Changes between Version 9 and Version 10 of TracWorkflow


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Timestamp:
25/03/2015 10:37:41 (10 years ago)
Author:
trac
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  • TracWorkflow

    v9 v10  
    1 = The Trac Ticket Workflow System =
     1= The Trac Ticket Workflow System
     2
     3[[PageOutline(2-5,Contents,pullout)]]
    24[[TracGuideToc]]
    3 
    45The Trac ticket system provides a configurable workflow.
    56
    6 == The Default Ticket Workflow ==
    7 === Environments upgraded from 0.10 ===
     7== The Default Ticket Workflow
     8
     9=== Environments upgraded from 0.10
     10
    811When you run `trac-admin <env> upgrade`, your `trac.ini` will be modified to include a `[ticket-workflow]` section.
    9 The workflow configured in this case is the original workflow, so that ticket actions will behave like they did in 0.10.
    10 
    11 Graphically, that looks like this:
     12The workflow configured in this case is the original workflow, so that ticket actions will behave like they did in 0.10:
    1213
    1314{{{#!Workflow width=500 height=240
     
    2930}}}
    3031
    31 There are some significant "warts" in this; such as accepting a ticket sets it to 'assigned' state, and assigning a ticket sets it to 'new' state.  Perfectly obvious, right?
    32 So you will probably want to migrate to "basic" workflow; [trac:source:trunk/contrib/workflow/migrate_original_to_basic.py contrib/workflow/migrate_original_to_basic.py] may be helpful.
    33 
    34 === Environments created with 0.11 ===
    35 When a new environment is created, a default workflow is configured in your trac.ini.  This workflow is the basic workflow (described in `basic-workflow.ini`), which is somewhat different from the workflow of the 0.10 releases.
    36 
    37 Graphically, it looks like this:
     32There are some significant caveats in this, such as accepting a ticket sets it to 'assigned' state, and assigning a ticket sets it to 'new' state. So you will probably want to migrate to "basic" workflow, see contrib/workflow/migrate_original_to_basic.py.
     33
     34=== Environments created with 0.11
     35
     36When a new environment is created, a default workflow is configured in your trac.ini. This workflow is the basic workflow, such as specified in `basic-workflow.ini`, which is somewhat different from the workflow of the 0.10 releases:
    3837
    3938{{{#!Workflow width=700 height=300
     
    5554}}}
    5655
    57 == Additional Ticket Workflows ==
    58 
    59 There are several example workflows provided in the Trac source tree; look in [trac:source:trunk/contrib/workflow contrib/workflow] for `.ini` config sections.  One of those may be a good match for what you want. They can be pasted into the `[ticket-workflow]` section of your `trac.ini` file. However if you have existing tickets then there may be issues if those tickets have states that are not in the new workflow.
     56== Additional Ticket Workflows
     57
     58There are example workflows provided in the Trac source tree, see [trac:source:trunk/contrib/workflow contrib/workflow] for `.ini` config sections. One of those may be a good match for what you want. They can be pasted into the `[ticket-workflow]` section of your `trac.ini` file. However, if you have existing tickets then there may be issues if those tickets have states that are not in the new workflow.
    6059
    6160Here are some [trac:WorkFlow/Examples diagrams] of the above examples.
    6261
    63 == Basic Ticket Workflow Customization ==
    64 
    65 Note: Ticket "statuses" or "states" are not separately defined. The states a ticket can be in are automatically generated by the transitions defined in a workflow. Therefore, creating a new ticket state simply requires defining a state transition in the workflow that starts or ends with that state.
     62== Basic Ticket Workflow Customization
     63
     64'''Note''': Ticket "statuses" or "states" are not separately defined. The states a ticket can be in are automatically generated by the transitions defined in a workflow. Therefore, creating a new ticket state simply requires defining a state transition in the workflow that starts or ends with that state.
    6665
    6766Create a `[ticket-workflow]` section in `trac.ini`.
    6867Within this section, each entry is an action that may be taken on a ticket.
    6968For example, consider the `accept` action from `simple-workflow.ini`:
     69
    7070{{{#!ini
    7171accept = new,accepted -> accepted
     
    7373accept.operations = set_owner_to_self
    7474}}}
     75
    7576The first line in this example defines the `accept` action, along with the states the action is valid in (`new` and `accepted`), and the new state of the ticket when the action is taken (`accepted`).
    7677The `accept.permissions` line specifies what permissions the user must have to use this action.
     
