Issue Tracking Systems

4.1Mylyn

Homepage: http://www.eclipse.org/mylyn/

Supported IDE: Eclipse

Supported TS: JIRA, Trac, ClearQuest, CodeBeamer, Bugzilla, …

License: Open source

Development status: Production/Stable

Screen shot : Mylyn - Overview

Mylyn is a task-focused UI for Eclipse. As it was one of first developed IDE integration plug-ins, it is also probably more advanced with the most features and most issue tracking system connectors.
It supports task management and monitors work activity to identify information relevant to the task at hand. Mylyn uses this task context to focus the Eclipse UI on the interesting information, hide the uninteresting, and automatically find what is related. This puts the needed information to get work done at the user`s fingertips and improves productivity by reducing searching, scrolling, and navigation. By making task context explicit, Mylyn also facilitates multitasking, planning, reusing past efforts, and sharing expertise.

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Installation

Since Eclipse 3.2, Mylyn has become a part of the Eclipse installation; it only needs to be enabled within
“Software Updates;” however, the user must remember to install repository connectors, which are not part of basic installation. This is also possible in “Software Updates.”
Mylyn can be installed as a standalone task list for managing personal tasks, with the focused UI support for the Eclipse SDK to reduce information overload, and with one or more task repository connectors (including one for JIRA).

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User Interface

As shown on the image above (screen shot 46), the UI can be divided into four main components:

1. 
   Task List
   

Task List enables the user to view and manage tasks. It contains both "Local tasks" and shared "Repository tasks" that are stored in a task repository such as Bugzilla or JIRA. Local tasks are typically contained in categories, repository tasks are contained in special categories that represent queries.

Screen shot : Mylyn - Task List

It is also from here where one can create new tasks (local or repository), and create new queries.

Screen shot : Mylyn - Create a new query

2. 
   A change set managed with task context
   

The task-focused interface provides several ways to improve work flow when working with a source code repository such as CVS or Subversion. The user can commit or update only the resources that are in the context of a particular task. This helps a user to work on several tasks concurrently and avoid polluting workspace with changes that are not relevant to the current task.

Screen shot : Mylyn - Change sets

3. 
   A rich task editor with offline support
   

The task editor allows the user to view and edit the tasks in the task list. One must double-click on a task in the task list to open the editor. The features of the task editor will vary depending on whether it is a local task or a shared repository task. For shared repository tasks, there are some differences, depending on the type of repository (and corresponding connector) that is being used.
Task editor consists of three tabs:

• 
  Planning tab –shows local information about the task that is private to one`s workspace and allows the user to make private scheduling.
  
• 
  Context tab – allows the user to manage the context of resources associated with the task.
  
• 
  Task detail tab –shows information about the request ticket and allows the user to edit and manipulate it.
  

Screen shot : Mylyn - Task editor - Planning tab

Screen shot : Mylyn - Task editor - Context tab

Screen shot : Mylyn - Task editor - Task detail tab

4. 
   Task-focused mode on Eclipse's Package Explorer
   

Navigator views can be focused (e.g. Package Explorer, Project Explorer, Navigator) by toggling the "Focus on Active Task" button in the toolbar. When focused, the view will show only the resources that are "interesting" for the currently active task.

Screen shot : Mylyn - Focused Package Explorer

Other features

• 
  Task Search
  

A user can use Ctrl+H or the search menu (Search > Task Search), select the repository of interest, enter search criteria, and click Search. The search view opens, allowing one to open tasks that match the search, as shown in Figure 54. To refine a search, the user simply opens the search dialog again to restore the previous search criteria. Search results can be turned into a query from the pop-up menu in the Search view.

Screen shot : Mylyn - Task Search

• 
  Reporting bugs from the Error Log
  

Bugs can be created directly from events in the Error Log view. This will create a new repository task editor with the summary and description populated with the error and event's details.

Screen shot : Mylyn - Reporting bugs from Error Log

Repository connectors

As already mentioned, Mylyn recognizes two types of tasks: Local tasks and repository tasks. Local tasks are stored locally on the workstation and are not shared. Repository tasks are synchronized with an issue tracking systems repository connected by a repository connector.
The concepts are identical for other supported task repositories, but the level of integration and maturity of connectors varies. A fully integrated connector provides the following features:

• 
  Queries
  

A query is the mechanism for retrieving sets of tasks into Mylyn's Task List. Query editing and retrieval facilities are connector specific and provide either an Eclipse-based query designer, retrieval of queries from an account on a server, or both.

• 
  Rich editing
  

Tasks and queries can be edited with an integrated editor. This facility provides hyperlinking to tasks and other structured elements, as well as Eclipse and desktop integration, such as drag-and-drop. Connectors that provide rich editing can still provide facilities for opening tasks and queries with Eclipse's embedded browser.

• 
  Attachments
  

Files can be attached to and retrieved from the repository. This feature lets the user attach files from within the operating system or Eclipse workspace and it enables facilities such as context sharing.

• 
  Offline support
  

A user can work disconnected and access tasks and queries immediately without needing to wait on a server. This facility also provides change notifications, which let a user use the Task List as an inbox for tasks instead of relying on one`s e-mail client.
To let the user get the full integrated experience from Mylyn and stop relying on external or Web-based UIs, the connector must support all four of the facilities listed here.

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Conclusion

Mylyn was the first of its own and most of the other products copy its concepts and features. There are three main areas which Mylyn captures:

• 
  Work with the bug tracking system, scheduling and working with tasks, storing the context for tasks, etc.
  
• 
  Focus to display only relevant information in the IDE on the currently processed request (based on the context of the request).
  
• 
  Create change sets to commit to the subversion (CVS) on the context basis.
  

As it was the first system, it also has the largest database of repository connectors, and its core is also used inside other plug-ins, as will be mentioned later.

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