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Changes between Version 1 and Version 2 of TracWorkflow

Timestamp:: 04/05/20 23:48:44 (5 years ago)
Author:: trac
Comment:: --

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TracWorkflow

-              v1
+              v2
+= The Trac Ticket Workflow System =
+= The Trac Ticket Workflow System
+[[PageOutline(2-5,Contents,pullout)]]
 [[TracGuideToc]]
+The Trac issue database provides a configurable workflow.
+== The Default Ticket Workflow ==
+=== Environments upgraded from 0.10 ===
+When you run `trac-admin <env> upgrade`, your `trac.ini` will be modified to include a `[ticket-workflow]` section.
+The workflow configured in this case is the original workflow, so that ticket actions will behave like they did in 0.10.
+Graphically, that looks like this:
+[[Image(htdocs:../common/guide/original-workflow.png)]]
+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?
+So you will probably want to migrate to "basic" workflow; `contrib/workflow/migrate_original_to_basic.py` may be helpful.
+=== Environments created with 0.11 ===
+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.
+Graphically, it looks like this:
+[[Image(htdocs:../common/guide/basic-workflow.png)]]
+== Additional Ticket Workflows ==
+There are several example workflows provided in the Trac source tree; look in `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.
+== Basic Ticket Workflow Customization ==
+Create a `[ticket-workflow]` section in `trac.ini`.
+Within this section, each entry is an action that may be taken on a ticket.
+The Trac ticket system provides a configurable workflow.
+== The Default Ticket Workflow
+When a new environment is created, a default workflow is configured in your trac.ini. This workflow is the basic workflow, as specified in [trac:source:branches/1.2-stable/trac/ticket/workflows/basic-workflow.ini basic-workflow.ini]:
+{{{#!Workflow width=700 height=300
+leave = * -> *
+leave.operations = leave_status
+leave.default = 1
+create = <none> -> new
+create.default = 1
+create_and_assign = <none> -> assigned
+create_and_assign.label = assign
+create_and_assign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+create_and_assign.operations = may_set_owner
+accept = new,assigned,accepted,reopened -> accepted
+accept.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+accept.operations = set_owner_to_self
+resolve = new,assigned,accepted,reopened -> closed
+resolve.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+resolve.operations = set_resolution
+reassign = new,assigned,accepted,reopened -> assigned
+reassign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+reassign.operations = set_owner
+reopen = closed -> reopened
+reopen.permissions = TICKET_CREATE
+reopen.operations = del_resolution
+}}}
+== Additional Ticket Workflows
+There are example workflows provided in the Trac source tree, see [trac:source:branches/1.2-stable/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.
+Here are some [trac:WorkFlow/Examples diagrams] of the above examples.
+== Basic Ticket Workflow Customization
+'''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.
+In the `[ticket-workflow]` section of `trac.ini`, each entry is an action that may be taken on a ticket.
 For example, consider the `accept` action from `simple-workflow.ini`:
+{{{
+{{{#!ini
 accept = new,accepted -> accepted
 accept.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
 accept.operations = set_owner_to_self
 }}}
 The 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`).
+The `accept.permissions` line specifies what permissions the user must have to use this action.
+The `accept.operations` line specifies changes that will be made to the ticket in addition to the status change when this action is taken.  In this case, when a user clicks on `accept`, the ticket owner field is updated to the logged in user.  Multiple operations may be specified in a comma separated list.
+The `accept.permissions` line specifies the permissions the user must have to use this action. [trac:ExtraPermissionsProvider] can define new permissions to be used here.
+The `accept.operations` line specifies changes that will be made to the ticket in addition to the status change when the action is taken.  In this case, when a user clicks on `accept`, the ticket owner field is updated to the logged in user.  Multiple operations may be specified in a comma separated list.
 The available operations are:
+ - del_owner -- Clear the owner field.
+ - set_owner -- Sets the owner to the selected or entered owner.
+   - ''actionname''`.set_owner` may optionally be set to a comma delimited list or a single value.
+ - set_owner_to_self -- Sets the owner to the logged in user.
+ - del_resolution -- Clears the resolution field
+ - set_resolution -- Sets the resolution to the selected value.
+   - ''actionname''`.set_resolution` may optionally be set to a comma delimited list or a single value.
+{{{
+Example:
+- **del_owner** -- Clears the owner field.
+- **set_owner** -- Sets the owner to the selected or entered owner. Defaults to the current user. When `[ticket] restrict_owner = true`, the select will be populated with users that have `TICKET_MODIFY` permission and an authenticated session.
+ - ''actionname''`.set_owner` may optionally specify a comma delimited list of users that will be used to populate the select, or a single user. Groups and permissions may also be included in the list //(Since 1.1.3)//. When groups or permissions are specified the select is populated with all members of the group or all users that possess the permission.
