Buglog Tools
Making the bugaboos boogie.

Buglog Tools is a system to log, browse, and edit files in bug report databases. Written in the Interactive Data Language (IDL), it provides a good cross-platform solution for organizations and businesses that develop applications in IDL and need a bug tracking system to support their testing and quality assurance (QA) processes.

Buglog Tools Databases

The bug databases consist of ASCII text files, one per bug report, containing keyword-value pairs. Because the reports are plain text they can be manipulated with many other applications and utilities.

Buglog Tools Browser and Editor

On startup Buglog Tools loads the latest bug report in the default bug database, but any report from any database may be opened from the menu bar. You can jump to the first, previous, next or last report in the current database using the Go menu bar items or the tool bar browser buttons. Bug report files are loaded into a Bug Report Form composed of editable text fields and selectable droplists:

• Bug ID: Bug report files are named with the ID appended with .log. By default, new bug reports are given the ID YYMMDDhhmm where YYMMDD is the current date and hhmm is the current time.
• Status: Droplist consisting of Open, Dispatched, Evaluated, Fixed, Integrated, Verified, and Closed.
• Severity: Droplist consisting of 1. Critical, 2. Major, 3. Normal, 4. Minor, 5. Trivial, and 6. RFE (Request For Enhancement).
• Reported By: Who reported the bug.
• Category: The main program(s) being used when the bug was discovered.
• Subcategory: The function or control (widget) involved that was called from the main program.
• Synopsis: A one-line summary of the problem.
• Description: Information sufficient to to recreate the bug behavior, symptoms observed, workarounds, fixes, etc.
• History: The date, the user's login name, and a summary of the changes to the current bug report are automatically appended whenever it is edited and saved.

When you pull down from File to Open New Report or click on the New tool bar button, a blank Bug Report Form is created with the default Bug ID. Whenever you change an existing report Buglog Tools detects the change and highlights the Save and Cancel tool bar buttons, as well as their corresponding menu bar items. When you select another bug report (or you create a new one) Buglog Tools prompts if your pending changes are not saved.

Other Features

• Generate Bug Lists containing the file names and Synopsis lines of reports that match any combination of Status and Severity levels. Clicking on a line in the list loads that bug report in the Bug Report Form.
• RCS/CVS and SCCS version control keyword strings are automatically added to each new bug report.
• Print bug reports and bug lists.
• A status bar indicates the current database, the path name of the currently saved file, etc.
• An X Resources configuration file for UNIX, Solaris and Linux X Windows implementations.

Future Enhancements

Enhancements to Buglog Tools under development include:

• Preferences for startup options, email lists, custom droplists for categories and subcategories, user log name, print command, browser command for the users guide, optional bug file backup on Save, and optional prompt to overwrite.
• Graphical bug stat charts.
• Search engine.

Interested?

Buglog Tools was developed by Design MatriX to support our own software projects. Because it is written in IDL it runs on any IDL platform. This makes it the perfect bug tracking system for your IDL software testing, quality assurance and in-house support needs, especially if your IDL applications run on several platforms.

If Buglog Tools sounds like your bug tracking solution for IDL software development, testing and quality assurance then call Design MatriX at (310) 455 3107 or