    8283 - ''actionname''`.set_owner` may optionally be set to a comma delimited list of users that will be used to populate the select, or a single user.
    8384- **set_owner_to_self** -- Sets the owner to the logged in user.
    84 - **del_resolution** -- Clears the resolution field
     85- **del_resolution** -- Clears the resolution field.
    8586- **set_resolution** -- Sets the resolution to the selected value.
    8687 - ''actionname''`.set_resolution` may optionally be set to a comma delimited list or a single value. Example:
     
    9394}}}
    9495- **leave_status** -- Displays "leave as <current status>" and makes no change to the ticket.
    95 '''Note:''' Specifying conflicting operations (such as `set_owner` and `del_owner`) has unspecified results.
    96 
    97 In this example, we see the `.name` attribute used.  The action here is `resolve_accepted`, but it will be presented to the user as `resolve`.
     96- **reset_workflow** -- Resets the status of tickets that are in states no longer defined.
     97'''Note:''' Specifying conflicting operations, such as `set_owner` and `del_owner`, has unspecified results.
     98
     99In this example, we see the `.name` attribute used. The action here is `resolve_accepted`, but it will be presented to the user as `resolve`:
    98100
    99101{{{#!ini
     
    104106}}}
    105107
    106 For actions that should be available in all states, `*` may be used in place of the state.  The obvious example is the `leave` action:
    107 {{{#!ini
    108 leave = * -> *
    109 leave.operations = leave_status
    110 leave.default = 1
    111 }}}
    112 This also shows the use of the `.default` attribute.  This value is expected to be an integer, and the order in which the actions are displayed is determined by this value.  The action with the highest `.default` value is listed first, and is selected by default.  The rest of the actions are listed in order of decreasing `.default` values.
    113 If not specified for an action, `.default` is 0.  The value may be negative.
    114 
    115 There are a couple of hard-coded constraints to the workflow.  In particular, tickets are created with status `new`, and tickets are expected to have a `closed` state.  Further, the default reports/queries treat any state other than `closed` as an open state.
     108For actions that should be available in all states, `*` may be used in place of the state. The obvious example is the `leave` action:
     109{{{#!ini
     110leave = * -> *
     111leave.operations = leave_status
     112leave.default = 1
     113}}}
     114
     115This also shows the use of the `.default` attribute. This value is expected to be an integer, and the order in which the actions are displayed is determined by this value. The action with the highest `.default` value is listed first, and is selected by default. The rest of the actions are listed in order of decreasing `.default` values.
     116If not specified for an action, `.default` is 0. The value may be negative.
     117
     118There are a couple of hard-coded constraints to the workflow. In particular, tickets are created with status `new`, and tickets are expected to have a `closed` state. Further, the default reports/queries treat any state other than `closed` as an open state.
     119
     120The special `_reset` action is added by default for tickets that are in states that are no longer defined. This allows tickets to be individually "repaired" after the workflow is changed, although it's recommended that the administrator perform the action by batch modifying the affected tickets. By default the `_reset` action is available to users with the `TICKET_ADMIN` permission and reset tickets are put in the //new// state. The default `_reset` action is equivalent to the following `[ticket-workflow]` action definition:
     121
     122{{{#!ini
     123_reset = -> new
     124_reset.name = reset
     125_reset.operations = reset_workflow
     126_reset.permissions = TICKET_ADMIN
     127_reset.default = 0
     128}}}
     129
     130Since [trac:milestone:1.0.3] the `_reset` action can be customized by redefining the implicit action. For example, to allow anyone with `TICKET_MODIFY` to perform the `_reset` action, the workflow action would need to be defined:
     131
     132{{{#!ini
     133_reset = -> new
     134_reset.name = reset
