Support Forum

[larsf]

I made a filter that lists all items where I am handler or poster for and the item is open. On the root project, I set this as current project, went to the notification tab, and checked that I wanted this to be my mail notfication filter.

All is well... until I change the view on the root project, to show all, - which I do to work myself down the tree to find the project branch I am looking for... and suddenly I get email notification for all tasks going on!

Can't I assign a generic email filter that only gives me a mail when an item related to me (poster or handler) changes state in some way? Is the "offline activity" email notification bound to the "online activity" of using different viewing filters?

It would be better if the email notification was assigned to a specific filter, and didnt follow current filter.

Regarding filters.
- If I happen to select a sorting key (asc, desc) for an item - how can I "unsort" it?
- If I have made a useful personal filter - how can I make it public instead of private?
- Formatting of output from filters... some times narrow colums are given way too much space - and the issue link list is cramped into a too narrow column. Is there any way that I can improve the use of screenspace? I.e. can I in any way control the formatting?

[admin]

I made a filter that lists all items where I am handler or poster for and the item is open. On the root project, I set this as current project, went to the notification tab, and checked that I wanted this to be my mail notfication filter.

OK, understand.

All is well... until I change the view on the root project, to show all, - which I do to work myself down the tree to find the project branch I am looking for... and suddenly I get email notification for all tasks going on!

Do you mean
1) You change default filter for root project (in subtasks tab)
2) You change filter itself (in Filter->Edit) ?
?

Can't I assign a generic email filter that only gives me a mail when an item related to me (poster or handler) changes state in some way?

I have several answer to your question, please give some sample

Is the "offline activity" email notification bound to the "online activity" of using different viewing filters?

What is "offline activity" and "online activity" ? What do you mean ?

It would be better if the email notification was assigned to a specific filter, and didnt follow current filter.

Yes, they should. Current filter for task does not relate to the email notification rules.

Regarding filters.
- If I happen to select a sorting key (asc, desc) for an item - how can I "unsort" it?

This feature is already available in 2.8

- If I have made a useful personal filter - how can I make it public instead of private?

You can't, but I'll think about this feature.

- Formatting of output from filters... some times narrow colums are given way too much space - and the issue link list is cramped into a too narrow column. Is there any way that I can improve the use of screenspace? I.e. can I in any way control the formatting?

Also no solutions yet. But in 2.8 we display task description under all other fields, possible it can partially solve the problem

[larsf]

All is well... until I change the view on the root project, to show all, - which I do to work myself down the tree to find the project branch I am looking for... and suddenly I get email notification for all tasks going on!

Do you mean
1) You change default filter for root project (in subtasks tab)
2) You change filter itself (in Filter->Edit) ?
?

I changed the current filter for root task (from the default All, to a filter that shows all open issues for current prj and sub-prj's). Apparantly, this influences the mail notification that I have set for root project. It does not only affect me, but my users also claim they see the same thing.

Can't I assign a generic email filter that only gives me a mail when an item related to me (poster or handler) changes state in some way?

I have several answer to your question, please give some sample

I have made a filter "My Open Issues" - with subtasks, Category (is not branch, project, module), Status (all items), Handler (Current user), Update date, Priority.

If I set this filter as my notification filter on the root project - I would expect it to notify me whenever a sub project where I am current user changes status, or gets a message.

Is the "offline activity" email notification bound to the "online activity" of using different viewing filters?

What is "offline activity" and "online activity" ? What do you mean ?

Online activity - I am logged into the GUI and browsing the projects, using different filters, ie changing default filters for projects (and apparently changing the notifcation filter).
Offline activity - I am logged out - but notifications are sent through a specific filter.

If I browse sub-project Y and change the filter for the subtasks to "All open issues" - will that affect all viewers (ie other users) of sub-project Y? - or does it only affect my user?

It would be better if the email notification was assigned to a specific filter, and didnt follow current filter.

Yes, they should. Current filter for task does not relate to the email notification rules.

There is nothing in the GUI that tells me what filter that is enabled for notification. On the filters tab (Projects root), the text near the view,edit, subscribe, notify sub-tabs - its says Current filter is 'My Open Issues'. On the Notify tab there is only a checked checkbox. How do I know what filter I am using?

If I look at a subproject, I only see the same checkbox - how do I know that there is an active filter here? If I change my filter - how do I know that it is an override filter? If two filters overlap - will I get two notifications?

