subcases Questions - FogBugz Knowledge Exchange

Switching a Parent Case ID over to Subcase ID loses value

2012-02-06T06:06:16Z

Hi,

I can reproduce this issue every time. (We're using FogBugz onDemand).

Create a case (Let's call it case A).
Create a second case, making it a subcase of the first (Let's call it case B)
Edit case A or case B, it really doesn't matter which one you choose.
If editing case A, remove case B as the subcase, and put it's ID in the Parent Case field. If editing case B, remove case A as the parent and put it's ID in the Subcases field.
Click OK.

Expected Result: The parent/subcase relationship has been swapped.

Actual Result: There is no parent/subcase relationship at all; the changed value is not kept. In the event notation I see "Removed subcase [ID here]". Or "Removed parent [ID here]". I then have to edit the case again and re-enter the value that was lost, click OK in order to finally see the expected revised relationship as "Parent changed from (None) to Case [ID here]" in the event notation.

Please let me know if there's a more appropriate way to file issues (versus feature requests since the "Submit Feature Requests" button didn't seem the right way to go about reporting this issue).

Thanks, ~Angela

Case FC2215900

Outlining Projects

2010-09-03T20:02:07Z

Let's say I'm starting a new project -- like, say, I'm contracted to make a custom website for a client -- what's a quick way to outline this work in FogBugz?

Feature Request: Create Multiple Subcases

2010-02-10T06:18:49Z

Is there some way to add a whole list of subcases at once?

I'm using Fogbugz for managing the creation of Web sites. Each time we sign up a new client, I want to be able to create a Case for the site, plus a bunch of subcases for the specific tasks involved in creating the site ... the list of subcases is going to be mostly the same each time. I'd like to be able to simply copy a list of case names into the Subcases box in the parent case's Edit page, but that currently doesn't work.

So, either I'm missing something here, and there is a way to do it, or ... can we have this feature?

Feature Request: Exclude edits that only change sub- or parent-cases from the "edit not saved" mechanism

2011-12-02T15:23:23Z

FogBugz doesn't save your edit when a case has been changed somewhere else to prevent collisions. This is universal for all edits, so when you are editing a case and someone edits another one to set your case as the parent case, FogBugz considers your case changed. When you submit your change, you get the "edit not saved" message and have to submit again.

Request: change this so that edits that consist only of changes to sub-cases and parent-cases be ignored for the edit-not-saved mechanism.

Case FC2188101

Note: A better bet is actually fixing this bug so that field values aren't lost when you see the edit not saved message.

Always resolve sub-cases

2011-11-15T20:51:56Z

I want sub-cases always to be resolved when I resolve parent cases. The "also apply to sub-cases" box remembers the state it was in the last time I resolved (or replied to) a case. I want it to always default to checked.

Feature request: View parent case ID as a column in the case list and Excel export

2010-10-04T06:39:07Z

Exporting FB cases using filtered view for reporting project status would be otherwise nice and intuitive, but the parent-subtask relation cannot be indicated in any meaningful way, and as such exports of projects having such relations show rather confusing data. Could we have the parent task ID as a viewable field in both outline and flat grid views, having it selectable from 'Select columns'-button? That would explicitly set the relation between the tasks without the need to rely on preserving the formatting of the outline view.

Case FC1958418

How can I add a link to a subcase when it is created?

2010-02-09T20:44:09Z

I'd like the case history text that is generated when I add a subcase to include a hyperlink to the subcase.

Example text:

Created subcase 1234.

Edit: it would also be really nice to have a link to the subcase included in any notification emails that are generated as a result of adding a subcase.

Case FC1853842

Sorting by backlog with subcases

2011-04-27T10:11:04Z

While I love the new FB plugin for VS2010, I find one small detail to be quite the time waster.

Let me start by explaining the way we work...
We're using the backlog plugin, to sort cases according to the logical order they should be implemented. In the VS plugin, we can select to add the backlog column, so that works great.
We can even sort on the Backlog column, so it becomes trivial to just keep popping the next case of the top of the list, implement that, close it, and then just grab the next one on top. Don't need to waste time reconsidering all the active cases, just grab the next one up...

