Adding custom fields to BugTracker.net
When I joined RedZebra, we were good at supporting customers because there were few requests and few problems. We’ve grown a lot and managing support requests is not easy when there are all the different configurations etc.
I introduced BugTracker.NET several months ago and got buy-in from the rest of the team to use this tool to log and record everything that comes through from support. We also use it to plan support if we’re waiting on someone. Ideally we’d integrate this with Outlook Calendars and resource scheduling so we can plan ahead, but this hits the budget for now.
I wanted a way to add a date to the items, and then be able to see when they’re planned in for, and if something is due for today. We already use BugTracker.NET’s categories, organisation, statuses and priorities, this just helps us organise that little bit better since we don’t have any time to go in and customise it ourselves.
I added a custom field called Planned Date and then modified our Queries (bug lists) to show the planned date, and another column indicating if the job is today. I’d previously joined the two together but mixing datetime and varchar sort wouldn’t be easy in this. I’m sure we could write a custom sort, or just modify the codebehind to do this, but I wanted to try and stay within the confines of the editors if I could.
Adding a Custom Field
- In BugTracker.NET, navigate to Admin > Custom Fields
- Click Add New Custom Field
- Planned Date was the name of the field, and I chose datetime as the type. This hint lets BugTracker.NET display the right component. There’s a few different options here worth exploring, but for now just choose datetime so we get a calendar control.
- Save
Now when you return to the Add or Edit Bug screens, you’ll be presented with the field.
Adding fields in here actually modifies the bugs table definition in the database (by adding and removing columns), so use with caution.
Selecting dates
Edit an item to see your new column.
Custom SQL for Queries
You won’t be able to see Planned Date or Today columns unless you add them to your Queries.
In BugTracker.NET navigate to Queries > Add New Query
Enter “planned” as the Description and copy the code below into the SQL box. Hit Create to add the Query and then navigate to Items > Query dropdown list > planned to see your new list.
You can organise by Today or Planned as expected. It should look like the screenshot above.
I used an inline SELECT CASE which is similar to a switch or inline if for dates.