New & Noteworthy for Mylar 0.4.1 - 0.5.0

Release Resolved Community Contributions
0.5.0
April 07
62
reports
Robert Elves contributed the bug editor improvements and numerous other patches, and has now been voted in as a committer.  Brock Janiczak contributed patches to JIRA and and task list support.  Brian de Alwis provided a patch to the Monitor to make obfuscation a preference.
0.4.10
March 17
80
reports
Robert Elves contributed the Task Activity view, ported the Bugzilla editor to Forms, and resolved numerous bugs. Ian Whalley provided patches for Bugzilla and IBM JDK compliance. Eugene Kuleshov provided patches for improved task comparison and repository protocols. Wang Bin provided additional source code scrutiny and optimizations. Peik Aschan provided a useful assertion test case.
0.4.9
Feb. 23
50
reports
Robert Elves provided patches that resolved 17 reports. The JIRA support was made possible by Brock Janiczak's help and his JIRA Core Services feature. Wesley Coelho provided initial integration patches and 10 very valuable JIRA test cases, and Eugene Kuleshov helped with debugging. Wang Bin provided patches for JUnit integration and code quality. Tom Eicher and Daniel Megert made tighter editor integration possible with new SDK content assist and folding APIs.
0.4.8
Jan. 30
52
reports
Robert Elves has provided numerous fixes to the Task List and Bugzilla Client.  Brock Janiczak provided a patch that improved the multi-repository aware wizard, and with Eugene Kuleshov provided valuable feedback on the UI and architecture for task repository support.
0.4.7
Jan.16 '06
36
reports
Brock Janiczak fixed lazy loading of image registry, provided 3.2M4 patches, and a highlighter fix. Robert Elves improved external browser integration and the task editor. David Bari and Tomasz Smietanka set up bugzilla servers with alternate encodings. Eugene Kuleshov provided an idea for avoiding inducing interest on resources upon check-out.
0.4.6
Dec. 16
16
reports
Brock Janiczak contributed SAX based context externalization to replace the considerably slower DOM based version.
0.4.5
Dec. 12
24
reports
Brock Janiczak contributed an improvement to the Task List extension point schema and patches for compatibility with the upcoming Eclipse 3.2M4 release. Wes Coelho improved the date chooser dialog.
0.4.4
Dec. 2
39
reports
Wesley Coelho added support for in-progress tasks in the Task Planner and background saves of the task list. Igor Fedorenko provided a patch for an NPE in the java problem resolution, and Ian Bull provided a patch to the for setting platform and hardware defaults in the bug wizard.
0.4.3
Nov. 22
32
reports
Leah Findlater continued to improve the extensibility of the Mylar Monitor for her upcoming study of WTP usage.
0.4.2
Nov. 14
31
reports
Leah Findlater helped make the Monitor more extensible to other user studies.
0.4.1
Nov. 4
28
reports
Wesley Coelho provided a history navigation patch and other improvements to the Task List.

Task Context

Apply Mylar to Project Explorer
(3.2 only)

Mylar can be applied to the Eclipse 3.2 Project Explorer view.


Apply Mylar to Tasks Marker view

Mylar can now be applied to the 'Tasks' Markers view.  This can be useful for looking over the TODO and other tasks in the active task context before committing.


Alt+Click Navigation Improvements

When a view is in filtered mode, Alt+Click a tree node to unfilter all of its children.  This can be repeated until the desired element is found.  You can also Alt+Click the white space in Package Explorer to unfilter all of the projects.  If Alt is let go, the view will spring back to showing only the task context.  Note that on some Linux configurations Alt must be pressed along with another modifier key.


Editor Management

If the Manage Editors with Context option is selected open editors will correspond to the active task context:
- On task activation the editors of the most interesting elements will be automatically opened, and populate the Ctrl+E list.  Set the number of editors to open on the Mylar preference page.
- Closing an editor will mark the corresponding file and all children uninteresting (Note that "Mark Less Interesting" now recurses to children).  So if you navigate to something uninteresting simply hit Ctrl+F4.
- Marking a file less interesting will cause it to close.

It is recommended that you either turn off the "Close Editors Automatically" workbench setting, or set a high number to leave open.


No more custom Java Editor
(3.2 only)

The custom Mylar Java editor is gone, and the automatic folding and content assist integration will now work with any Java editor, e.g. AJDT's, thanks to new Eclipse APIs.

Active Folding Improvements
(3.2 only)

Active folding has been improved, no longer requires the Mylar Java Folding provider, and should work with any Eclipse 3.2-based Java folding provider in addition to the default one.  If you were using Mylar's active folding restore the default provider via Preferences -> Java -> Editor -> Folding -> Restore Defaults (first deactivate the active context to close all open Java editors).

