Tracker Features

Version 4.0.3

Enhancements

• There are no enhancements in Version 4.0.3; only bug fixes.

Fixes

• In previous 4.0.x versions, a "memory leak" occurred when a file attachment was added (a file was uploaded). The memory leak (increase in memory usage of the ProblemTracker "application") was equivalent to the file size. If enough large files were added, the system could run out of memory.  This has been fixed.
• In previous 4.0.x versions, a script timeout (web page timeout) could occur if a file upload took longer than 3 minutes. On IIS 4.0, a script timeout may also result in a session timeout (the user's ProblemTracker login session is ended by IIS when it performs the script timeout operation).  On IIS 5.0 (Windows 2000), only the script timeout occurs (the user's ProblemTracker login session is not ended by IIS). During file upload the script timeout is now properly adjusted based on the file size, so that on any link with an effective upload rate of at least 2 KBytes per second (a 28.8 Kbps modem is faster), no timeout will occur.
• In previous 4.0.x versions, if you were using Internet Explorer, started an Edit operation (go to the Edit page, but don't click OK), then used File->New to create a new window and performed a View, Edit, Task, or Delete operation on another record, then went back to the original window and clicked OK (on the original "pending" Edit operation), the last Edit operation would update the wrong record (it would update the record that was used in the intervening View, Edit, Task, or Delete operation). This could also happen if you started an Edit operation, then immediately started a second Edit operation (choose Edit icon in toolbar), then clicked Cancel on the second Edit (which would return you to the original Edit page), then clicked OK from the first Edit operation page. This could not occur if you started the Edit (click the Edit icon in the toolbar or in the Home or Query results pages), made your changes, then clicked OK on the Edit page without any intervening operations on other records. This issue has been fixed (intervening operations on other records will not result an Edit operation that updates the wrong record). However, in general, we recommend that you do not use multiple browser windows (use File->New in IE while logged in to ProblemTracker) on the same workgroup (login) at the same time.

Version 4.0.2

Enhancements

• It is now recommended that users temporarily disable anti-virus software while running the installation program and while performing operations in the Workgroup Management System. This is recommended so that your anti-virus software will not prevent the installation program and WMS from performing operations such as copying files, running scripts, configuring your web server, setting file permissions and registry entries. Your anti-virus software can be reactivated safely after you have completed the installation steps and any necessary WMS configuration.
• In previous versions, the use of TCP/IP for all Workgroup Management System communications with SQL Server was not enforced. Now all communications from ProblemTracker to SQL Server are via TCP/IP (for improved performance and simplified firewall configuration).

