Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of TracWorkflow


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Timestamp:
01/20/22 11:30:43 (3 years ago)
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trac
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  • TracWorkflow

    v1 v1  
     1= The Trac Ticket Workflow System
     2
     3[[PageOutline(2-5,Contents,pullout)]]
     4[[TracGuideToc]]
     5The Trac ticket system provides a configurable workflow.
     6
     7== The Default Ticket Workflow
     8
     9When 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/1.4-stable/trac/ticket/workflows/basic-workflow.ini basic-workflow.ini]:
     10
     11{{{#!Workflow width=700 height=300
     12leave = * -> *
     13leave.operations = leave_status
     14leave.default = 1
     15
     16create = <none> -> new
     17create.default = 1
     18
     19create_and_assign = <none> -> assigned
     20create_and_assign.label = assign
     21create_and_assign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     22create_and_assign.operations = may_set_owner
     23
     24accept = new,assigned,accepted,reopened -> accepted
     25accept.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     26accept.operations = set_owner_to_self
     27
     28resolve = new,assigned,accepted,reopened -> closed
     29resolve.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     30resolve.operations = set_resolution
     31
     32reassign = new,assigned,accepted,reopened -> assigned
     33reassign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     34reassign.operations = set_owner
     35
     36reopen = closed -> reopened
     37reopen.permissions = TICKET_CREATE
     38reopen.operations = del_resolution
     39}}}
     40
     41== Additional Ticket Workflows
     42
     43There are example workflows provided in the Trac source tree, see [trac:source:branches/1.4-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.
     44
     45Here are some [trac:WorkFlow/Examples diagrams] of the above examples.
     46
     47== Basic Ticket Workflow Customization
     48
     49'''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.
     50
     51In the `[ticket-workflow]` section of `trac.ini`, each entry is an action that may be taken on a ticket.
     52For example, consider the `accept` action from `simple-workflow.ini`:
     53
     54{{{#!ini
     55accept = new,accepted -> accepted
     56accept.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     57accept.operations = set_owner_to_self
     58}}}
     59
     60The 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`).
     61
     62The `accept.permissions` line specifies the permissions the user must have to use this action. [trac:ExtraPermissionsProvider] can define new permissions to be used here.
     63
     64The `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.
     65
     66The available operations are:
     67- **del_owner** -- Clears the owner field.
     68- **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.
     69 - ''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.
     70- **set_owner_to_self** -- Sets the owner to the logged in user.
     71- **may_set_owner** -- Sets the owner to the selected or entered owner. Defaults to the existing owner. //(Since 1.1.2)//.
     72- **del_resolution** -- Clears the resolution field.
     73- **set_resolution** -- Sets the resolution to the selected value.
     74 - ''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:
     75 {{{#!ini
     76resolve_new = new -> closed
     77resolve_new.label = resolve
     78resolve_new.operations = set_resolution
     79resolve_new.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     80resolve_new.set_resolution = invalid,wontfix
     81}}}
     82- **leave_status** -- Displays "leave as <current status>" and makes no change to the ticket.
     83- **reset_workflow** -- Resets the status of tickets that are in states no longer defined.
     84'''Note:''' Specifying conflicting operations, such as `set_owner` and `del_owner`, has unspecified results.
     85
     86The example that follows demonstrates the `.label` attribute. The action here is `resolve_accepted`, but it will be presented to the user as `resolve`.
     87
     88{{{#!ini
     89resolve_accepted = accepted -> closed
     90resolve_accepted.label = resolve
     91resolve_accepted.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     92resolve_accepted.operations = set_resolution
     93}}}
     94
     95The `.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//).
     96
     97For actions that should be available in all states, `*` may be used in place of the state. The obvious example is the `leave` action:
     98{{{#!ini
     99leave = * -> *
     100leave.operations = leave_status
     101leave.default = 1
     102}}}
     103
     104The transition to `*` (`-> *`) means the workflow operation determines the next status. The only configurable ticket workflow operation that determines the next status is `leave_status`. However, another workflow controller can operate on an action with new status `*` and determine the next status.
     105
     106This 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.
     107If not specified for an action, `.default` is 0. The value may be negative.
     108
     109There 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.