Very efficient!

However, the problem starts when subcases have a backlog, not directly subsequent to the parent case. The primary sort sees the backlog value for the parent case, and orders according to that...

For example, lets say I have:

parentA, backlog=1
- caseX (sub of parentA), backlog = 2
- caseY (also sub of parentA), backlog=4
caseB, backlog=3

As long as I have caseX open, the sort is good...
But when I close caseX, and now expect that I should next grab caseB, instead parentA is still first in the list, together with it's subcase caseY.
To be clear, even if I close parentA, it will still appear with backlog=blank, and thus be first in the list. Likewise if parentA does not have any backlog value.

I think the problem here is twofold:

the sorting algorithm puts blank values, first - when in fact it should put it last, or even ignore them completely.
The sorting works only at a single level (i.e. parent cases are sorted; subcases are sorted relative only to the parent case). While this is a consequence of the hierachical display (and I'd never give THAT up for the world!), I can't help feel there is a better solution...

Perhaps, in the event the parent case has no value (or even, "gray" case that is only in the filter because it is a parent case), to "elevate" the child case's values in the sort hierarchy. That is, if the parent doesn't count, sort the child case in relation the parent's siblings (even though it is displayed as a child).

Custom field values should persist on subcase creation

2011-06-21T09:32:21Z

I think the title says it all but ....

Problem is

If you create a subcase where the Parent has custom field values set, those values are not auto populated in the subcase.
If the Parent custom fields are a dropdown list then the first value in the list is selected in the subcase type

Solution Ensure all Parent case field values persist on Subcase creation

Make revising of case & subcase tree easier

2011-09-13T20:57:27Z

I have an iPhone app called GoTasks with sync with Google Calendar (Tasks). The way it lets you move tasks around and instantly assign a task as a subtask is awesome. I hope FogBugz can implement something similar in the List Cases screen.

Consider using Ctrl+Up,Down,Left,Right as a way to manipulate the current case visually.

I think we can leave manipulation as it currently is in the case details page...

Bug: Cases matching filters are grayed out as "not matching search"

2010-02-10T04:53:26Z

In Outline view, perfectly legitimate subcases are greyed out and listed as "not matching search." It appears that this is because they are "on a different page" - even if I expand they grey text and actually show them on the current page.

Case FC1969920

Grid View Column(s) to show parent and child estimates separately

2011-07-12T19:54:29Z

In the grid view, the Estimate columns for parents show the sum of the estimate for that case and all child cases, and if you hover over the field in the grid, it gives you the breakdown of "This case" and "Subcases"

It would be nice to be able to turn on columns for each of these, so instead of having a single column choice:

Estimate (original)

You would have choices for:

Estimate (original) - This Case, Estimate (original) - Subcases, Estimate (original) - Total

I realize this would "blow up" the number of Estimate column choices from 4 to 12, but would make things more flexible.

Currently using FogBugz 8.4.87

Feature Request: Ability to search for "parent:*" to find all cases with any parent

2011-06-01T04:51:38Z

Is there a way to filter out just Cases that has Children/SubCases?

IsParent or HasChildren filter tag?

The parent command only returns subcases for one parent... can you do something like parent:* ? or better yet SubCases:*

Case FC2079372

Feature Request: Ability to search for only cases with/without subcases

2010-03-30T15:10:24Z

Currently when searching, I need to show all cases which have an estimate of their own but have sub-cases?

I want people to remove those estimates and add them to sub-cases.

There is a "Show only cases with no subcases" checkbox in the search customisation screen but I want to know how to filter on that using the search box so I can negate it. EG " -hasnosubcases"

Case FC1874507

Seeking advice on project organization

2011-05-27T03:29:53Z

I have an existing project in FB that is used by a small team of developers for a software product. The project contains about 10 areas that correspond to functional areas within the software. The areas are used for filtering/sorting purposes and to allow different primary contacts for different areas.