Fixes

• When configuring a transition to use the option "Prompt with ", the list of states presented during the Task operation was not sorted according to the order value of each state. This has been fixed such that the states will be ordered correctly during the Task operation.
• When using Oracle as the database type for a workgroup in previous versions, adding a state to a state group would result in a state appearing in both the "In Use" and "Not In Use" columns. The state actually was properly added (In Use), but the display was incorrect. This has been corrected so that the columns are updated appropriately when a state group is edited.
• When using an Oracle database and specifying a "Date" type field as a Sort By column in a Query, a System Error was generated when running the query. This has been fixed.
• If a system contained more than one Product with the same email notification rules, ProblemTracker was generating duplicate email notification messages to some users. This has been corrected so that duplicate email notification messages are no longer sent to users.
• When using the Task operation, email notifications to the original Reporter were not always sent. This has been fixed.
• If a Task operation displayed a list of users to select a new assignee, the list was not alphabetically sorted. This has been corrected such that the list of possible new assignees is sorted alphabetically.
• If the PRN field was not the "top" field (the one with the lowest Record Order value), then a system error was generated when editing a PRN (after clicking the OK button on the edit page). This has been corrected such that the PRN field can be set to any Record Order value without generating a system error.
• When a workgroup was created on a different web site than the Workgroup Management System, an error would be generated when trying to use the Show Chart function or when trying to use the Database Admin operations for the workgroup. This has been fixed.
• If ProblemTracker was installed on a non-English operating system, a "type mismatch" error was generated upon login in a few cases (specifically the French version of Windows 2000, but this could potentially affect other non-English versions). This has been fixed.
• In previous versions, when the Product field was changed for a record in the Edit page, the Status was changed to the Default Add State associated with the new Product selected. This has been corrected such that the Status field is not changed automatically when the Product field is changed on the Edit page of a record.
• In previous versions, when a field included in an advanced saved query was moved to the "Not In Use" column, the advanced saved query would continue to include this field to generate results. This has been fixed such that a field that has been removed from the data record ("Not In Use") will also be removed from any advanced saved queries.
• When using the Workgroup Management System to migrate an Access database to Oracle, the link to the Help section discussing Oracle configuration was invalid. This has been corrected.
• On some systems, when browsing to the Workgroup Management System Login Page, a warning would be generated stating that the login user's credentials may not be sufficient to access the Workgroup Management System. In Windows 2000 Domain Server configurations where a domain level user was a member of the local Administrators user group, this warning was incorrect.  In that case, the warning is no longer displayed.
• If a ProblemTracker system was moved to another machine, a system error would be displayed on the first login to the Workgroup Management System. This has been fixed.
• On systems with multiple workgroups distributed across multiple virtual web sites, moving ProblemTracker to another machine by using the option "Populate Workgroup based on WMS database" would fail if the new machine did not have the same virtual web sites as the old machine. The populate function now allows the user to enter the new machine's web site information as a part of the populate process.
• In version 4.0.1 on some systems, the installation setup program did not set the appropriate file system permissions on some directories. This resulted in errors when trying to perform operations in the Workgroup Management System or on the workgroup Database Tools page. This has been corrected such that the installation program will set the necessary permissions on all directories created during installation.
• When attempting to move or migrate a SQL Server workgroup in previous versions, the "Get Data" button would not obtain the data path in some cases. This has been corrected such that the path will obtained in all valid cases.
• If you upgraded from version 4.0 to version 4.0.1, and you have added users in version 4.0, these users got a system error on the home page in some circumstances. This was corrected to eliminate the errors with the home page for these new users.
• After upgrading from Version 3.x to Version 4.0.1 with any of the following RelNum type fields in use (RelNum76, RelNum80, RelNum84), a System Error was be displayed when attempting to Edit or Preview the system generated "Assigned To Me [Users]" and "Reported By Me [Users]" Saved Queries. Attempts to directly run one of those Saved Queries from the Query page, then subsequent attempts to access the Query page (clicking the Query icon) would fail. This has been corrected such that errors are not generated when editing saved queries or running queries with these RelNum fields.
• In WMS, when attempting to synchronize the password for the ProblemTracker anonymous user in WMS, an error would be generated if the password was blank. This has been changed such that a blank password cannot be entered when using this option.
• When attempting to move a workgroup to a different drive on the same machine, an error would be generated. This has been corrected to allow the move operation across different drives to be completed.

Version 4.0.1

Enhancements

• Advanced Queries can now be used in Home Page reports.
• The Preview operation is now supported for Advanced Queries.
• The Show Chart function in the Summary page is now supported for Oracle workgroups.
• The Export Tables function in the Database Administration Utility page is now supported for Oracle workgroups.
• The Netscape 6.2 (or greater) browser is now supported for use with multinational (UTF-8 character set) workgroups.
• Actions associated with Source Code Control operations have been added to the History page. The following actions can now be selected for use in History queries: "SCC_ADD", "SCC_EDIT", and "SCC_DELETE" for adding, editing, and deleting the source code file list for a problem record, respectively.
• The installation program not only provides the option to select a virtual web site to use when installing ProblemTracker, but also now provides an option to specify which host name (or IP address) and port number to use for the Start menu shortcuts it creates for browsing to WMS and the pteval (default) workgroup.  This can be useful if your (virtual) web site is configured to respond to multiple host names, IP addresses, or port numbers.  
• The values which you specify for host name (or IP address) and port number are now automatically used as the default values for creating new workgroups from WMS (until/unless you set new default values).  
• An option has been added to the Workgroup Management System (WMS) to allow users to notify WMS that you have changed the password for the ProblemTracker anonymous user (PUSR4). This allows WMS to properly create, repair, upgrade, or move ProblemTracker workgroups after you have changed the anonymous user password (in Windows User Manager).
• If upgrading from Version 3 to Version 4, WMS will now default to the Web Site where Version 3 files were installed. As in prior versions, it always defaulted to the Default Web Site.

