Tracker on this site for use by Contributors

[Michael]

OK, so this is a pipe dream, and will probably never happen, but I want to throw it out there.

One of the few reasons I as a third-party developer for IPS have left for maintaining my own site is to host a Tracker for bugs and feature suggestions on my products. Having a Tracker for a larger project is extremely handy as it lets me organize the bugs and suggestions in one central spot instead of having them scattered throughout random posts in a support topic. I link to my tracker category for my files I submit to the Marketplace, but (nearly) every time I suggest to my customers that they file an issue in my Tracker, they either question how to do that or why they need to go somewhere else to do that. So then I open an issue in my Tracker for it.

What would be super-duper is if we as Contributors had a category in the Tracker here, or in some separate place on the site, where people could go to in order to file these issues, so they don't have to go to another site. It could be something whereby Contributors could add categories to (one category for each product they want to use) and then anyone could log records (bugs or suggestions) to.

I wouldn't think it would need to be something whereby categories are created automatically; we could create them manually as needed. And I wouldn't think there'd be much need for any staff oversight to what goes on in this Contributor Tracker, so having this system in place wouldn't entail more ongoing effort from IPS (apart from ensuring it doesn't blow up).

[stoo2000]

OK, so this is a pipe dream, and will probably never happen, but I want to throw it out there.

One of the few reasons I as a third-party developer for IPS have left for maintaining my own site is to host a Tracker for bugs and feature suggestions on my products. Having a Tracker for a larger project is extremely handy as it lets me organize the bugs and suggestions in one central spot instead of having them scattered throughout random posts in a support topic. I link to my tracker category for my files I submit to the Marketplace, but (nearly) every time I suggest to my customers that they file an issue in my Tracker, they either question how to do that or why they need to go somewhere else to do that. So then I open an issue in my Tracker for it.

What would be super-duper is if we as Contributors had a category in the Tracker here, or in some separate place on the site, where people could go to in order to file these issues, so they don't have to go to another site. It could be something whereby Contributors could add categories to (one category for each product they want to use) and then anyone could log records (bugs or suggestions) to.

I wouldn't think it would need to be something whereby categories are created automatically; we could create them manually as needed. And I wouldn't think there'd be much need for any staff oversight to what goes on in this Contributor Tracker, so having this system in place wouldn't entail more ongoing effort from IPS (apart from ensuring it doesn't blow up).

I made a suggestion to Charles a while back about building some functionality into the main Tracker app to provide Tracker Projects for files in Downloads (so it would be pretty much automated). However, I don't think that they wanted to add that extra level of complexity.

[Adriano Faria]

Yes, much better if we could use the TRACKER (APP) instead of Content...

[Dmacleo]

seems to me it could be very useful for contributors as well as users.

if asked to do a bug report or suggestion they can do it right here under existing login w/o having to sign up elsewhere.

but I bet it could be complicated.

[AndyF]

I'd assume if it was done it would be for the larger third party products or per contributor upon request and I guess it would be an IPC database too.

[xbp-tpn]

This is a great suggestion. It would make it much easier for clients as well to check current reported bugs in a hook very quickly rather than go through an entire topic looking for any problems that others might have faced.

[Adriano Faria]

I'd assume if it was done it would be for the larger third party products or per contributor upon request and I guess it would be an IPC database too.

I don't know. Maybe the TRACKER app would be better to avoid user get confused with so many projects and avoit to mess up with Content database. Maybe give permission to Marketplace Moderators in ACP to create the projetcts, etc. And the rest of ACP, of course, would be restricted.

[AndyF]

The only concern I see there is its a third party application now not an official IPS one so there could be concerns when this site is upgraded if the application is not compliant with the newer version, just my thought nothing more. :)

[Adriano Faria]

IPS already knows that APP... it was used here for a long, long time. :)

[bfarber]

If we used the tracker app, what happens when we upgrade to 4.0? Or 4.1? No one can submit bugs until the app gets updated (hey, less work for us right?!)? Or we can't release an update until the third party addon is updated?

Using a third party app in this regard likely won't work for us long-term without us being heavily involved.

As for supporting marketplace stuff in the (or a separate install of a) tracker here, my first concern would be about the number of categories (or product filters or whatever method was used to designate products). I imagine you guys having been around a while would only create categories for the bigger things you put out, but I would also expect newer users would create categories for everything they submit ("There might be a bug report on this media tag export I made so I should create a category for it") and it would get unruly quickly.

[Adriano Faria]

If we used the tracker app, what happens when we upgrade to 4.0? Or 4.1? No one can submit bugs until the app gets updated (hey, less work for us right?!)? Or we can't release an update until the third party addon is updated?

Using a third party app in this regard likely won't work for us long-term without us being heavily involved.

Of course not. It is expected a good commitment from the developers of Tracker. If developers will have access to IPS4 before the general public, they'll have the chance to update it.

Anyway, that's up to them... if any of them could say something here, would be nice. :)

[stoo2000]

If we used the tracker app, what happens when we upgrade to 4.0? Or 4.1? No one can submit bugs until the app gets updated (hey, less work for us right?!)? Or we can't release an update until the third party addon is updated?

Using a third party app in this regard likely won't work for us long-term without us being heavily involved.

As for supporting marketplace stuff in the (or a separate install of a) tracker here, my first concern would be about the number of categories (or product filters or whatever method was used to designate products). I imagine you guys having been around a while would only create categories for the bigger things you put out, but I would also expect newer users would create categories for everything they submit ("There might be a bug report on this media tag export I made so I should create a category for it") and it would get unruly quickly.

As I said before Brandon, I fully understand your stance on that, what about utilising IPSConnect and having a separate site setup with a special push API integrated with Downloads (MP) on your end ?

That way we're not limited to having to use IPS4 before it's ready.

Of course not. It is expected a good commitment from the developers of Tracker. If developers will have access to IPS4 before the general public, they'll have the chance to update it.

Anyway, that's up to them... if any of them could say something here, would be nice. :smile:

I did :P post #2

[HeadStand]

If we used the tracker app, what happens when we upgrade to 4.0? Or 4.1? No one can submit bugs until the app gets updated (hey, less work for us right?!)? Or we can't release an update until the third party addon is updated?

Using a third party app in this regard likely won't work for us long-term without us being heavily involved.

As for supporting marketplace stuff in the (or a separate install of a) tracker here, my first concern would be about the number of categories (or product filters or whatever method was used to designate products). I imagine you guys having been around a while would only create categories for the bigger things you put out, but I would also expect newer users would create categories for everything they submit ("There might be a bug report on this media tag export I made so I should create a category for it") and it would get unruly quickly.

Well, we could limit the categories by putting some requirements on it. For example, only paid files get a category, and they have to have a minimum X number of purchases. Or... hey! Certified Devs! :whistle:

[Lindy]

We are still working on an certified dev program and I think something like this would be a great perk for said program. I don't think we could work out a viable solution for ALL devs/contributors though. In regards to the tracker app, I'm the security freak within IPS and am opposed to using third party apps/code on IPS sites. It's not a trust issue so much as a lack of control.

I think if we were to do something within the certified dev program, we could use an IPC database similar to what we use.

Great suggestion - thanks, Michael. :)

[Michael]

Yeah, I think keeping it in IP.Content is fine. Thanks for the consideration :)

[BomAleold]

same here