     110
     111=== Ticket Create Action
     112
     113The 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:
     114{{{#!ini
     115create = <none> -> new
     116create.default = 1
     117
     118create_and_assign = <none> -> assigned
     119create_and_assign.label = assign
     120create_and_assign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     121create_and_assign.operations = may_set_owner
     122}}}
     123
     124=== Ticket Reset Action
     125
     126The 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:
     127
     128{{{#!ini
     129_reset = -> new
     130_reset.label = reset
     131_reset.operations = reset_workflow
     132_reset.permissions = TICKET_ADMIN
     133_reset.default = 0
     134}}}
     135
     136Since [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:
     137
     138{{{#!ini
     139_reset = -> new
     140_reset.label = reset
     141_reset.operations = reset_workflow
     142_reset.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     143_reset.default = 0
     144}}}
     145
     146== Workflow Visualization
     147
     148Workflows can be visualized by rendering them on the wiki using the [WikiMacros#Workflow-macro Workflow macro].
     149
     150Workflows can also be visualized using the `contrib/workflow/workflow_parser.py` script. The script outputs `.dot` files that [https://www.graphviz.org GraphViz] understands. The script can be used as follows (your install path may be different):
     151
     152{{{#!sh
     153$ cd /var/local/trac_devel/contrib/workflow/
     154$ ./showworkflow /srv/trac/PlannerSuite/conf/trac.ini
     155}}}
     156The script outputs `trac.pdf` in the same directory as the `trac.ini` file.
     157
     158== Example: Adding optional Testing with Workflow
     159
     160The 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.
     161
     162{{{#!ini
     163testing = new,accepted,needs_work,assigned,reopened -> testing
     164testing.label = Submit to reporter for testing
     165testing.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     166
     167reject = testing -> needs_work
     168reject.label = Failed testing, return to developer
     169
     170pass = testing -> closed
     171pass.label = Passes Testing
     172pass.operations = set_resolution
     173pass.set_resolution = fixed
     174}}}
     175
     176== Example: Add simple optional generic review state
     177
     178Sometimes 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.
     179
     180The new `reviewing` state along with its associated `review` action looks like this:
     181
     182{{{#!ini
     183review = new,assigned,reopened -> reviewing
     184review.operations = set_owner
     185review.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     186}}}
     187
     188To integrate this with the default workflow, you also need to add the `reviewing` state to the `accept` and `resolve` actions:
     189
     190{{{#!ini
     191accept = new,reviewing -> assigned
     192[…]
     193resolve = new,assigned,reopened,reviewing -> closed
     194}}}
     195
     196Optionally, 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:
     197
     198{{{#!ini
     199reassign_reviewing = reviewing -> *
     200reassign_reviewing.label = reassign review
     201reassign_reviewing.operations = set_owner, leave_status
     202reassign_reviewing.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     203}}}
     204
     205The full `[ticket-workflow]` configuration will be:
     206
     207{{{#!ini
     208[ticket-workflow]
     209create = <none> -> new
     210create.default = 1
     211create_and_assign = <none> -> assigned
     212create_and_assign.label = assign
     213create_and_assign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     214create_and_assign.operations = may_set_owner
     215accept = new,reviewing -> assigned
     216accept.operations = set_owner_to_self
     217accept.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     218leave = * -> *
     219leave.default = 1
     220leave.operations = leave_status
     221reassign = new,assigned,accepted,reopened -> assigned
     222reassign.operations = set_owner
     223reassign.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     224reopen = closed -> reopened
     225reopen.operations = del_resolution
     226reopen.permissions = TICKET_CREATE
     227resolve = new,assigned,reopened,reviewing -> closed
     228resolve.operations = set_resolution
     229resolve.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     230review = new,assigned,reopened -> reviewing
     231review.operations = set_owner
     232review.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     233reassign_reviewing = reviewing -> *
     234reassign_reviewing.operations = set_owner, leave_status
     235reassign_reviewing.label = reassign review
     236reassign_reviewing.permissions = TICKET_MODIFY
     237}}}
     238
     239== Advanced Ticket Workflow Customization
     240
     241If 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/1.4-stable/sample-plugins/workflow sample-plugins/workflow] for a few examples to get started.
     242
     243But 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.
     244
     245== Adding Workflow States to Milestone Progress Bars
     246
     247If 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.
     248
     249== Ideas for next steps
     250
     251Enhancement 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.