• The following Help sections have new information added:

  • User's Guide: Operations: Logging In
  • Administration Guide: Setup: Preparation for Installing ProblemTracker
  • Administration Guide: Customizing Workflow
  • Workgroup Management System Guide: Introduction: Adding a Workgroup

Fixes

• When performing the Task operation on a record in previous versions, the user assigned to a problem record would not be displayed in the Assigned To pulldown. When a transition was set to use "Assign to a User Group" and the user group only had one member who was also the assignee for a problem record, a system error would result because no users were displayed in the Assigned To field under these conditions.  This has now been resolved such that the user assigned to the problem record will be displayed in the Assigned To field.
• In previous versions, when the component of a RelNum type field other than the first one (e.g. RelNumxxb, RelNumxxc, etc.) was deleted, the user was not prompted to select a replacement for any obsolete values in the database. This has been fixed such that the user is prompted to select a replacement for the obsolete values.
• In Version 4.0, if a group name or a state name contained a double quote character, system errors would be generated when modifying email notification rules and workflow properties. This has been fixed to support the use of double quotes in group or state names.
• In Version 4.0, if a user group or user id was changed, any advanced or standard saved queries referencing a user group or user id were not updated to reflect these changes. This has been corrected such that advanced and standard saved queries are updated when a user group or user id is modified.
• When using Netscape 6 with Version 4.0, the double click operation was not working to select a project in the Associate Source Code page. This has been corrected to support double clicking on this page.
• When upgrading from a ProblemTracker 3 installation which uses a virtual web site at a port other than 80 (the default for web servers), the shortcuts to upgraded workgroups (from the WMS Home page) did not work correctly. This has been fixed.
• When upgrading from Version 3 to Version 4.0, any attachment files in the upgraded database would still reference a URL pointing to the Version 3 workgroup. If redirection was not used (there was no alias from the old name to the new workgroup name) a "Page not found" error would be displayed when attempting to view any attachment added before the upgrade. This has been fixed so that the upgrade process will change the URL to reference the Version 4 workgroup name.
• When upgrading from a Version 3 installation which uses an Access database on systems where the database name was referenced using upper case (BUGTRACK.MDB), an error was generated and the upgrade could not proceed.  This has been fixed.
• When upgrading the data from Version 3 to Version 4 on some older systems, it was possible to reach the script timeout during the upgrade. The script timeout has now been increased to 30 minutes for the upgrade operation.
• When installing on a machine with the Windows password complexity requirement enabled an error was generated and the ProblemTracker anonymous user (PUSR4) was not created. This was because the password which was generated did not always meet the password complexity requirement.  The (default) password which is created for the ProblemTracker anonymous user (PUSR4) now meets the complexity & minimum length requirements if they are enabled.
• In Version 4, when a web server had more than one web site configured, the Web Site Name pulldown menu in the Workgroup Management System would display "unknown" as a Web Site Name (however, it would still include all actual web site names).  This extra (invalid) entry has been removed from the display.
• In Version 4, the URL configured for each workgroup by the Workgroup Management System would be based on the hostname of the web server machine. This configuration could result in the wrong URL for systems that use a different host name (e.g. multiple virtual web sites differentiated by host header value). This has been changed to allow users to enter a different hostname, or IP address, and port number for each workgroup.
• When using the Workgroup Management system to edit a database name or password, the change would not immediately take effect because the web server was still using the old information. This has been fixed such that the web server application for the workgroup is re-loaded after a database name or password change so that the new values will be used immediately.
• In Version 4.0, a new workgroup could be added in the Workgroup Management System with the name "ptadmin".  This has been changed such that "ptadmin" cannot be used as a name for a workgroup so that it does not conflict with the Workgroup Management System.
• In previous versions, the export operation would silently fail when there was not sufficient file permissions to allow the export folder to be created. This has been fixed to set the appropriate permissions during installation as well as prompt with a detailed error if the permissions are not sufficient when the export operation is used.
• When upgrading a database from Version 3.0.5 to Version 4.0, a system error was generated. This has been fixed.

