Question

When a client requests something that is chargeable, we add that request as a case in Fogbugz and all correspondance on that client request goes through the case (which works really well for us). We add the time spent on the request by either adding to the Elapsed field of adding it under Edit Timesheet.

The problem is that when the client queries the time spend, there is no detail attached to the hours.

Something like this would be ideal (for case 12345):

• 01/06/2010 30 min Specified the details of the data requested
• 02/06/2010 1 hour build the query and sent the data
• 02/06/2010 1.5 hours changed the query to included last years sales

At the moment, I'm considering adding case details like this:

CHARGEABLE TIME: 1.5 hours - changed the query to included last years sales

And then adding 1.5 hours to the Elapsed field.

But is there more elegant solution? Maybe a plugin?

Case FC2036702

Answer 1

I collaborated with an intrepid FogBugz user to create this plugin which allows you to put a comment on each time interval. It adds a [comment] link in the timesheet editor:

When you click it, you can enter a comment in a new dialog:

which then shows up in in the editor:

You can download the plugin here in the gallery

You can clone the full source with Mercurial from developers.kilnhg.com

Answer 2

Adambox,

I have been working for a plugin for exactly the scenario you describe...Can you clarify, from your previous post, how you envision "comments" or "explanations" would be persisted?

The plugin API made it very easy to add a new "comments" table joined to the time intervals. I'm assuming the XML webservice (via api.asp) is the primary way to interact with the database.

Here's the first problem I am facing. When I query the XML webservice, using "/FogBugz/api.asp?cmd=listIntervals&token=aqqhijlblisbv0d4pd11pdl5t0sb32" for example, I get as an XML response:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
  <response>
    <intervals>
      <interval>
        <ixInterval>5</ixInterval>
        <ixPerson>2</ixPerson>
        <ixBug>1</ixBug>
        <dtStart>2011-02-15T18:10:00Z</dtStart>
        <dtEnd>2011-02-15T18:10:00Z</dtEnd>
        <fDeleted>false</fDeleted>
        <Plugin_60_TimeIntervalComments_ixInterval>
        </Plugin_60_TimeIntervalComments_ixInterval>
        <Plugin_60_TimeIntervalComments_sComment>
        </Plugin_60_TimeIntervalComments_sComment>
        <sTitle><![CDATA[test]]></sTitle>
      </interval>
     <interval>
     ...

It's great to see the new database table's columns returned in the XML response--the new XML elements just appear! However, no data is returned for the new table, even though valid data does exist in the database. (I'm using SQL Server) Also note that no foreign key relationship exists for ixInterval, but I'm assuming that is expected...if I end up with some orphaned comments records, that's ok.

The second problem I'm facing is editing existing comments. As far as I can tell, there are only two webservice methods I can use to access this comment data: "listIntervals" and "newInterval". How can I delete a comment, or modify an existing comment?

Thanks!

In case the OP (Craig HB) revisits this thread, what solution did you end up implementing?

Answer 3

I would prefer a comment field next to the "Working On" menu or a comment field near the "Case # ..." menu option.

The comment itself should be added to the case history. Ex: "Comment by M. al-Gaddafi 2011-03: Ceasefire"

Answer 4

For FogBugz staff who may be gauging interest in such a feature, this feature was suggested as a plugin idea on the old FogBugz plugins forum, and it was voted #9 among plugin ideas when the forum closed:

http://fogbugzplugins.uservoice.com/forums/20251-retired-please-join-us-at-fogbugz-stackexchange-/suggestions/298999-custom-fields-for-time-intervals?ref=title

Answer 5

OK, I think it is a good plugin.And you can in each a report page increase through the plugin.