Another problem. If I define a filter for my root Projects node, and use it somewhere down in the hierarchy - I no longer can delete the filter. But - I don't know where the filter is used, so I either have to let it be, or manually look through the entire tree for where the filter is used.
It would be better if I can delete the filter, and that anywhere the filter was used, the default ALL filter is applied.

- If I have made a useful personal filter - how can I make it public instead of private?

You can't, but I'll think about this feature.

Maybe something that could be permissionable? Promote private item to public item?

- Formatting of output from filters... ... I.e. can I in any way control the formatting?

Also no solutions yet. But in 2.8 we display task description under all other fields, possible it can partially solve the problem

Do you mean like...

+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| status | handler | priority | date posted | date chgd |
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| bug | lars | normal | 2003.10.01 | 2003.10.02|
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| projects > sub-prj > sub-prj > module > My ugly bug |
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| bug | lars | normal | 2003.10.01 | 2003.10.03|
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| projects > sub-prj > sub-prj > module > your bug ugly |
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| ... and so on ?

[admin]

I changed the current filter for root task (from the default All, to a filter that shows all open issues for current prj and sub-prj's). Apparantly, this influences the mail notification that I have set for root project. It does not only affect me, but my users also claim they see the same thing.

This change should not affect email notification rules. Please check what filter you receive (you can find filter name in the header of email notifcation message). Also please ensure that you use quite new version (2.7.5+) of TrackStudio, we fix some problems with email notification in 2.7.1-2.7.3

I have made a filter "My Open Issues" - with subtasks, Category (is not branch, project, module), Status (all items), Handler (Current user), Update date, Priority.

If I set this filter as my notification filter on the root project - I would expect it to notify me whenever a sub project where I am current user changes status, or gets a message.

Yes, it should. Also, you can ignore "with subtasks" option for email notification, email notification rules always inherited down to tasks, http://www.trackstudio.com/documentatio ... Email.html

Is the "offline activity" email notification bound to the "online activity" of using different viewing filters?

Online activity - I am logged into the GUI and browsing the projects, using different filters, ie changing default filters for projects (and apparently changing the notifcation filter).
Offline activity - I am logged out - but notifications are sent through a specific filter.

If I browse sub-project Y and change the filter for the subtasks to "All open issues" - will that affect all viewers (ie other users) of sub-project Y? - or does it only affect my user?

1) If you create new filter - you always use/modify/subscribe only signle instance of them. When you modify filter settings for sub-project - it actually modify the same filter. All filter settings (list of available custom fields, handlers, etc) are related to the filter parent task, not current task.

2) When you change default filter (dropdown on the subtasks page) - it affect default filter for that task only for you. It does not affect email notification, submission, or other users at all

3) When you change filter view Filters->Edit - it affect all users and email notification rules.

There is nothing in the GUI that tells me what filter that is enabled for notification. On the filters tab (Projects root), the text near the view,edit, subscribe, notify sub-tabs - its says Current filter is 'My Open Issues'. On the Notify tab there is only a checked checkbox. How do I know what filter I am using?

Yes, you can't list all filters that you use for email notification, but you can check checkbox on the notify tab.
- If checkbox enabled (not grey) and not checked - email notification disabled for this filter for current task of parent tasks (but can be enabled for child tasks).
- If checkbox enabled (not grey) and checked - email notification enabled for this filter and this task. This also affect all subtasks.
- If checkbox disabled (grey) - email notification enabled for some parent task and affect this task.

If I look at a subproject, I only see the same checkbox - how do I know that there is an active filter here? If I change my filter - how do I know that it is an override filter? If two filters overlap - will I get two notifications?

1) See above
2) What do you mean - override ?
3) When you modify some task and TrackStudio need to send email notification it search filters that has email notification enabled (not grey/checked) for this task. If it found - it use it, if no - it check email notification options for parent task. So, TrackStudio use most "closed" filter to modified task. So you can define one email notification filter for root task and override it with another filter in child task.

Another problem. If I define a filter for my root Projects node, and use it somewhere down in the hierarchy - I no longer can delete the filter. But - I don't know where the filter is used, so I either have to let it be, or manually look through the entire tree for where the filter is used.
It would be better if I can delete the filter, and that anywhere the filter was used, the default ALL filter is applied.