Version 4.0.0

Enhancements

• Source Code Control has been integrated into ProblemTracker. Source code files can be associated to a problem record. In addition, difference and history functions are available to compare archived versions of source code files.
• Unlimited Workgroup Support has been automated. Workgroups can now be installed, modified, or removed using a central interface called the Workgroup Management System.
• An Advanced Query section has been added to allow building of complex queries. Various operators such as "AND", "OR", and "NOT" are available to create queries that include and / or exclude multiple options within each field.
• Multinationalization has been added to allow ProblemTracker to support virtually all languages within a single workgroup (even within a single problem report) at the same time. Multinationalization can represent any language whose characters are represented by the UTF-8 (Unicode) character set (international language standard).
• Controlled Branching has been implemented as a workflow enhancement. This option allows definition of multiple transitions from a particular state along with task fields for each transition.
• The option "Restrict Task Operation to Current Assignee" has been implemented and can be found on the General Preferences page in the Admin section. This will prevent users from marking a task complete on a record to which they are not assigned.
• A Default Add State for each product can now be configured within workflow, allowing newly added problem records to be routed to more than one possible state.
• Email notification has been expanded to allow notification to be sent when a problem record is edited or tasked. In addition, email notification options have been expanded such that the original reporter of the problem report as well as User Groups can receive notification email messages.
• Personal Preferences can now be found by clicking on the link on the Home Page (previously these preferences were found directly on the Home Page).
• The date values in ProblemTracker have been changed from a string value to a date data type. This will allow the date values to be independent of language settings. This will also allow users to configure their own Date and Time preferences in the Personal Preferences section irrespective of the settings on the server where ProblemTracker is installed.
• Users may now configure the maximum number of records per page for query results in the Query and Home pages. The default setting is 20 records per page and the maximum setting is 60 records per page. This setting can also be configured at the database level in the Admin / General Preferences page.
• The default URL for the ProblemTracker login page is now http://servername/workgroup/ptlogin.asp where servername is the TCP/IP name of the server where ProblemTracker is installed and workgroup is ptdev, ptweb, ptdev2, etc. Previously, this URL was http://servername/workgroup/ptlogin.htm.
• The default URL for the ProblemTracker customer bug page is now http://servername/workgroup/Internet/user_add.asp where servername is the TCP/IP name of the server where ProblemTracker is installed and workgroup is ptdev, ptweb, ptdev2, etc. Previously, this URL was http://servername/workgroup/Internet/user_add.htm.
• The Database Tools section has been moved from the Admin section to the Workgroup Management System.
• The Upgrade operation has been moved from the Admin section to the Workgroup Database Tools section.
• Workgroups can now be blocked (and subsequently unblocked) via the Workgroup Management System to prevent users from accessing ProblemTracker during maintenance or troubleshooting.
• In previous versions, connections to the ProblemTracker databases were managed using ODBC Datasource names. ProblemTracker has been changed to use OLE-DB for connecting to the ProblemTracker databases.
• The options Attachments and Source Code Files have been added as options for fields in Report Layouts.

• The following User Group privileges have been added in this release: View Fields View Attachments View Source Code List View Record History Edit Fields Edit Attachments Edit Source Code List

• The ProblemTracker installation set up program will check the web site selected to see if there is a port number specified (other than the default) and update the shortcuts accordingly. For example, if the default web site is set to use port 8500, the shortcut for the Workgroup Management System will be saved as http://servername:8500/ptadmin/uwslogin.asp.
• A Format for Printing option has been added to the View page.
• Default Home Queries have been added as saved queries. "Assigned to Me" is the query that this displayed as the top report on a user's home page. "Reported by Me" is the query that is displayed as the second report on a user's home page.
• Default Report Layouts have been added for the Home Page reports. Home Report1 is the layout used by the "Assigned to Me" report (the report displayed at the top of a user's home page). Home Report2 is the layout used by the "Reported by Me" report (the report displayed at the bottom of a user's home page).
• The ability to query by user group has been added. In the Assigned To and Reported By fields on the query and advanced query pages, user groups can be selected as criteria. User groups are denoted in these pulldown menus as [User Group].
• When a user who is still the assignee for Problem records is deleted from ProblemTracker through the User Administration section, a list of active users will be displayed so that a new assignee can be selected for these records.
• The default timeout for users to be automatically logged out of ProblemTracker is 12 hours. This timeout can be adjusted to a different setting via IIS.
• The installation set up program now creates a Local Windows User Account as a member of the "Guests" group on the machine where ProblemTracker is installed for use with the workgroups created by the Workgroup Management System. This user will be created with the name "PUSR4" where is the TCP/IP name of the machine where ProblemTracker is installed. The installation set up program will also configure this user as the Identity for each workgroup application in Component Services. In previous versions, the user IUSR_ was used to access the ProblemTracker workgroups.
• The "Query Groups" option has been renamed to "State Groups". The function or operation of this option remains the same as previous versions.
• The Default Assignee column and the corresponding "Default" buttons have been removed from the User Administration section. Default assignments should be handled using the "Workflow Properties" page in the "Define Workflow" Administration section.
• A utility to clean up Date formats within a ProblemTracker database has been added. Users who have a database with more than one date format in use will need to use this utility to complete the upgrade process to Version 4.0.
• The Help document has been split into 3 guides: User's Guide, Administrator's Guide, and Workgroup Management System Guide. These Help guides can be accessed on the machine where ProblemTracker is installed by going to Start -> Programs -> NetResults ProblemTracker 4 -> Help Library These guides can also be accessed within the Workgroup Management System and each workgroup, respectively.

