User talk:Marina Glancy

Moodle features / hooks

Hooks spec

I attempt to create all options how courses and categories lists are displayed in Moodle: Courses and Categories Lists Overview in 2.4

Spec for refactoring View all courses

Developers quick ref Moodle Developers Quick Reference

Draft of rewriting the triage page:

Triage is medical term referring to the process of prioritising patients based on the severity of their condition so as to maximise benefit (help as many as possible) when resources are limited.

Bug triage is a process where tracker issues are screened and prioritised. Triage should help ensure we appropriately manage all reported issues - bugs as well as improvements and feature requests.

Triage initially happens shortly after the issue was reported but it can be repeated later if the initial assumptions were wrong, issue was resolved otherwise, affected versions need updating or other there are other reasons to review the issue.

Who can do the triage

Anybody can do triage in form of correcting the components and/or affected versions, linking to related issues, and of course commenting asking for clarification, confirming bug, redirecting to forum, etc. Users in jira-developers and moodle-triage groups can edit any issue, jira-users can comment on any issue or edit issues they reported. Please see MDLSITE-3592 if you are not a developer but would like to help with triage process.

Adding "triaged" label and placing the issue on the backlog should only be done by component lead or HQ developer. At the same time other users can remove "triaged" label from the old issues or replace it with "triaging_in_progress" if they want to request an additional triage.

The triage process

Initial screening

First of all, identify the issues that should be closed or placed under investigation. Ask the following questions:

• Is the issue a request for support/help? If so, the reporter should be directed to the forums to seek help and the issue should be closed as "Not a bug". Sometimes improvement requests can be phrased as a question, though; if this is the case, ask the reporter to reword the description to describe an improvement.
• Have the reporter mistaken the Moodle Tracker with their own support desk? Sometimes people mistake the Moodle Tracker as a place to request help about their own Moodle instance, often about logging in. We need to refer the user to their instance administrators and close the issue as "Not a bug".
• Has the issue been reported previously? - If so, link to a duplicate issue and close the newly reported issue as a "Duplicate" with no fix version set. Encourage the reporter to search before reporting. If a newer issue has a patch or more voters/watchers, consider closing the older issue. Checking for duplicates first will save you having to check the rest of the issue. See [Tracker tips] for help with effective search of tracker.
• Does the problem affect only unsupported versions? - If so, the issue should be closed using "Fixed" (preferred as it sounds better) when the issue is resolved in current versions or "Not a bug" when the issue has disappeared due to changes leading to current versions. See [Releases] to find currenlty supported versions
• Is the problem a language string change? Language string problems can be corrected by contributing a translation or by contacting the language pack maintainer as listed in the Translation credits. English language string typo fixes and suggested improvements can be contributed to the English (fixes) (en_fix) language pack or given the component 'Language' for fixing by the Language component lead. Such issues should be closed in the Tracker using "Deferred".
• Was the problem caused by additional code or 3rd party plugins?
• Does the problem seem rational? If not, then the problem may simply be an misunderstanding on the part of the reporter. It might be a problem exclusive to the reporter's server setup. If you can replicate the problem quickly, do so. If you can't replicate the problem, ask the reporter to attempt to replicate the problem on http://demo.moodle.net. If the problem seems persistent but strange, consider asking a developer with experience working in the area to consider the problem and determine if it could be a real problem.
• Can the problem be replicated? If not, or information on the issue is insufficient, ask the reporter to add error messages, screenshots, environment information (OS, web server, browser) and exact replication instructions

As a result of initial screening up to 20% of new issues may be closed. When closing the issues make sure to set the correct resolution and write a polite comment with explanation, refer to the templates below. If you have doubts, ask the questions and always add label "triaging_in_progress". Subscribe to the filter [My old issues in triage] and you will receive notifications after 30 days of inactivity on such issues. Very often the reporter never follows up on their own issues and this is a good way to find such issues and ping reporter again or make a final decision about closing.