We now have a need to allow a small group of external customers to submit cases and receive feedback on those cases. A technical support group will have primary responsibility for handling these customer cases and following up with customers. If bugs are found or if other developer support is needed, then we need to be able to assign these cases to the development team. We also want the ability to easily filter customer cases, development cases, or both.

We looking at the public submission feature to help accomplish this. We don't want to open up public submission in the existing development project for a few reasons. First, we don't want to allow public submissions to be assigned directly to development, they should always go to support. Second, we want the public submission interface to present a different set of areas: problem, feature request, question.

To allow different contacts and areas for public vs development cases, it seems that we must use separate projects. If the product is named XYZ, then the projects could be "XYZ Development" and "XYZ Support". This leaves a few problems.

Using separate projects, searching/filtering becomes more difficult when we want to include both development and support cases. I know it's possible to search multiple projects via the search interface, and that can be saved as a filter, but that's not as simple as just setting up a filter. It would be helpful if FB would add the ability to define filters that include multiple projects. Another thing that would help is the ability to define subprojects. We could have a root project for the product, and subprojects for development and support. Searches on the root project would include all subprojects. I know we could also use tags and search for tags, but since tags are entered manually as free text I'm reluctant to rely on them being entered consistently and correctly.

The more important problem is how to assign cases from support to development. If we change the project of a support case, it would be removed from the radar of the tech support team. We also couldn't maintain unique project areas if we move cases back and forth between the projects. One seemingly simple solution would be if FB would allow cases to exist in multiple projects. Barring that, the best solution I can think of is to use subcases. For example, say that a customer submits a case in the support project. Tech support confirms that it is a bug that needs to be assigned to development. They create a subcase and assign the subcase to development. They monitor the progress of the subcase, and when it is resolved they followup with the customer and resolve the support case. This would accomplish what we need, and has the benefit that the customer and development cases can have different assignments and resolutions. My concern is that creating the subcase is a little tedious and possibly error prone.

Does anyone have suggestions for different or better ways to do this?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Feature Request - Add subcase button on case detail view

2009-10-23T21:25:09Z

It would be really nice on the case detail screen to have a button to create a new child case for the currently displayed case.

I see that you can do something similar from the grid-view, just not in the individual case detail view.

Case FC2038938

Cosmetic Feature Request: left-align all same-level cases

2011-04-01T22:25:48Z

The introduction of subcases has allowed my group to switch back to FogBugz, hooray! Hate to complain, but I will anyway :) with this nitpicky cosmetic issue: I keep getting confused by the indentation of cases-with-children vs cases-without-children.

For example, say I've got three cases, and only the second one has children. With all cases collapsed, it looks like this:

Case One
> Case Two
Case Three

As you scan down the list, it looks like Case Two is a subcase of Case One because it's indented to make room for the triangle. Ideally every line would reserve space for the triangle whether it exists or not, so that all top-level cases are visually lined up:

  Case One
> Case Two
  Case Three

I know this is probably harder than it sounds (what if you don't have ANY subcases and there's just a bunch of blank space? etc) but there are probably other ways to solve it too, so I thought I'd put this out there and see if anyone else votes for it.

Thanks, rob

Case FC2043432

Is there a way to bulk-collapse all of the cases in a filter?

2009-12-15T22:41:59Z

I've got a filter that returns all the cases in a given iteration. These cases have lots of sub-cases, and they are displayed with every case expanded, which takes up several screens of space. Is there a way to automatically collapse the tree so that only the top-level cases are shown?

Case FC1917611

Feature Request: Have subcases respect parent milestone by default

2011-01-27T00:48:52Z

When setting the milestone on a parent case, it would be very useful if the subcases automatically respected the parent milestone. The specific behavior I am looking for is:

1) When a parent case is assigned a milestone, there should be an option to (recursively?) set the milestones for all subcases, or at least ones that are still Undecided. I do not want to have to traverse the case tree checking the boxes by hand.

