate-type relationship consists of two tables: the top table shows issue records that are duplicated by the current record; the bottom table shows issue records that the current record duplicates.

Because of the "relationship chains" restriction, issue records can appear in only one of these tables, not both.

On the other hand, "A duplicates B" is the same as "B is duplicated by A". This means that when you add an entry to the top table of one issue record, AccuWork automatically adds it to the bottom table of the other issue record (and vice-versa).

A Duplicate relationship field has its own toolbar, with these buttons:

Link Issue

Create a relationship link with another issue record. AccuWork prompts you to enter an issue record number.

Remove Link

Remove the selected relationship link.

Notes (click to view):

 

 

 

 

 

Exporting an Issue Record (Printing)

At any time when you're using an edit form, you can print the issue record. For AccuWork, printing means "publish to the Web" -- which means either "create an HTML file" or "create an XML file".

When creating an HTML file, AccuWork outputs all the content of the issue record and approximates the form layout, too. Even if the edit form has multiple pages, you need to "print" only once. All of the pages are combined into a single HTML or XML file. [example]

 

On Windows machines, AccuWork automatically invokes a Web browser on the HTML file it creates. If you wish, resize the browser window to optimize the look of the issue record. HTML documents automatically adjust to changes in window width. Then, use the browser's print command to create a printout of the issue record.

Using AccuWorkflow Features

If your issue database has a workflow A directed graph, defined in the Workflow subtab of the AccuWork Schema Editor. The graph's nodes are the 'workflow stages' that an AccuWork issue record can pass through. The graph's arrows are the 'workflow transitions' that users invoke to migrate issue records from stage to stage., set up using AccuWorkflow, each issue record moves through a set of workflow stages A node in an AccuWork workflow, representing one of the steps in the "lifetime" of an issue record. See workflow, workflow transition. during its "lifetime". A set of workflow transitions An arrow in an AccuWork workflow, pointing to a particular workflow stage. This represents one step that an issue record can take through the workflow. A transition has two components: a transition action (such as "Finish Dvt") and a workflow stage (such as "Implemented") that is the arrow's destination. Each workflow transition can be configured to start from any number of stages. controls the process of moving through the stages. The Workflow View toolbar button opens a pop-up window showing the issue database's workflow. Workflow stages appear in green; workflow transitions appear in orange.

Stage Transition Toolbar Buttons

Each workflow stage is defined in terms of the values of one or more issue record fields. But instead of setting field values directly in order to make a transition, you click a button in the edit form toolbar:

For example, clicking the Cancel button would change field value(s) in accordance with the definition of workflow stage Closed (the destination stage of the Cancel transition).

AccuWorkflow Required Fields

The definition of a workflow stage can involve one or more required fields. For example, the definition of the Scheduled stage might require that the issue record be assigned a target release; similarly, an issue record might need to be assigned to a particular developer and to have an estimated development time in order to be in the In Dvt stage.

When you click a workflow transition toolbar button, AccuWorkflow examines the required fields, if any, for the destination stage. If necessary, it prompts you to provide values for one or more fields before performing the transition to the new stage: