B. AccuWork : The Edit Form Tab

The Edit Form Tab
The AccuWork Edit Form tab provides a familiar, easy-to-use interface for creating new issue records and modifying the contents of existing issue records. The edit form also provides access to an issue record's change package.
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).
If you have implemented third-party issue tracking system (ITS) keys in your AccuWork schema, this dialog box displays a pair of radio buttons that let you indicate whether you want to use AccuWork issue numbers or third-party ITS keys when looking up issues. See the “Using Third-Party ITS Keys” chapter of the AccuRev Technical Notes for more information.
Notes:
Multiple depots
A typical AccuRev repository contains multiple depots.  Each depot can have its own AccuWork configuration. In each depot, the issue records are numbered sequentially: 1, 2, 3, ... The New Issue or Look Up command applies to the current depot.
Alternate lookup field
AccuWork can be configured to use a lookup field other than the default (field name issueNum, field label Issue). In this case, the label for the configured field appears in the prompt window, and you must enter a value that exactly matches (except for uppercase/lowercase) some issue record's value of that field.
Edit Form Tab Layout
All AccuWork edit forms have these features in common:
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The edit form consists of one or more pages, which appear as subtabs within the overall GUI tab. Typically, there's a header section, which always remains visible as you switch from page to page, using the mouse.
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Each field is represented by a simple text box, a multiple-line text box, a multiple-choice listbox, or a more complex user-interface "widget". To the left of this widget is a descriptive label for the field. (A red label indicates a required field.)
Special Subtabs
Every edit form has two special subtabs, which appear and work differently than the standard fill-in-the-blanks "pages":
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The Changes subtab displays the issue record's change package, and provides commands for analyzing and manipulating the change package's entries.
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The Issue History subtab displays a complete breakdown of how the issue record's field values have changed over time.
Workflow Toolbar
If your site is configured for the optional AccuRev Workflow Edition, your Edit Form may display the following workflow toolbar:
AccuRev Workflow is documented in the AccuRev® Web Interface User’s Guide, Version 2012.1 or later, but a brief summary of this toolbar is:
Workflow:
A label that identifies the name of the workflow to which the current issue is subject.
Stage:
A label icon that identifies the issue's current workflow stage. (This is not clickable.)
Transitions:
One or more buttons that execute any transitions that are valid for the issue.
Note: If an issue doesn't match any workflow stages, or is subject to multiple workflows, AccuRev displays a message to that effect where the buttons would otherwise appear. If an issue's fields don't match with the logic specified for a transition, the transition button appears, but it is grayed out until the user changes the fields required to bring the issue into compliance.
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:
1.
To move from field to field, use the mouse or press Tab and Shift-Tab. To move from page to page in a multiple-page edit form, click the subtab name (there is no keyboard accelerator).
The Enter key confirms a menu choice or enters a line-break in a multiple-line text field. It does not perform field navigation. Within a multiple-line text field, the Tab key inserts a TAB character, rather than jumping to the next field.
2.
While you’re working with issue record, browse arrows are enabled in the edit form’s toolbar.
This makes it easy to view a set of consecutive issue records. If you’ve made some changes that you haven't yet saved, AccuWork prompts you to save or discard those changes before switching to the previous or next one.
3.
When an edit form appears after you invoke the New Issue command, you may notice that some fields already have values. AccuWork can include any number of such field initializations.
4.
If a field's label appears in red, it is a required field. You cannot Save the issue record until every required field has a value. (A text field has a value if it's non-empty. A multiple-choice listbox field has a value it it's not “<none selected>”.) Some of those fields may have gotten their values through an automated field initialization.
If you attempt to save the issue record when one or more required fields still need a value, a pop-up window prompts you to supply the value(s).
5.
Field initializations and required fields are implemented through AccuWork's field validations (or "edit checks") facility. As you work in an edit form, changing field values, you may notice these field-validation effects:
6.
Each issue record has an integer identifier, its issue number. This number is unique within the depot (but not within the entire repository). AccuWork assigns the issue number automatically the first time the issue record is Save'd, and it cannot be changed thereafter. The issue number is stored in field issueNum. By default, the label for this field in an edit form is Issue, but the edit-form designer can change the label for this field.
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:
The issue record is stored in the depot. A transaction of kind dispatch records the creation or modification of the issue record. No matter how the issue record is modified subsequently, you can revisit the issue record in its current form on the Issue History subtab.
If you clicked Save, the edit form tab remains open, with the newly assigned issue number replacing the "New Issue" label and appearing in the Issue field.
Note: "Issue" is the default label for the issueNum field, but it might have a different label, depending on how the schema is configured.
If you clicked Save & Close, the edit form tab closes.
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
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
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:
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Duplicate: You can specify that issue record B duplicates issue record A, so that no work need be done on B. (Perhaps the same bug was reported twice.) Any number of records (B, C, D, ...) can duplicate a given record (A). The default AccuWork issue schema requires that a Duplicate relationship be established when an issue record's State field is set to the value Duplicate.
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Dependency: You can specify that issue record B depends on issue record A (for example, from a project management viewpoint). AccuRev imposes no further semantics on such dependencies; this is a good application for user-defined scripts or practices.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This relationship is independent of change package dependency relationships among issue records, which are maintained automatically by AccuRev.
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Subtask: You can specify that issue record B defines a subtask of the work to be performed for issue record A. In this case, AccuRev considers issue record A to be "in" a particular stream only if issue record B is "in" that stream, also.
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 (CLI) to dump the contents of an issue record. (see the AccuWork™ Command-Line Interface chapter in the AccuRev CLI User’s Guide.)
When you create or delete a relationship between issue records, the change to both issue records is saved 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.
Note: Duplicate Relationship and Duplicate State
In AccuWork's default issue schema:
There is a State field in the header section, one of whose values is Duplicate. (The Status value must be Closed to enable the setting of the State value to Duplicate.)
An edit-form validation specifies that when you set the State field's value to Duplicate, you must indicate which issue record is duplicated, by creating an entry in the Duplicates field.
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".
1.
Click the Export button in the form's toolbar.
2.
Select the file type in the File Chooser dialog that appears.
3.
Specify a pathname for the export file. You don't need to specify the .html or .xml suffix -- AccuWork adds it automatically.
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:]
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.

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