2) When a case is assigned a milestone, it should ensure its milestone completion date is sooner than or equal to the parent's, and later than or equal to any subcases. A simple conflict resolution interface that says "Set all non-compliant cases to this milestone?" would be sufficient.

Value: When you have a parent case with one owner, but the sub-cases have different owners, it is easy to lose track of which-milestone-goes-with-which-subcase for the subcase owner, especially because the parent case is grayed out. This is worsened in the non-hierarchical case list views.

Feature request. Change parent case by drag'n'drop

2011-04-20T03:42:03Z

Possible Duplicate:
Feature Request: Allow editing in Grid View

It would be great if we can change parent of case by dragging it to new parent in cases list view.

Now there's a lot of friction in changing parent:

Go to edit case.
Enter new parent. You have to remember some keywords or case number to enter it. Though dynamic search is great, there can be a lot of cases with similar names.
Save changes.
Return to cases list view.

IMO too much steps. While having ability to drag case to new parent would allow to change parent in one action. Just drag'n'drop. It also should be possible to drag several cases at once.

It can be implemented as a plug-in.

How to use EBS with subcases effectively in the real world

2011-03-16T17:12:45Z

Editor's note: this is not a feature request post. If you would like to vote for a feature like the one below, do so on this post.

Hi,

We've recently started using Fogbugz to plan and track our (quite sizeable) development project; we're excited about the idea of being able to use EBS to give us a more realistic picture of when we might complete our releases.

Two things have immediately struck us as puzzling:

Realistically we can't estimate our whole project up front to 3-5 hr task levels of detail. We do this for our next few milestones but beyond that we're doing higher-level estimates, which we break down later. Almost inevitably this breakdown reveals that the high level estimates were underestimates. This is exactly the sort of thing EBS should be able to help with, but at the moment there seems to be no way of tracking this relationship, since time worked is reported against the subcases and EBS doesn't seem to take into account aggregate subcase time when examining the quality of parent case estimates.
In my experience 3-5hr estimates are rarely badly wrong as defined, if produced by an even remotely competent engineer. Instead, it is almost always the case that they are wrong because some key task has been omitted. When we miss milestone dates it's not because we underestimated how long it takes to build a series of CRUD pages for a simple object, it's because of some discovered subtlety that required additional UI to be introduced to make the feature usable. In aggregate, these schedule slippages are all predictable through an EBS-style model, but because of the way subcases work, it would seem that this actually doesn't show up most of the time. An example should make this clear. Let's say we have:

Parent task (no estimate)
-Child task 1 (5 hours)
-Child task 2 (5 hours)

In some cases we find that there's a "Child task 3", with a 5 hour estimate. That means that the overal estimate for "Parent task" is 50% wrong, but EBS will be none the wiser.

In other cases we find that Child task 2 is much more complicated than previously thought after doing 2 hours work on it. We could just carry on putting time against it up to a total of 15 hours, in which case EBS will factor this in for the future. But this means we can't reflect the fact that we now understand that Child task 2 is actually made up of Grandchildren 1,2 & 3, each with their own estimates.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to deal with these situations? Is there a different way of working that could avoid these issues (and, no, saying "predict all of the things you didn't realise you needed" isn't an acceptable answer!)

Feature Request: Quick-add subcases should inherit tags of parent case

2010-02-18T20:56:23Z

Adding a subcase in gridview with the context menu results in a case that doesn't have the tags of the parent case

Case FC1420610

If not "hard" dependencies, then can we at least have dependency notification?

2010-08-12T13:43:44Z

Possible Duplicate:
Feature Request: “Exploding” Cases

I realize that not having case-by-case dependencies was a design decision made long ago, and I agree with the reasoning that obscuring the information is more detrimental than beneficial. However, in practice, there simply are certain situations where such a dependency exists. For example, recording an audio voice-over cannot happen before the script has been written.