Support for Hierarchical Problems Layout
(3.2 only)

The Mylar interest filter can now be applied to the Eclipse 3.2 Hierarchical Layout of the Problems view.  The Flat Layout is recommended when Mylar is applied, since it helps focus on the markers of interest.


Context Capture Pause Indication

Pausing context capture is now indicated on the status bar.  Note that other notifications can occlude this one, so if you notice newly selected elements not populating the context check the state of the toggle button on the Task List.


Task context indication

If a task is inactive, but has a context associated with it, the Activate widget appears lightly filled (i.e. as bug 111722 below). 


   

Task List

Automatic task list backup

Using Preferences -> Mylar -> Task List the task list and contexts are now automatically backed up to the specified location. Backup has the same effect as the Task Data export, and will create a zip file at the desired location.  The zip files can later be imported used using File -> Import -> Mylar Task Data.


Background query synchronization

Using Preferences -> Mylar -> Task Repositories queries and repository tasks can be synchronized given the specified schedule.


Color and Font settings

Task list and task editor colors and fonts can be configured via the global preference settings.


Archive category

The Archive category includes all tasks that have been worked on.  It is filtered by default, but shows up when the "Find:" view filter is used.  Filtering can be toggled using the view menu.


Task priorities and status indication

NOTE: you may need to resize your columns after  updating.

Task priorities are now icon based instead of using the Bugzilla P1..5 scheme, and the default priority has no icon.   More task status is indicated

  • Notes are overlaid on top (see "long: ui issues" below)
  • Severity is overlaid in the bottom right (for Bugzilla green triangle means enhancement, red circle means blocker/major, for JIRA additional task types appear).
  • For Bugzilla incoming/outgoing state is in a separate column.
  • Tooltips indicate the repository connector branding icon.


Task Activity view
(Experimental)

The experimental Task Activity view and will replaces the Task Planner wizard for viewing task activity, and appears in the new Planning perspective. This view shows the task activity context, which will drive the Apply Mylar to Task List action coming in 0.5. Note that elapsed times are still approximate, and will be more configurable for 0.5. Tasks can be dragged to the current, next, or future week to set reminders for those weeks.


JIRA Connector

JIRA tasks and queries are now supported in the task list.  Add a new JIRA repository via the Task Repositories view, then right-click in the task list to Add a New Repository Query, and select from one of your existing JIRA filters.  Note that on very large repositories (e.g. Codehaus the very first query that's run on a newly added repository will be slow). 

Refer to the Getting Started page for an integration overview.  Also note that the task list now provides icon overlays indicating repository task type/severity, and text overlays for queries indicating the repository.


Task data import

Task date can now be imported from an existing .mylar directory, or from a backup zip file created by the Mylar export wizard.


Active task indication
(3.2 only)

The currently active task is indicated with a hyperlink below the toolbar that can be used to bring the task into focus.


Notification popups
(3.2 only)

Task reminders no longer appear in a separate dialog windows.  When a task becomes overdue, a notification 'toaster' pops up that can be used to bring the task up.  The notification will not come up again, since the overdue task will be colored red and always visible in the task list until the reminder is reset.


Support for Multiple Repositories

Preliminary support for multiple repositories is included, so more than one Bugzilla repository can be used.  The repositories view is visible by default in the Team Synchronizing and CVS Repositories perspectives.


External Browser Integration

Tasks can be created by drag-and-dropping a URL from a link or from the Address bar onto the task list, causing the web link and description to be set automatically.  In Mozilla, simply drag the URL.  In Internet Explorer you must have Ctrl pressed in order for Eclipse to recognize the drop.

Tasks with web links and bug reports can also be opened using the default external browser.


Overdue Tasks

If you have been using task reminders you may notice tasks previously filtered showing in red.  Tasks that are not completed and are past their reminder date will no longer get filtered away.  The reminder date of a task a task or bug report can be cleared using the Task Info editor tab.  If a category has overdue tasks in it that category will be colored red.


   


Multiple Selections

Multiple selections, made by Ctrl and Shift clicking, are now supported.  You can now drag-and-drop multiple tasks, mark completed, delete, and synchronize multiple reports.  If you are using Eclipse 3.1, note that elements will not be selected automatically when your right-click them to bring up the popup menu, so you need to first select the element and then bring up the popup.

Improved Task Manipulation

Dragging and dropping items to categories moves them, and items can be dragged into the root.  Also, if the Mylar Tasks view is in fast view mode the active task will be indicated when you mouse over the icon and on the view description bar.