+- **set_owner_to_self** -- Sets the owner to the logged in user.
+- **may_set_owner** -- Sets the owner to the selected or entered owner. Defaults to the existing owner. //(Since 1.1.2)//.
+- **del_resolution** -- Clears the resolution field.
+- **set_resolution** -- Sets the resolution to the selected value.
+ - ''actionname''`.set_resolution` may optionally be set to a comma delimited list or a single value. The resolution(s) specified in this attribute must be defined in the database. Example:
+ {{{#!ini
 resolve_new = new -> closed
 resolve_new.name = resolve
+resolve_new.label = resolve
 resolve_new.operations = set_resolution
 resolve_new.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
 resolve_new.set_resolution = invalid,wontfix
 }}}
+ - leave_status -- Displays "leave as <current status>" and makes no change to the ticket.
+'''Note:''' Specifying conflicting operations (such as `set_owner` and `del_owner`) has unspecified results.
+{{{
+- **leave_status** -- Displays "leave as <current status>" and makes no change to the ticket.
+- **reset_workflow** -- Resets the status of tickets that are in states no longer defined.
+'''Note:''' Specifying conflicting operations, such as `set_owner` and `del_owner`, has unspecified results.
+The example that follows demonstrates the `.label` attribute. The action here is `resolve_accepted`, but it will be presented to the user as `resolve`.
+{{{#!ini
 resolve_accepted = accepted -> closed
 resolve_accepted.name = resolve
+resolve_accepted.label = resolve
 resolve_accepted.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
 resolve_accepted.operations = set_resolution
 }}}
 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`.
 For actions that should be available in all states, `*` may be used in place of the state.  The obvious example is the `leave` action:
 {{{
+The `.label` attribute is new in Trac 1.1.3 and is functionally the same as the `.name` attribute, which is now deprecated. If neither `.label` or `.name` is specified, the action will be presented to the user as //resolve accepted//, the underscores having been replaced by whitespace (//Since 1.1.3//).
+For actions that should be available in all states, `*` may be used in place of the state. The obvious example is the `leave` action:
+{{{#!ini
 leave = * -> *
 leave.operations = leave_status
 leave.default = 1
 }}}
+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.
+If not specified for an action, `.default` is 0.  The value may be negative.
+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.
+While creating or modifying a ticket workfow, `contrib/workflow/workflow_parser.py` may be useful.  It can create `.dot` files that [http://www.graphviz.org GraphViz] understands to provide a visual description of the workflow.
+This can be done as follows (your install path may be different).
+{{{
+cd /var/local/trac_devel/contrib/workflow/
+sudo ./showworkflow /srv/trac/PlannerSuite/conf/trac.ini
+}}}
+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).
+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.
+== Example: Adding optional Testing with Workflow ==
+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.
+{{{
+testing = new,accepted,needs_work -> testing
+testing.name = Submit to reporter for testing
+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.
+If not specified for an action, `.default` is 0. The value may be negative.
+There is one hard-coded constraint to the workflow: tickets are expected to have a `closed` state. The default reports/queries treat any state other than `closed` as an open state.
+=== Ticket Create Action
+The ticket create actions are specified by a transition from the special `<none>` state. At least one create action must be available to the user in order for tickets to be created. The create actions defined in the default workflow are:
+{{{#!ini
+create = <none> -> new
+create.default = 1
+create_and_assign = <none> -> assigned
+create_and_assign.label = assign
+create_and_assign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+create_and_assign.operations = may_set_owner
+}}}
+=== Ticket Reset Action
+The 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:
+{{{#!ini
+_reset = -> new
+_reset.label = reset
+_reset.operations = reset_workflow
+_reset.permissions = TICKET_ADMIN
+_reset.default = 0
+}}}
+Since [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:
+{{{#!ini
+_reset = -> new
+_reset.label = reset
+_reset.operations = reset_workflow
+_reset.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+_reset.default = 0
+}}}
+== Workflow Visualization
+Workflows can be visualized by rendering them on the wiki using the [WikiMacros#Workflow-macro Workflow macro].
+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):
+{{{#!sh
+$ cd /var/local/trac_devel/contrib/workflow/
+$ ./showworkflow /srv/trac/PlannerSuite/conf/trac.ini
+}}}
+The script outputs `trac.pdf` in the same directory as the `trac.ini` file.
+== Example: Adding optional Testing with Workflow
+The following adds a `testing` action. 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.
+{{{#!ini
+testing = new,accepted,needs_work,assigned,reopened -> testing
+testing.label = Submit to reporter for testing
 testing.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
 reject = testing -> needs_work
 reject.name = Failed testing, return to developer
+reject.label = Failed testing, return to developer
 pass = testing -> closed
 pass.name = Passes Testing
+pass.label = Passes Testing
 pass.operations = set_resolution
 pass.set_resolution = fixed
 }}}
+== Example: Limit the resolution options for a new ticket ==
+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.