     135_reset.operations = reset_workflow
     136_reset.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     137_reset.default = 0
     138}}}
     139
     140== Workflow Visualization
    116141
    117142Workflows can be visualized by rendering them on the wiki using the [WikiMacros#Workflow-macro Workflow macro].
    118143
    119 Workflows can also be visualized using the `contrib/workflow/workflow_parser.py` script.  The script outputs `.dot` files that [http://www.graphviz.org GraphViz] understands. The script can be used as follows (your install path may be different):
     144Workflows can also be visualized using the `contrib/workflow/workflow_parser.py` script. The script outputs `.dot` files that [http://www.graphviz.org GraphViz] understands. The script can be used as follows (your install path may be different):
     145
    120146{{{#!sh
    121147cd /var/local/trac_devel/contrib/workflow/
    122148sudo ./showworkflow /srv/trac/PlannerSuite/conf/trac.ini
    123149}}}
    124 And then open up the resulting `trac.pdf` file created by the script (it will be in the same directory as the `trac.ini` file).
    125 
    126 After you have changed a workflow, you need to restart apache for the changes to take effect. This is important, because the changes will still show up when you run your script, but all the old workflow steps will still be there until the server is restarted.
    127 
    128 == Example: Adding optional Testing with Workflow ==
    129 
    130 By adding the following to your [ticket-workflow] section of trac.ini you get optional testing.  When the ticket is in new, accepted or needs_work status you can choose to submit it for testing.  When it's in the testing status the user gets the option to reject it and send it back to needs_work, or pass the testing and send it along to closed.  If they accept it then it gets automatically marked as closed and the resolution is set to fixed. Since all the old work flow remains, a ticket can skip this entire section.
     150And then open up the resulting `trac.pdf` file created by the script. It will be in the same directory as the `trac.ini` file.
     151
     152After you have changed a workflow, you need to restart your webserver for the changes to take effect.
     153
     154== Example: Adding optional Testing with Workflow
     155
     156By adding the following to your [ticket-workflow] section of trac.ini you get optional testing. When the ticket has status `new`, `accepted` or `needs_work`, you can choose to submit it for testing.  When it's in the testing status the user gets the option to reject it and send it back to `needs_work`, or pass the testing and send it along to `closed`. If they accept it, then it is automatically marked as `closed` and the resolution is set to `fixed`. Since all the old work flow remains, a ticket can skip this entire section.
    131157
    132158{{{#!ini
     
    144170}}}
    145171
    146 === How to combine the `tracopt.ticket.commit_updater` with the testing workflow ===
     172=== How to combine the `tracopt.ticket.commit_updater` with the testing workflow
    147173
    148174The [[trac:source:trunk/tracopt/ticket/commit_updater.py|tracopt.ticket.commit_updater]] is the optional component that [[TracRepositoryAdmin#trac-post-commit-hook|replaces the old trac-post-commit-hook]], in Trac 0.12.
     
    154180Have a look at the [[trac:wiki:0.11/TracWorkflow#How-ToCombineSVNtrac-post-commit-hookWithTestWorkflow|Trac 0.11 recipe]] for the `trac-post-commit-hook`, this will give you some ideas about how to modify the component.
    155181
    156 == Example: Add simple optional generic review state ==
     182== Example: Add simple optional generic review state
    157183
    158184Sometimes Trac is used in situations where "testing" can mean different things to different people so you may want to create an optional workflow state that is between the default workflow's `assigned` and `closed` states, but does not impose implementation-specific details. The only new state you need to add for this is a `reviewing` state. A ticket may then be "submitted for review" from any state that it can be reassigned. If a review passes, you can re-use the `resolve` action to close the ticket, and if it fails you can re-use the `reassign` action to push it back into the normal workflow.
     