 


Task Planner

The Task Planner has been available for a while is still experimental, but the UI has improved.  Invoke it via File -> New -> Other -> Mylar Task Planner, specify the number of days, and you will see a report of your past activity.  You can drag tasks from the task list into the plan (e.g. from a Bugzilla query), and set their reminders and estimates.  All tasks in the plan can be automatically added to a category.


Improved Task List actions and shortcuts

The Task List popup menu has been improved to be more context sensitive and to always create items in the category that is currently in focus.  Tooltip behavior has been improved.  Common actions are now keyboard shortcuts:
- New Task: ins
- Delete: del
- Rename: F2
- Copy Description: Ctrl+C


Links to web reports

Tasks can be linked to web pages.  For example, if you want a task to correspond to a Wiki page or to a bug report copy the URL of the report, click the New Task button on the Task List, and the URL will automatically be inserted in the Web Link field.  If you click Get Description the title of the page will be inserted into the Description field.  The task will appear with a Web icon decorator, and will automatically bring up a Task Editor page that loads the web link when opened. 


Task context data  export

The Mylar Task List and related data can be exported, e.g. for backup purposes.  You can now export to an archive file.


 

Team Integration

Task Context Change Sets

The active task now corresponds to a Change Set that's managed by Mylar.  All resources in the task's context automatically get included in this change set, making it possible to synchronize and commit only those resources.  Resources modified that are not part of the Task Context will appear outside of the Change Set in the Synchronize view.  Note that as with other Change Sets you need to set the Synchronize view into either Incoming or Outgoing mode and toggle the "Show Change Sets" button.


Context Change Set Persistence and Manipulation

The active task context change sets now persist, so that if there are any uncommitted resources in the change set it will not disappear when the task is deactivated, and multiple change sets can be present.  While the context change sets are affected by interest manipulations (i.e. marking a file uninteresting will remove it from the change set), they do not 'see' the interest decay in order to indefinitely retain any resources modified as part of that task.  If resources are changed outside of the context (e.g. by applying a patch) they can be added to the task via the Add To menu (visible below).  If the task context they are added to is active those resources will be also come interesting.


Active Change Set Improvements

Mylar's Active Change sets now capture now include resources that are edited indirectly, e.g. resources modified as a result of refactorings and applying patches.

Note that if on Eclipse 3.2M6 your Synchronize view gets stuck now showing Show Change Sets button select Remove Current Synchronization from the view menu.


Mapping of Incoming Changes to Reports

When the Synchronize view is in Incoming and Change Sets mode (visible below), and Mylar Change Set support was used to commit, incoming changes will be grouped by task description.  Right clicking a Change Set will bring up an "Open Corresponding Report" action to navigate to the corresponding issue (either Bugzilla report or Web Link).  The same action is available for navigating from commit messages to reports in the CVS Resource History view.


Open Task from History View
(3.2 only)

Change set support


Commit Task Context

Resources in the Task Context can be committed either by right-clicking the active task and selecting the Commit Task Context action, or by right-clicking the Change Set in the Synchronize view.  In both cases the commit message will be populated by the description and URL of the task (if available).  The comment prefix can be changed in the Task List preferences page. 


 

Bugzilla Connector

Form-based Bugzilla Editor with Hyperlink support

The editor now uses Eclipse forms, collapses comments that expand on selection.  The following hyperlinks are supported in comment bodies:
  • Java elements in stack traces
  • Bug links (e.g. bug 123)
  • Hyperlinks
  • Attachments

On Eclipse 3.1, click the comment for the links to become active.

To apply a patch click the "view" link, hit Ctrl+A and Ctrl+C on the text to get it into the clipboard, then Apply Patch).  To expand all comments click the "Expand All" button at the bottom of the editor. 


Multiple Bugzilla versions supported

Bugzilla versions are now associated with each repository, and can be set from the Task Repositories view.  Uncustomized versions 2.16-2.22 are supported.

If you are switching from Bugzilla 2.18 to 2.20 you will need to update the existing Bugzilla Queries in your task list.  Double click each query category to edit it, press "Update Options", and then simply click OK to save the query.  Please note that the default Bugzilla configuration is now 2.20.


Support for Unicode Character Sets

Bugzilla character settings are honored.  For repositories older than 2.20 you may need to use the internal browser for submission if encoding is ignored.


Improved Outline

The Bug Editor Outline can be used to navigate the report by commenter and date.


Proxy Settings

To enable use with firewalls and proxy servers the Bugzilla Client follows proxy settings set in the Install/Update preference page.

Browser tab for Bugzilla reports

A new editor tab makes it easy to switch from the Bug Editor to Browser-based editing.  Note that when using the Browser queries will not automatically refresh after submitting changes on a bug.  You can set the Browser to be the default editor in the Task List preference page.