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Help / Control Centers / Project Management Hub / Step by Step
  • Overview
  • Step 1: Database of the Control Centers
  • Step 2: Configure the management of projects in the Project Management Hub
  • Step 3: Add the Feedback component to the applications
  • Overview
  • How to?
  • Step 4: Configure the management of spools in the Project Management Hub
  • What is a spool?
  • The spool of user feedback
  • Configuring the user feedback by email
  • Manage the acknowledgment of receipt for user feedback
  • Step 5: Retrieve and process the user feedback
  • Retrieving the emails (offline mode)
  • Processing the suggestions and the bugs found in the spool of requests
WINDEV
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WEBDEV
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WINDEV Mobile
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Others
Stored procedures
Step 1: Database of the Control Centers
The database of Control Centers groups various information shared by the different modules found in WINDEV, WEBDEV and WINDEV Mobile.
Configuring the database of Control Centers consists in indicating the location of this database and the format of the files used. This step is very important.
Step 2: Configure the management of projects in the Project Management Hub
To manage the user feedback regarding an application, the Project Management Hub must be started and configured.
Remark: Only the configuration required for the user feedback is presented in this section. We assume that the configuration regarding the contributors and their schedules was already performed. For more details, see How to manage a development project (Project Manager).
  1. Start the Project Management Hub from WINDEV: on the "Tools" tab, in the "Control Centers" group, click "Project Monitoring".
  2. Check the presence of the development project in the Project Management Hub: expand Project Management Hub menu and select "Projects". Your project can be displayed either in a group of projects, or in the list named "<Not assigned to a group>".
If the project does not exist, you can:
  • Create a new project: all you have to do is link your WINDEV project to this project.
  • Import your project.
Step 3: Add the Feedback component to the applications

Overview

The Feedback component is a component provided with WINDEV. This component allows the end users of your applications to send:
  • suggestions about the application.
  • problems that occurred on the application.
  • business rules.
The elements sent are retrieved via the Control Centers.
If the end user is not connected to the same network, the elements sent are retrieved by email. The user is identified by the name specified in the email.
If the user is connected to the same network (which means if he can access the data of Control Centers via network or ADSL), the elements sent are automatically added to the data of Control Centers.

How to?

The Feedback component can be included automatically or manually in your application.
To automatically include the Feedback component in your application, an automatic menu ("?") must be included in your application if the option "Send a suggestion, a problem or a business rule" is selected.
  1. Display the main window of your application (containing the menu).
  2. On the "Window" tab, in the "Bars and menus" group, expand "Main menu" and select "Add the '?' menu". The automatic menu creation wizard starts.
  3. Select the desired options for the automatic menu. To include the management of user feedback, you must choose at least "Send a suggestion, a problem or a business rule". In the wizard, specify the address to which the user feedback must be sent. This address can be modified when creating the executable.
  4. Validate. The Feedback component is automatically inserted into your project and the elements required for managing the user feedback are automatically created in the Project Management Hub.
To manually include the Feedback component in your application:
  1. On the "Project" tab, in the "Project" group, expand "Import" and select "An External component .. Utility component or example".
  2. The list of utility and sample components is displayed.
  3. Select the CCFeedback component and validate the window.
    Remark: You can also double-click the component to import it into your project.
  4. The documentation associated with this component gives all the details regarding its operating mode and its features.
When deploying your application, the users will be able to use the Feedback component to send suggestions. For more details, see Feedback component.
Step 4: Configure the management of spools in the Project Management Hub

What is a spool?

A spool of requests corresponds to a list of requests. These requests can be incidents or suggestions sent by the users of the application.

The spool of user feedback

The requests sent by the users of your applications (via the Feedback component) are retrieved in a spool. This spool is automatically created:
  • when the Feedback component is added into your application via the automatic menu.
  • the first time a suggestion is sent by a user (if the Feedback component was added manually).
The name of this spool has the following format: "User_Feedback_<ProjectName>". By default, all the contributors can add or see this spool. Only the author (who has created the automatic menu) and the administrators have the rights to modify and to manage the spool.
The messages regarding the suggestions and bugs can arrive in this spool:
  • via emails if the application cannot access the database of Control Centers (off-line mode). In this case, the spool of the project must be configured in order for the emails to be retrieved.
  • directly if the application can access the database of Control Centers (online mode).

Configuring the user feedback by email

If the users of your applications cannot access the database of Control Centers, the suggestions will be sent by email. The spool of user feedback must be able to retrieve these emails.
  1. Start the Project Management Hub from WINDEV: on the "Tools" tab, in the "Control Centers" group, click "Project Monitoring".
  2. Display or create a "Requests" tab. In the ribbon, in the "Management" group, click "Spools".
  3. A "User_Feedback<Project Name>" spool was automatically created if you are using the Feedback component via the automatic menu. The spool corresponding to your application can be added if it does not exist ("New" button). The name of this spool has no importance but it must be linked to your project. For more details, see Creating a spool.
  4. Select the spool corresponding to your project and click the "Show/Modify" button. This window is used to:
    • Configure the email accounts of the spool.
    • Manage the acknowledgment of receipt for user feedback.
To configure the email account for receiving the emails:
  1. In the "General" tab, click the link "Configure the email accounts of the spool".
  2. In the windows that is opened, select the "Incoming emails" tab. Specify the parameters of the mailbox that will receive the emails regarding this application. You can use a specific account or an account common to all the applications managed by the Control Center. The following information is required:
    • the POP3 server, username and login: this information is supplied by your provider.
    • whether the connection is secured.
    • whether messages must be deleted from the server.
    • whether the server allows the PING requests.
  3. Validate.