Yes, we already implement it exactly you describe in 2.8

- Formatting of output from filters... ... I.e. can I in any way control the formatting?
...
Do you mean like...

No, like
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| status | handler | priority | date posted | name |
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| bug | lars | normal | 2003.10.01 | proj->sub |
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+
| Long task description here...... |
| jfsd jdf jdsf sjhfg sdhjfg dshjfgs ajhfdjh |
+---------------+-----------------+------------------+------------------+------------------+

[admin]

- If I have made a useful personal filter - how can I make it public instead of private?

Done in 2.8

[admin]

[quote="larsf"]I made a filter that lists all items where I am handler or poster for and the item is open. On the root project, I set this as current project, went to the notification tab, and checked that I wanted this to be my mail notfication filter.
[quote]

Please also check out following new e-mail notification doc preview. Hope this help
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Email Notification

TrackStudio can send out email notifications either when a certain event occurs or at regular intervals. Both e-mail notification types are configured separately for each user. To receive e-mail notifications, the user should subscribe to them him/herself or the manager should subscribe him/her.

TrackStudio sends out e-mail notifications when the following events occur:
- adding a new task to the system or modifying an existing task
- adding a message to the task or other associated events (changing the handler, entering the elapsed or estimated time by the developer, etc .)
You can activate this type of notification on the Filters->Notify tab.

Sending out e-mail notifications at regular intervals is performed according to the specified schedule irrespective of the events occurring in the system. You can activate this notification type on the Filters->Subscribe tab.

Let us take a closer look at event-based e-mail notifications. Different e-mail notification rules can be simultaneously active for different projects. Each rule is defined using the following parameters:

- filter. The filter determines on what events e-mail notifications should be send out. For example, a rule can be defined so that a notification will be sent only if the subscriber is the handler of the task (task handler=”current user”).
Checking whether the filtering conditions are met as well as sending out e-mail messages is performed after the modification of the task. TrackStudio does not allow you to send out e-mail notifications when the task is modified after it has not been modified for a week. But for a lot of modifications, such as changes in the status, the resolution, the handler or others, you can specify a filter based on the message parameters. E-mail notification rules do not depend on the filter currently selected on the subtasks tab.

- task. Email notification system is activated for a certain task or project. If it is activated for a project, it affects all subprojects and tasks in those subprojects. For example, if a user subscribed to email notifications for the project TestPro, it is automatically activated for all subtask of this project. Also, the rule is activated both for the existing tasks and for the tasks that will be created in the future.

- user. A user is the recipient of email notifications. To receive e-mail notifications, a user should specify his or her e-mail address. If the e-mail address is not specified, e-mail notifications will not be sent to this user.

When the task is modified or a message is added, not more than one e-mail notification is sent, even if the change falls under several filters. In such cases the rule, the task field in which is the closest to the modified task in the hierarchy of tasks, is used. For example, if we have the following hierarchy of projects A->SubA->SubSubA, the subscription to the filter X is activated for the task A, the subscription to the filter Y is activated for the task SubA, the email notification will be performed according to the filter Y when SubSubA is modified. If one level has an activated subscription to a number of filters, the filter is selected randomly.

When defining an e-mail notification rule it is important to differentiate between the following tasks:
1) The parent task for the filter, this task is displayed in the Task column on the Filters->View tab. This task determines for which tasks the filter will be visible; it does not directly influences the e-mail notification.
2) The task, for which the e-mail notification is activated, this task is displayed in the Task column on Filters->Notify tab. The email notification will be sent out when this task or its subtasks are modified. For each filter the e-mail notification can be activated for several of its subprojects.

3) The modified task, modifying this task results in sending out e-mail notifications.

Workflow settings also influence the e-mail notification. The manager can forbid sending out e-mail notifications to certain user groups on certain transitions. It helps to avoid the situation when the customer does not see a message of the “resolve” type and cannot receive them by e-mail, but having subscribed to notifications and once a resolve occurs, he will be able to know when the task was resolved (though he will not see the text of the message). Forbidding the customers to receive e-mail notifications on a resolve for all tasks with the given workflow solves the problem. You can find more details about the settings of the workflow in the topic _X_.

The e-mail notification system checks the filtering conditions a bit different from the usual routine, that is why a filter useful for the e-mail notification system often cannot be used to filter tasks.