+{{{
+resolve_new = new -> closed
+resolve_new.name = resolve
+resolve_new.operations = set_resolution
+resolve_new.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+resolve_new.set_resolution = invalid,wontfix,duplicate
+resolve = assigned,accepted,reopened -> closed
+== Example: Add simple optional generic review state
+Sometimes 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.
+The new `reviewing` state along with its associated `review` action looks like this:
+{{{#!ini
+review = new,assigned,reopened -> reviewing
+review.operations = set_owner
+review.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+}}}
+To integrate this with the default workflow, you also need to add the `reviewing` state to the `accept` and `resolve` actions:
+{{{#!ini
+accept = new,reviewing -> assigned
+[…]
+resolve = new,assigned,reopened,reviewing -> closed
+}}}
+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:
+{{{#!ini
+reassign_reviewing = reviewing -> *
+reassign_reviewing.label = reassign review
+reassign_reviewing.operations = set_owner
+reassign_reviewing.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+}}}
+The full `[ticket-workflow]` configuration will be:
+{{{#!ini
+[ticket-workflow]
+create = <none> -> new
+create.default = 1
+create_and_assign = <none> -> assigned
+create_and_assign.label = assign
+create_and_assign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+create_and_assign.operations = may_set_owner
+accept = new,reviewing -> assigned
+accept.operations = set_owner_to_self
+accept.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+leave = * -> *
+leave.default = 1
+leave.operations = leave_status
+reassign = new,assigned,accepted,reopened -> assigned
+reassign.operations = set_owner
+reassign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+reopen = closed -> reopened
+reopen.operations = del_resolution
+reopen.permissions = TICKET_CREATE
+resolve = new,assigned,reopened,reviewing -> closed
 resolve.operations = set_resolution
 resolve.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+}}}
+== Advanced Ticket Workflow Customization ==
+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.
+But if even that is not enough, you can disable the !ConfigurableTicketWorkflow component and create a plugin that completely replaces it.
+== some ideas for next steps ==
+New enhancement ideas for the workflow system should be filed as enhancement tickets against the `ticket system` component.  If desired, add a single-line link to that ticket here.
+If you have a response to the comments below, create an enhancement ticket, and replace the description below with a link to the ticket.
+ * the "operation" could be on the nodes, possible operations are:
+   * '''preops''': automatic, before entering the state/activity
+   * '''postops''': automatic, when leaving the state/activity
+   * '''actions''': can be chosen by the owner in the list at the bottom, and/or drop-down/pop-up together with the default actions of leaving the node on one of the arrows.
+This appears to add complexity without adding functionality; please provide a detailed example where these additions allow something currently impossible to implement.
+ * operations could be anything: sum up the time used for the activity, or just write some statistical fields like
+A workflow plugin can add an arbitrary workflow operation, so this is already possible.
+ * set_actor should be an operation allowing to set the owner, e.g. as a "preop":
+   * either to a role, a person
+   * entered fix at define time, or at run time, e.g. out of a field, or select.
+This is either duplicating the existing `set_owner` operation, or needs to be clarified.
+ * Actions should be selectable based on the ticket type (different Workflows for different tickets)
+This is becoming a frequent request, with clear usecases.  The closest the current implementation will allow is to have a plugin provide a `triage` action that sets the next state based on the ticket type, so a `new` ticket would move to `new_task`, `new_defect`, etc., and the workflow graph would separate at that point.
+review = new,assigned,reopened -> reviewing
+review.operations = set_owner
+review.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+reassign_reviewing = reviewing -> *
+reassign_reviewing.operations = set_owner
+reassign_reviewing.label = reassign review
+reassign_reviewing.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
+}}}
+== Advanced Ticket Workflow Customization
+If 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:branches/1.2-stable/sample-plugins/workflow sample-plugins/workflow] for a few examples to get started.
+But if even that is not enough, you can disable the !ConfigurableTicketWorkflow component and create a plugin that completely replaces it. See also the [https://trac-hacks.org/wiki/AdvancedTicketWorkflowPlugin AdvancedTicketWorkflowPlugin], which provides additional operations.
+== Adding Workflow States to Milestone Progress Bars
+If you add additional states to your workflow, you may want to customize your milestone progress bars as well. See the [TracIni#milestone-groups-section "[milestone-groups]"] section.
+== Ideas for next steps
+Enhancement ideas for the workflow system should be filed as enhancement tickets against the [trac:query:?status=assigned&status=new&status=reopened&keywords=~workflow&component=ticket+system ticket system] component.  You can also document ideas on the [trac:TracIdeas/TracWorkflow TracIdeas/TracWorkflow] page.