Problem with "Estimations by role" section

[vedran]

Hi,

I'm having a problem with the "Estimations by role" section displayed on the issue screen. Specifically, this section does not appear to be referenced by any custom field introduced by the ultimate role tracking plugin, and therefore cannot be hidden using the "Field Security" plugin. If I deny visibility to both "Log Work (by roles)" and "Time Tracking (by roles)" this section still appears with the estimates shown. Additionally, the header ("Estimations by role") seems to be displayed regardless whether there are any estimates set in the "time tracking (by roles)" field.

Can you please advise a potential solution/workaround, as this is a critical problem for my use case (we want to hide this section from the customers).

The section on issue view screen I'm referring to:

ScreenHunter_268 Nov. 09 10.53.jpg

Thanks,

Vedran

[Abhinav Ojha · Accepted solution]

Hello Vedran,

We are happy to let you know, that we have implemented the Configuration option for hiding the estimations by role section and removed the old way of doing that (v1.4.7 and v1.8.7). Sorry for the delay, as this implementation required a few other changes in the plugin, which increased the implementation and testing time.

Following are the highlights :

• On the Time Tracking page for projects, where you choose role scheme, you will find a new section for configuring when to hide the section.
• You can add/remove user groups, so that the users who belong to those groups, won't see the section.
• You can add Project Roles as well. The users assigned to those roles, via Assignee (By Roles) CF, won't be able to see the section.
• You can user either or both of the settings.
• Please note, that as request by a few other users matching their requirements, we decided not to hide the section when there are no estimates for the role, instead we just show a info box, telling the issue has not been estimated yet.
• The visibility of the section thus doesn't depend on any fields or situations, other than the configuration on time tracking page.

Let us know how you go.

Thanks,

Abhinav.

[vedran]

Hi Abhinav,

I've tried it out, and it works perfectly. Thank you very much for this enhancement!

Regards,

Vedran

[vedran]

Thank you Abhinav! Please let me know (comment here) when the version with this feature is available.

Regards,

Vedran

[Abhinav Ojha]

Hi Vedran,

We are happy to let you know that we have released a new version of the plugin, along with a solution to hiding the section.

If you hide the Time Tracking (By Roles) custom field, or if there are no role based estimates for the issue, the section will be hidden.

Also, we have included a new feature. You can see the assigned estimates and overall estimates (if available) right under the assignee in the Assignee (By Roles) custom field, while you select a user for the role.

Let us know, if this was helpful for you. For further query, feel free to contact us.

Thanks,

Abhinav.

[vedran]

Hi Abhinav,

I've updated the plugin to the latest version (1.4.6) and unfortunately I still have the same issue - even if the "Time Tracking (by roles) field is hidden from a particular user (using the "Field Security" plugin), he can still see the "Estimates by Role" section in full. The actual "Time Tracking (by roles) field" is hidden as expected, but the Estimates by Role remains visible regardless. 

I can confirm that the section header is no longer present if all role based estimtes are null, and the new feature which shows the total assigned hours per user in role works as expected (a handy feature!).

Please let me know if I can assist in any way in getting to the bottom of this issue.

Regards,

Vedran 

*** Edit  to add - the "Estimates by Role" section is visible even if the "Time Tracking (by roles)" field is not added to the view screen at all, so it has nothing in particular to do with the field security plugin.

[Abhinav Ojha]

Thanks heaps Vedran.

You have given a lot of information to work on. Just to add, we only have hidden the section, for when there are no role based estimates for the issue. Or if the time tracking (By Roles) field is hidden from the built in field configuration page.

We will take care of the other scenarios as well, which you have pointed out and come up with an update asap.

Regards,

Abhinav.

[vedran]

Hi Abhinav,

No problem, happy to help. What I wanted to say (in the edited comment) that even if the field is hidden (not included) on the built in screen configuration page, the estimates by roles section will still be shown if it has any values. So that section shows whenever "Time Tracking (by roles)" field is not null, regardless of any other configuration settings. I'm guessing if you solve that part of the problem, the field security plugin will work . 

[Abhinav Ojha]

Thanks Vedran. This is great help. I will be able to fix it even faster. I will get back to you very soon.

Cheers,

Abhinav.

[Abhinav Ojha]

Hi Vedran,

Please check the new version. 