• The following Help section have had new information added. New sections are marked with (*):

  • Introduction: Glossary of Terms
  • Setup: Preparation for Installing ProblemTracker
  • Setup: Using Oracle 8i (or later) Database (*)
  • User's Guide: Operations: Logging In
  • User's Guide: Operations: Advanced Queries (*)
  • User's Guide: Operations: Viewing Records
  • User's Guide: Operations: Editing Records
  • User's Guide: Operations: Source Code Control (*)
  • User's Guide: Operations: Marking a Task Complete
  • User's Guide: Operations: Printing Records
  • Administration Guide: Overview
  • Administration Guide: General Preferences
  • Administration Guide: User Administration: Privileges
  • Administration Guide: Customizing the Data Record
  • Administration Guide: Customizing Workflow
  • Administration Guide: Email Administration: General Email Configuration
  • Administration Guide: Email Administration: Email Notification Preferences
  • Administration Guide: Source Code Control Integration: Overview and Requirements (*)
  • Administration Guide: Source Code Control Integration: Enabling Source Code Control Integration (*)
  • Administration Guide: Customer Bug Page
  • Administration Guide: Database Administration
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Overview (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Logging In (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Adding a Workgroup (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Editing a Workgroup (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Viewing a Workgroup (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Deleting a Workgroup (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Managing Aliases (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Moving a Workgroup (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Migrating a Workgroup (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Repairing a Workgroup (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): User Administration (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Logging Workgroup Information(*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Viewing Global Information (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Blocking and Unblocking Workgroups (*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Managing Web Server Security(*)
  • Administration Guide: Supporting Multiple Projects (Workgroup Administration): Upgrading Workgroups (*)

Fixes

• When specifying a Date range in the Query page in previous versions, if a valid date was typed in the "Before" field, an invalid date could be typed in the "After" field without generating an error. This has been fixed so that both fields are validated when attempting to run a query.

• When specifying a Date range in the Query page while using an Access database in previous versions, if a date using "." as the delimiter was typed in the "Before" and / or "After" fields, a System Error would be generated. This has been corrected such that the results are displayed without an error.

• When specifying a Date for a chart calculation in the Summary page while using "." as the date delimiter in an Access database in previous versions, a System Error would be generated when attempting to generate the chart. This has been corrected such that the chart is displayed without an error.
• When using Netscape 4.7 and attempting to run a History query using a PRN number, the user is not prompted to select a comparison operator (<,>, or =). This has been corrected such that a comparison operator must be selected when using the PRN field for a History Query.
• When a running a History query with the dd/mm/yyyy date format selected, the results were not being sorted in chronological order because the dd (day) portion of the date field was being used to sort instead of the mm (month) portion of the date field. This has been corrected such that the results of the history query are sorted in chronological order when using the dd/mm/yyyy date format.
• When using the "Format for Printing" option in previous versions, the query title would change to "Query Results for Product: All" instead of displaying the Product selected. This has been corrected to allow the title to display the correct product name.
• When using a pipe character | (or vertical bar) in the name of a pulldown menu option in previous versions with an older set of Access drivers installed, a syntax error message would result. This is no longer an issue in the latest version as newer Access drivers allow use of the pipe character within pulldown options.
• When using a comma as part of a user group name and selecting this group in the "Make Visible to These User Groups" field on the Add page, the user group would be saved as two user groups in previous versions. This has been corrected to allow a user group name with a comma to be displayed correctly.
• In previous versions, in some cases using embedded curly braces within a text field would result in a system error. Curly braces can now be used within a text field.
• In previous versions, a database error was generated when "." was used alone in a floating type field. Now, if "." is typed alone in a floating field, the user is prompted to enter a valid value without generating a database error.
• In versions 3.6 and 3.6.1, if you had auto login enabled and a previous session still active while trying to login through another browser, the login would fail due to the previous session. If you then selected "No" to cancel your login attempt, no action would result.  This has been corrected such that you will return to the login page when selecting "no" under the circumstances described above.
• In previous versions, after using the edit, task, or view operations from a list of query results, then attempting to return to the query results, the user would return to the first page of query results. This has been corrected to allow a user to return to the same query results instead of being sent to the first one by default.
• In previous versions, state names with double quotes were not displayed in a Summary chart. This has been changed so that state names with double quotes are displayed correctly within Summary charts.& nbsp;
• In version 3.6.1, when adding Pulldown12 to the schema in the ptweb workgroup, the system would go to the User Administration page. This has been corrected so that Pulldown12 could be added correctly.

To read about the features in Version 3.6.1 and 3.6, click here.