Have you already written a plugin?

General discussion about MantisBT Plugins

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Starbuck
Posts: 219
Joined: 14 Feb 2006, 02:53
Location: USA
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Have you already written a plugin?

Post by Starbuck »

All plugin developers are invited to post a separate note here about their own plugin.
My goal here is to create an inventory listing of all of the resources we have available. A better home for this might be created later.
Plugins identified here can serve as examples to other developers, as templates for new plugins, and as a source for forks for new plugins with similar functionality.

Plugin users: Please use the threads created here to ask the authors about their plugins. Developers may not scan the forum for questions related to their own plugin. Plugins that get a large amount of traffic may get their own forum sections. Note at the bottom how these threads should be monitored for plugin changes.

Plugin users: Please do not download and install random code "off the internet" onto your valued systems. You are getting FOSS for "free" and you should take some time to "vet" the software, to ensure it does not include malware, intentional or accidental, which can cause you grief. No one else is going to evaluate this free software for you for free. Get to know the authors here and their reputation. Report and be aware of reported issues. The cost for free software is that we pay with our time - I recommend you spend time up-front to evaluate software, rather than spending your time on the back-end if anything goes wrong.

Developers, please provide the information below:
  1. Name of the plugin in the forum Subject.
  2. What does it do? What problem does it solve?
  3. In which MantisBT versions does it work? 1.x? 2.x? 2.10? Please be as specific as possible about where it is intended to work.
  4. Status: Broken in 2.x? Needs specific work? Link to issue tracker?
  5. Link to the code repository. Please do Not attach your plugins to this forum for download.
  6. Are you still maintaining it? Please describe how you intend to support this software (or not) in the hope of eliminating some "does it work for 'version x' of Mantis?" questions.
  7. Are you offering maintenance for a fee or some other form of compensation?
  8. Is there a Pro version? If so, what are the benefits?
  9. What would you like to see happen with this code? What are your intentions? Do you want someone else to maintain it? Do you see it as dead or obsolete? Just trying to breathe some life into it?
The above is just a general guideline. Please feel free to add more information.
As you update your software, please change your initial post, and then add a note into your own thread to announce the changes. This way people can monitor your threads for changes to your software. If you do give up on your software, please indicate this somewhere so that others might decide to assume "stewardship", to host and support the code for you.

Other suggestions for this are welcome. Thanks all!
rkarmann
Posts: 66
Joined: 24 Nov 2017, 10:00
Location: Lille, France

Re: Have you already written a plugin?

Post by rkarmann »

Hi Starbuck,

Just to be sure, do you want us to open a new topic for each plugin, or to post informations here as a reply?
Currently working on a wiki-based plugin for MantisBT 2.X. If you'd like to test it, contact me or see the plugin section.
Starbuck
Posts: 219
Joined: 14 Feb 2006, 02:53
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Have you already written a plugin?

Post by Starbuck »

Please open a single thread/discussion for each plugin that others are using.

There are many sites where plugins integrate with a Core, where there is a single thread dedicated to a single plugin, and people continue to post their questions and update info to that single thread.

Following that pattern, I suggest naming plugins by their major version#: "My Great Plugin v1", "My Great Plugin v2". This will help to break up the threads. Otherwise we could see notes on page 31 that say "I didn't want to read through 30 pages, does this plugin include the foo feature?" Consider something like "My Great Plugin v2 Beta" as the home for all notes about your current Beta release.

As I've offered here, if any one plugin gets a huge amount of traffic, like EmailReporting, then it will probably earn its own forum section.

There are other sites where discussions about a single plugin are spread throughout the site, and it's very difficult to find related information. We already see this problem here in the Mantis forum, which is one of the reasons why we're trying this new section. To help solve this problem I've recommended that this phpBB forum get a Tags plugin, so that we can tag threads related to a specific Mantis plugin. Until we get that, I strongly recommend a single thread per plugin in this section.

If you are developing a plugin, feel free to create a new thread for each new challenge - in this case the topic isn't really about your plugin, it's about how to do something with Mantis, which is of general interest. I hope that difference is clear. As an example, if someone else is having a problem with "My Great Plugin", their inquiry goes into the single thread, but if you are writing "My Great Plugin" and you are having an issue with a Mantis event, then that topic should be in a separate thread.

The bottom line is : Try to make it easy for someone to find the topic you're starting. If you bury a note about a Mantis event in your plugin thread, few people will ever see it. If there is a thread for every issue with your plugin, you're going to have a problem supporting it. Create and add to threads in the most reader-friendly manner possible.

HTH!
If you want Mantis to work differently, use or create a plugin. Visit the Plugins forums.
Ask developers to create a plugin that you need - and motivate them to help you!
rkarmann
Posts: 66
Joined: 24 Nov 2017, 10:00
Location: Lille, France

Re: Have you already written a plugin?

Post by rkarmann »

Well, that sounds clever to me and it's pretty clear like that. I have been waiting a long time for such specific topic.

Let's see where it goes through :D
Currently working on a wiki-based plugin for MantisBT 2.X. If you'd like to test it, contact me or see the plugin section.
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