With the sub-case functionality, there is a clear way to have a parent-child relationship which is a very close match to a dependency relationship (in fact, in other contexts, a parent is dependent on the child). Since that relationship mechanism is already in place and works pretty well (although the strict hierarchical nature is a bit more limiting than I would like), it seems like the hardest part is already completed.

What we are looking for is an easy way to have the assignee of a parent case notified (ie. emailed) when a child case (or better yet, all of it's child cases) have been closed.

Additionally, it would be great if there was a filter option or a column that would indicate the number of children and/or open children a case has (recursively or not doesn't really matter). This would allow those who wish to filter out cases that still have sub-work to be done.

I realize that the current minimal behavior that sub-cases have would possibly conflict with what I am looking for, and I'm not quite sure how to solve that. One possibility that occurred to me would be to give all cases that are "parents of dependents" a special tag, like "awaiting dependencies" or possibly use the workflow plugin to add additional statuses to indicate this, but both of those feel a bit hack-y.

Is there a way to achieve what I am looking to do? (in either FB 7 or 8)

Case FC2031651

Feature Request - Add Subcase button on Case detail Screen

2011-02-11T07:24:15Z

Possible Duplicate:
Feature Request: Add subcase button on case detail view

After adding a case, it would nice to be able to quickly add a subcase. I love the idea of quickly adding a subcase on the main list screen, but if I want to add one with more detail, or that differs from the parent, I have to go back to the list screen, add the subcase, then edit the subcase...

Linking bugs with email inquiries: use subcase?

2010-10-21T08:48:49Z

Hello,

We've been using the Inbox of FogBugz to manage customer support for a relatively short time. It works great. Now, we've created a new project for a product and have started entering bugs in it. For one bug in the product project we have three email inquiries in the Inbox that discuss the bug. What's the best way to connect or link the bug report with the email inquiries? Should we add them as subcases?

I noticed that someone in the following question is using subcases to link bug reports with email inquiries. Is this common practice? http://fogbugz.stackexchange.com/questions/5087

Thanks, Chuck

Add subcase to case in "not assignable" milestone

2010-06-16T20:02:25Z

I have a case X assigned to a milestone, then set this milestone to not assignable. Later, I wanted to add a subcase to case X. The subcase was automatically assigned to the case X milestone.

I consider this a bug.

Case FC1913203

Case list: "X subcases not matching filter" row disappears after collapsing/expanding parent case

2011-01-16T12:33:49Z

Y'know how, when you have subcases that don't match the filter, but the parent case does, you get that little grayed out line: [X subcases not matching filter]? (If the parent case also has subcases that do match...)
Of course you can click on it to show the filtered subcases...

Well, if you collapse the parent case, by clicking the little arrow, and then click it again to expand the parent case - the [subcases] row disappears.

I assume it's because you guys selected $("g-r, g-r-a") but missed $("g-r-more"), or something like that....

Case FC2002378

Adding a parent case removes sub case from search?

2010-10-29T17:49:00Z

Not sure if this is a bug or if there is a setting in my default filter that is causing this...

I create a FogBugz case with the default status of "active". I then run the following filter and sort it by case number descending.

Filter: All cases in MyProject

My case is listed at the top.

I then edit the case I created and add a parent case to it. If I run the same filter again...

Filter: All cases in MyProject

My case is no longer visible.

Case Hierarchy: Parent cases and subcases

2010-09-03T21:44:57Z

How can I use subcases to break down tasks?

Best way to organize bugs by interface?

2010-10-21T17:26:59Z

I'm testing an application that has maybe 30 pages/views/interfaces. Some have no bugs, some of the more complex ones have a lot of bugs. I would like to group the bugs for an interface together, maybe with parent issue if that makes sense. What is the ideal way to go about this? I thought about Project Areas but an app could have an unknown number of very specific views.

If a parent is recommended, would it be best to do it along the lines of "Interface XYZ Testing Results" or just setup a general parent "Interface XYZ" for all items related to the interface?