• Pitchoune


    The Project Tools include an extensive permission system that ties into vBulletin’s existing usergroup system.

    Permissions are definable for all usergroups on a per project and per issue type basis.

    The following standard usergroup permission concepts apply to the Project Tools:

    Inheritance

    Project Tools permissions are definable at a global and per-project level. If you do not define any permissions for a specific project, the global permissions will apply.

    Multiple Group Membership

    Like in the usergroup system, if a user belongs to multiple groups, the most permissive value for a specific permission will be used. That is, a yes will always override a no. This is a useful way to apply specific project permissions to certain users in a group.

    A project may have any number of versions (or revisions) associated with it. This is useful for projects that have multiple iterations like software.

    Issues may have two versions associated with them: applicable and addressed versions. The exact terminology will vary between issue types. An applicable version will be used to list the version the issue was found in or applies to. Any user that can create an issue can set this value. The addressed version refers to when the issue was fixed or completed. Only users that have permission to change the status of an issue may change the addressed version.

    In addition to Unknown, the addressed version may also be set to the special value, Next Release. This allows you to tag what version issues are addressed in before that version is explicitly created. When you create this version, you may automatically update all issues that are addressed in the "Next Release" to the version you are creating.

    Note:
    Version display orders work in the opposite order from the display order options in other areas of vBulletin and the Project Tools! Higher numbers will be displayed first.
    This allows newer versions to be displayed earlier in the list without renumbering older versions to accommodate this.

    Versions vs Version Groups

    Versions should represent individual releases. Version groups allow you to collect a number of versions together. There are certain scenarios where all versions in a group can be searched for, without selecting individual releases. Using vBulletin as an example, "3.6.x" would be a version group, and "3.6.0" through "3.6.7" would be included as individual versions.

    A version may only be created once a version group is created.

    Version List



    This list shows you the created version groups and individual versions. You may add a new group and version from here. To create a new version, click the "Add Version" link under a specific group.

    Note:
    Higher display orders are shown first here.

    Add/Edit Version


    • Title - title for the version. HTML is not recommended.
    • Display Order - sort order for the version. Higher numbers will be shown first!
    • Denote as next version? - this will only be shown when adding a version. If you select this, any issues which are denoted as addressed in the Next Release will be updated to be addressed in this version.

    You may also specify as many categories as you wish for a project.

    These apply to all issues in the project, regardless of issue type. Categories simply create an additional organizational unit. They are especially useful if you have people with specific areas of expertise. If you do not create any categories for a project, users will not have the option of specifying a category, although Unknown will still be shown when viewing an issue.

    When you click the category link, you will be shown a list of categories for the project:



    When adding or editing a category you will see the following options:


    • Title – the title of the category. Use of HTML in the title is not recommended.
    • Display Order – sorting order. There is no way to completely hide a category without removing it.

    When adding or editing a project, you are presented with numerous options. These options are detailed below.


    • Title – the title of the project. This is how the project will be identified throughout the Project Tools. You may use HTML if you wish, though it will often be shown with HTML stripped. This is the only field you must fill out.


    • Summary – this is a one line description of the project. It is shown on the project list page and on the forum list if the project is shown (see below). HTML is allowed.


    • Description – this is a long description of the project. It will only be shown when viewing this project’s overview page. A fairly large space is dedicated to this, so you can write a fair amount. However, anyone that can see this project will be able to see the description. HTML is allowed.


    • Display Order – this controls the order in which projects are displayed. Lower numbers are displayed first. A display order of 0 will hide the project from the list, though it will still appear in the forum list (if desired) and be directly accessible if the URL is known.


    • Required Fields – the fields shown here are usually optional, but you may choose to make one or more of them required. This will prevent users from submitting issues with Unknown selected for these fields. A title and issue description must always be submitted.



    • Display After Forums – this setting allows you to show project information in the main forum list. See below for more information on this setting.


    • Title in Forum List – if you choose to use the Display After Forums option, this option allows you to override the project title and show something else in the forum list. This is helpful as the project title may not be descriptive enough without the context of other projects around it. If you leave this blank, the default title will be used, but preceded by the word Project.


    • Base Permissions off of Existing Project – this option allows you to copy the custom permissions from an existing project to this one. It is only presented if you are creating a new project. If you do not choose to use this option, you will need to create the permissions manually later.



    • Available Issue Types – you may choose which issue types are applicable to this project. A drop down for each issue type is shown, listing all issue statuses for that type. To use an issue type with this project, simply select one of those statuses. This status will be used as the default issue status ; issues created by users that don’t have permission to change the status will always start in this status.

    If you choose not to use a type, it will not be shown with a project and its permissions will not apply.

    The project manager allows you to create new projects and manage the settings of existing ones. You can also manage the categories and versions for the projects.

    When you first enter this section, you will see the following:



    This is a basic overview page. It shows you the list of projects in ascending display order. From here, you may edit or delete a project or manage its categories and versions. You may also add a new project.

    A link to the global Project Tools’ options is provided for convenience, though this is available via the vBulletin Options section.

    Note:
    Since Project Tools 2.0.0, Milestones are included.




    Note:
    Since Project Tools 2.2.0, Priorities & Magic Selects are included.



    The Project Tools are quite simple to install or upgrade. The process is the same for each.

    1
    Download the latest version of the Project Tools from the Members’ Area. Be sure that you are running vBulletin 4.0 or newer!


    2
    Unzip the file to your hard drive locally.

    Warning:
    If you are upgrading, overwrite any files if prompted

    3
    Upload the contents of the upload/ directory within the zip on top of your existing vBulletin directory. This is the directory with forumdisplay.php and many other files in it.


    4
    Log into your vBulletin forum’s control panel. Go to
    Plugins & Products > Manage Products > Add/Import Product


    5
    In the Import the XML file from your server field, enter: ./includes/xml/product-vbprojecttools.xml



    Change Allow Overwrite to yes.


    6
    Click Import.

    If all went well, you should see a message saying your install or upgrade was successful! That’s it!

    Note:
    There are more detailed instructions on how to unzip and upload files in the Installing vBulletin section. These may be helpful.
    Note that there is no config.php configuration file in the Project Tools. You do not need to perform this step.

    The Project Tools administration is divided into seven sections:

    More details are provided in each section.

    A group of Project Tools options are added in
    vBulletin Options > vBulletin Options > Project Tools Options
    as well.
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