Now the section should be hidden, when the time tracking (By Roles) CF is not on any of the screens for the issue, or if you have hidden it via field security plugin or if there are no role estimates for the issue.

As we are ever improving, so please let me know if we missed out on something, as you have been very helpful.

Sincerely,

Abhinav.

[vedran]

Hi Abhinav,

I've updated the plugin to the latest version and did a reindex on our test instance. Unfortunately the same issue still persists. I've removed both the "log work by role" and "time tracking by role" from the issue view screen, and the "estimates by role" is still present. Attaching a screenshot showing that the field is hidden, and you can see the section is visible in the background:

ScreenHunter_284 Nov. 28 10.18.jpg

The use case with adding the field and hiding it with field security plugin produced the same results.

Regards,
Vedran 

[Abhinav Ojha]

Thanks Vedran,

We have been testing it out for a while now, it works here. If you could check your logs, for any possible errors along with any script errors, that would be helpful. Also, please let me know what version of JIRA and database are you testing this on, so we can do a more specific testing.

Sorry for the trouble,

Abhinav.

[vedran]

Hi Abhinav

The JIRA version we're using is 6.4.12 (latest one prior to v7), not sure about the db version but I'll check.

I haven't noticed any errors in catalina.out, which logs in particular would you like me to check? We could also arrange a Teamviewer session to nail this problem down on my JIRA instance if you think it would help.

[Abhinav Ojha]

Hi Vedran,

We tested this in version 6.4.12 of JIRA and it still works. You could try a couple of things:

• Restart the JIRA instance, as sometimes changes don't register without server restart, after the plugin is upgraded.
• Check for any script errors (as we are hiding fields using scripts) in the developer's window in the browser.
• Check the file atlassian-jira.log in the target folder, to see if any errors are there related to our plugin.

Hope we can work it out. If not, we can possibly arrange something to nail it.

Just to add, the field will only be hidden, when you remove the "Time Tracking (By Roles)" CF. from all of the screens from the screen scheme being used, and not just the screen used for the view issue page, as it totally depends on what screen you choose for the view issue page.

Thanks for the patience,

Abhinav.

[vedran]

Hi Abhinav,

I can confirm that this section is not shown if the "Time Tracking (by roles)" custom field is removed from ALL screens in the issue type scheme. However, this is really not the desired behavior as there are several problems with the current implementation.

1. How are users supposed to populate the values if the field is not present in the edit screen? Any other custom field can be hidden from any particular screens independently of one another.
2. The field security plugin seems to have no effect on the "estimates by role" section. If the custom field is removed from all screen schemes used by the issue, then the section won't be shown. Otherwise it will, regardless of any field security settings.
3. The section is briefly rendered on page, then the section becomes hidden ("display: none" block). This is also unacceptable since the section is present in the HTML.

Bottom line is that the estimates by role should not be included in the HTML output of the page at all IF the "time tracking (by roles)" is not included in the HTML. If you take a look at the implementation of the Field Security plugin, they are hiding the system "time tracking" section properly with a separate setting - you might want to look into that.

As far as my use case is concerned, I need to be able to achieve the following:
Have users belonging to a certain group able to see/edit the mentioned section
Have other users not see the section at all (by not having the section included in the HTML at all)
Perhaps it would be easier to add a new setting to your plugin where you can set visibility for that section based on a user group and/or project role or something similar, instead of tying it to a particular custom field? However in any case it should NOT be a hidden section in the page HTML.

Please let me know your opinion!
Thanks,
Vedran

[Abhinav Ojha]

Hi Vedran,

Thanks a lot for bearing with us. Due to complexity of codes in the plugin in certain areas, like this section rendering, adding a setting to control this would be a better idea than depend on other settings/plugins.

So, if you can wait this one out for only a couple of days, we can implement this setting and get back on track asap.

Kind regards,

Abhinav.

[vedran]

Hi Abhinav,

Of course, I appreciate your responsiveness as well - usually developers are not quite as receptive to suggestions as you . Thank you for taking my concerns into account!

Regards,

Vedran

[Abhinav Ojha]

Hi Vedran,

We have already taken your concern into consideration and are working on implementing this security feature. We will very soon release a new version of our plugin with this feature and let you know.

Thanks,

Abhinav.