Each filter consists of two parts – one part defines the rules for filtering tasks, while the other part defines the rules for filtering messages. When a new task is created, the notification will be sent if the task meets the filtering conditions for tasks. If there are no filtering conditions for tasks specified, the e-mail notification will be sent when any task is modified. When a task is created or modified, filtering conditions for messages are not checked even if they are specified. The following parameters are also ignored:
- Task/Page
- Deep search
- Sort order
- Column visibility

Note that when a new task is created, the e-mail notification is sent once the Save button is pressed, not the Add button. If the Save button is not pressed, the e-mail notification will not be sent.

When a message is created, the first thing that is checked is whether the task for which the message is created meets filtering conditions. After that it is checked if the added message meets the filtering conditions for messages. If there are no filtering conditions for messages specified, the e-mail notification is sent when any message is added. Sending e-mail notifications must be also allowed in the settings of the workflow.
The following filter parameters are not checked while checking the filtering condition for messages:
- Task/Page
- Deep search
- Sort order
- Column visibility
- View Messages
- Filter Messages
- Bulk Processing tool
When checking email notification rules, the “current user” means the subscribed user, but when filtering tasks the “current user” means the user that has modified the task or added a message. For example, if a user performs filtering tasks and makes use of the “handler=current user” condition, it will display those tasks the handler of which is the logged user. If a user customized the email notification system using such a filter, he or she will be receiving notifications if he is the handler of the modified tasks no matter who is modifying them.
Email notifications are sent out in the HTML or text format. At the beginning of each email notification message there is information about why you are receiving this email notification. After that you will find the information about the task the status of which has been changed.
…
If the task has any subtasks, the list of subtasks is displayed depending on the filtering conditions. Note that such parameters as deep search or view messages are not used to determine the necessity of sending a notification, while they are used to format the e-mail notification. For example, if a filter used for e-mail notification has the deep search option on, the e-mail notification will include the list of all subprojects of the modified project, and not only its direct children, once the project is modified.
…
Then follows the list of messages for the modified task.
…
If submitting via email is enabled and the HTML email notification is used, the form for submitting via e-mail is displayed.
…
Example
Here are some examples of using filters for the email notification system.
1) “the message submitter is not the current user”. If subscribed to this filter, a user will get email notifications both when a new task is added and when some other user (not him/herself) adds a message (bug-note).
2) “the (task) handler is the current user”. If subscribed to this filter, a user will get email notifications only if he/she is the handler of the task.
3) “(task) priority = high and the message submitter is the Customer”. If subscribed to this filter, a user will get email notifications both when a high-priority task is added and when the Customer adds some messages to the task.
4) “the (task) handler is the current user and the message submitter is not the current user”. If subscribed to this filter, a user will get email notifications when other users add a message to the task the handler of which is the subscribed user.
Subscribing to the All filter for a certain bug or task is similar to using the "watch" mode in some systems, i.e. a user will get email notifications whenever there is a change in the task status or any messages are added.


2) TrackStudio has a powerful filter-based system of email notifications.

To activate email notifications, you should
- choose a filter describing what changes in the task should invoke an email notification. To activate the e-mail notification for any changed for any tasks, you should choose the ‘All’ filter.
- make the task for which the e-mail notification should be activated the current one. The notification system will also be activated for all subtasks of the current task. To send out notifications when any tasks are modified, you should activate the email notification for the root task.
- Mark the “notify” checkbox. If the subscription to the given filter is already activated for the parent task of the current task, it will be available for the latter automatically and the checkbox will be gray.

Once a user is created, it is recommended that you should subscribe him/her to e-mail notifications for any changes in any tasks (activate the All filter for the root task). If the user receives too many notifications, he can unsubscribe from receiving e-mail notifications for the root task and activate e-mail notifications only for certain projects and task types.

E-mail notification system is configured separately for each user and each user can define his own rules for sending out e-mail notifications. He/she can create a filter and activate e-mail notifications for a project he has no access to. In this case he will be receiving e-mail notifications only when those subtasks of the project are modified that he has access to. The manager can subscribe (or unsubscribe) a user to any filter only if the user has access to the task or the project. For example, if a developer has no access to the root task, the manager cannot subscribe him/her to receiving e-mail notifications when subtasks of the root task are modified, but the developer can do it.

You can find more details about the configuration of the e-mail notification system in the topic _X_.
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