308950 - RFE: Add build-id URL parameter to guided enter bug page (for non-browser products)

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(bugzilla.mozilla.org :: General, enhancement)

Description

[gekacheka]

Currently for non-browser products (thunderbird, sunbird, etc.) there is no way
to autofill the build-id field of the guided enter-bug page.  The result is many
bug reports with no version or build id for the product in question.

Suggest: the guided enter-bug page accept a &buildid= URL parameter and fill the
build-id field from this parameter.  

With this parameter, non-browser products (or an extension for them) could
include a "report bug" button (say, on the about page), that opens an external
browser using the URL of the guided enter bug page for the appropriate product,
and including the current build-id (userAgent) urlencoded in the URL parameter.

Thunderbird guided enter bug page:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Thunderbird&format=guided

Calendar/Sunbird guided enter bug page:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Calendar&format=guided

Comment 1

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Attachment: Patch v.1

Good idea. How about this?

Note it will only work if the URL already specifies the product; otherwise the
URL param will get lost.

Gerv

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Attachment: Patch v.2

Here's a v2 which also fixes bug 308943 and tweaks a couple of other things.

Gerv

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Dave: we don't have the relevant flags in this product. Any chance of a review
and some approval?

Gerv

Comment 4

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

Are you planning to check this into Bugzilla CVS, or is this something for us to
apply locally only?  If the latter, is it against 2.19.2, 2.20rc2, or cvs tip?

Comment 5

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Dave: It's against CVS tip, but will probably apply to 2.20 without hassle. It's
an invisible change and won't break other users, and format-guided is fairly
mozilla.org specific anyway, so I think we should just check it in.

Gerv

Comment 6

[gekacheka]

Attachment: Extension to add File Bug Report command to Thunderbird, Sunbird Tools menu (see URL instead)

File Bug Report command appears after Javascript Console command (to encourange
users to look there as part of their investigation).

File Bug Report command launches external browser on b.m.o enter-bug page with
format=guided, product, and buildid parameters.

Tested on TB 1.0.6, TB 1.4, SB 20050924

(The buildid parameter won't fill the enter-bug buildid field until the buildid
parameter change goes live on b.m.o.)

Label is "File <product> Bug Report" (not "Report Bug") so phrasing suggests
submitting a carefully investigated report, like a journalist filing a
news report, or a detective filing a police report (in contrast to
phrasing that suggests a hasty phone call, like a witness rushing to
report a fire or to report an accident).

Related work:  Seamonkey non-final builds have a QA menu includes a "File Bug
Report" command, as well as several related links and commands.

Comment 7

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

gekacheka: that's great, but it certainly doesn't belong attached to this bug!

Dave: any chance of that review?

Gerv

Comment 8

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Gerv in comment #7:
> Dave: any chance of that review?

justdave review ?


Gerv, how is this a fix and not just a workaround for bug 308943 ?


gekacheka in comment #6:
> Created an attachment (id=197630) [edit]
> Extension to add File Bug Report command to Thunderbird, Sunbird Tools menu
> 
> File Bug Report command appears after Javascript Console command 

this would also be a nice addition to nightly tester tools extension

Comment 9

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

Comment on attachment 196786 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v.2

hmm, we have flags here now. :)

Looks good to me.  Let's get it in.  bmo's getting upgraded soon, so tip is fine if it still applies.

Comment 10

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Gerv, this is unfamiliar territory for me so I've reread everything and if your patch leaves the field blank for products like thunderbird then I this should  indeed address bug 308943.  

But the form still comes up short for non-browser product in the wording under "Build Identifier".  With patch the wording will be ...

"This identifies exactly the version of the product you were using. If reporting a bug in the Mozilla Suite, Seamonkey or Firefox, this is the line beginning "Mozilla/5.0" in Help | About. If you are using the problematic browser to file the bug, this field will already be filled in correctly. If the product won't start, just enter the complete URL you downloaded it from."


I suggest this can be substantially improved, among other things the logic progression of the sentences doesn't flow well.  Assume for example a thunderbird report and therefore the field is blank - then  half of the above is not especially relevant. If one further assumes a novice reporter then some of it will also be confusing, the last thing they need to read about is what was automatically filled in.  I would suggest wording along these lines ...

"This should identify exactly the version of the product you were using.  If the above field is blank, copy the version from the product's Help | About menu (for browsers this often begins with "Mozilla/5.0 ...").  If the product won't start, paste the complete URL you downloaded it from.  If the field is not blank, please check that the information is accurate for the product you are reporting."

Gerv, I'm sure this could be improved further, and perhaps the last sentence can be struck. Does this line of thought make sense to you as well?  Again, keeping this as simple and logical as possible for the novice reporter.

Wording might be further refined by using IF .. product, but that would make it less generic.


A related issue, which is perhaps beyond the scope of the bug, can we expect  most novice reporters to report a correct URL?  I would think not, but perhaps in practice you are seeing a high percentage of good URLs being reported?

Comment 11

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

Fixed, with updated wording (thanks Wayne).

Checking in template/en/default/bug/create/create-guided.html.tmpl;
/cvsroot/mozilla/webtools/bugzilla/template/en/default/bug/create/create-guided.html.tmpl,v  <--  create-guided.html.tmpl
new revision: 1.35; previous revision: 1.34
done

Gerv