    166192}}}
    167193
    168 Then, to integrate this with the default Trac 0.11 workflow, you also need to add the `reviewing` state to the `accept` and `resolve` actions, like so:
     194Then, to integrate this with the default Trac 0.11 workflow, you also need to add the `reviewing` state to the `accept` and `resolve` actions:
    169195
    170196{{{#!ini
     
    174200}}}
    175201
    176 Optionally, you can also add a new action that allows you to change the ticket's owner without moving the ticket out of the `reviewing` state. This enables you to reassign review work without pushing the ticket back to the `new` status.
     202Optionally, you can also add a new action that allows you to change the ticket's owner without moving the ticket out of the `reviewing` state. This enables you to reassign review work without pushing the ticket back to the `new` status:
    177203
    178204{{{#!ini
     
    211237}}}
    212238
    213 == Example: Limit the resolution options for a new ticket ==
    214 
    215 The above `resolve_new` operation allows you to set the possible resolutions for a new ticket.  By modifying the existing resolve action and removing the new status from before the `->` we then get two resolve actions. One with limited resolutions for new tickets, and then the regular one once a ticket is accepted.
     239== Example: Limit the resolution options for a new ticket
     240
     241The above `resolve_new` operation allows you to set the possible resolutions for a new ticket. By modifying the existing resolve action and removing the new status from before the `->` we then get two resolve actions. One with limited resolutions for new tickets, and then the regular one once a ticket is accepted.
    216242
    217243{{{#!ini
     
    227253}}}
    228254
    229 == Advanced Ticket Workflow Customization ==
    230 
    231 If the customization above is not extensive enough for your needs, you can extend the workflow using plugins.  These plugins can provide additional operations for the workflow (like code_review), or implement side-effects for an action (such as triggering a build) that may not be merely simple state changes.  Look at [trac:source:trunk/sample-plugins/workflow sample-plugins/workflow] for a few simple examples to get started.
     255== Advanced Ticket Workflow Customization
     256
     257If the customizations above do not meet your needs, you can extend the workflow with plugins. Plugins can provide additional operations for the workflow, like code_review, or implement side-effects for an action, such as triggering a build, that may not be merely simple state changes. Look at [trac:source:trunk/sample-plugins/workflow sample-plugins/workflow] for a few examples to get started.
    232258
    233259But if even that is not enough, you can disable the !ConfigurableTicketWorkflow component and create a plugin that completely replaces it.
    234260
    235 == Adding Workflow States to Milestone Progress Bars ==
    236 
    237 If you add additional states to your workflow, you may want to customize your milestone progress bars as well.  See [TracIni#milestone-groups-section TracIni].
    238 
    239 == Ideas for next steps ==
    240 
    241 New enhancement ideas for the workflow system should be filed as enhancement tickets against the `ticket system` component.  You can also document ideas on the [trac:TracIdeas/TracWorkflow TracIdeas/TracWorkflow] page.  Also look at the [http://trac-hacks.org/wiki/AdvancedTicketWorkflowPlugin AdvancedTicketWorkflowPlugin] as it provides experimental operations.
     261== Adding Workflow States to Milestone Progress Bars
     262
     263If you add additional states to your workflow, you may want to customize your milestone progress bars as well. See [TracIni#milestone-groups-section TracIni].
     264
     265== Ideas for next steps
     266
     267New enhancement ideas for the workflow system should be filed as enhancement tickets against the `ticket system` component.  You can also document ideas on the [trac:TracIdeas/TracWorkflow TracIdeas/TracWorkflow] page. Also look at the [http://trac-hacks.org/wiki/AdvancedTicketWorkflowPlugin AdvancedTicketWorkflowPlugin] as it provides experimental operations.
     268
     269Some of the ideas described here are originally proposed in [trac:NewWorkflow].