Manage the acknowledgment of receipt for user feedback

When user feedback is performed by email, you have the ability to automatically send an email used to confirm the reception of the suggestion.
  1. Start the Project Management Hub from WINDEV: on the "Tools" tab, in the "Control Centers" group, click "Project Monitoring".
  2. Display or create a "Requests" tab. In the ribbon, in the "Management" group, click "Spools".
  3. Select the spool corresponding to your project and click the "Show/Modify" button. This window is used to:
    • Configure the email accounts of the spool.
    • Manage the acknowledgment of receipt for user feedback.
To manage the acknowledgment of receipt for user feedback:
  1. Open the "A/R user feedback" tab of the description window of a spool. This tab is used to configure the acknowledgments that will be automatically sent to the users that emailed a feedback.
  2. Select "Send an acknowledgment of receipt for each imported user feedback".
  3. An email message is proposed by default. It can be modified according to your own requirements.
  4. You must also configure the SMTP server that will be used to send the email for acknowledgment receipt. This operation is performed in the "General" tab via the "Configure the email accounts of the spool" link. In the window that is displayed, select the "Sending the emails" tab and specify the characteristics of the SMTP account to use.
  5. Validate.
Step 5: Retrieve and process the user feedback
The user feedback (suggestions and bugs) is retrieved via the spool of requests. Two cases may occur:
  • The users are in offline mode: the emails must be retrieved in the spool of requests before they are processed.
  • The users are in online mode: the suggestions and the bugs are automatically added to the spool of requests of the application. The business rules are automatically added to the existing business rules.
Tip: You can automate the import of user feedbacks in order to automatically perform this operation every day, every week, every month, ... This option can be configured in the options of Project Management Hub: expand Project Management Hub menu and select "Options". Click "Custom options" and configure the user feedback.
A message indicating the number of imported elements will be automatically displayed at the end of import.

Retrieving the emails (offline mode)

To retrieve the emails about suggestions and bugs:
  1. Start the Project Management Hub from WINDEV: on the "Tools" tab, in the "Control Centers" group, click "Project Monitoring".
  2. Expand Project Management Hub menu and select "Import the user feedback".
  3. Select the desired spools.
  4. The import is automatically proposed. The existing emails are automatically imported into the list of pending user feedback.
  5. A status report is displayed.
  6. The list of user feedback is displayed. A pending user feedback can be:
    • Processed: then, the user feedback moves to the list of requests to process.
    • Deleted: the user feedback will not be processed.
Remarks:
  • The option "Automatically process the pending feedback when closing" is used to transfer all the emails into the list of requests to process.
  • If business rules have been proposed by the users, the emails regarding the business rules are also imported and automatically added to the list of business rules for the project.
  • The emails can also be imported from the Business Rules pane ("Import" tab in the management options).
  • If you choose to send an acknowledgment, this one is automatically sent when the email is processed.

Processing the suggestions and the bugs found in the spool of requests

When the suggestions and bugs are found in the spool of the corresponding application, you can process these requests by associating them either to a task, or to an incident assigned to a contributor. This task and/or this incident can be viewed in the Project Management Hub.
To process a request:
  1. Open a "Requests" tab in the Project Management Hub.
  2. Filter the requests if necessary (to display the pending requests for example).
  3. Select the relevant request and display its context menu:
    • The option "Link the request to a task" is used to link the request to an existing task (the request corresponds to a scheduled task for example). The request becomes a scheduled request.
    • The option "Create a task from the request" is used to create a new task. The information of the request is automatically inserted into the new task. Don't forget to specify the contributor associated with the task. The new task can be viewed in the Project Management Hub of the specified contributor (in their task list). The request becomes a scheduled request.
    • The "Link the request to an incident" option is used to link the request to an existing bug (the request corresponds to a bug that is already signaled for example). The request becomes a scheduled request.
    • The "Create an incident from the request" option is used to create a new incident. The information of the request is automatically inserted into the incident. Don't forget to specify the contributor and the project linked to the incident.  The incident can be viewed in the Project Management Hub of the specified contributor (in the list of incidents). The request becomes a scheduled request.
  4. The details of the request can be displayed if necessary (double-click the request). From this window, you have the ability to assign the request to a specific contributor or to a team.
For more details on how to complete a task or fix an incident, see How to manage the tasks and the schedule.
Remarks:
  • The status of the request is linked to the status of the corresponding task or incident. If the task or the incident is "In progress", the request will be "In progress".
  • If no login and/or password is used in WINDEV (if your work on your own for example), associate the task or the incident to the "Admin" developer.
  • Case of mobile users: If some contributors use the files of Control Centers in Mobile mode (laptop for example), you can assign a ticket to a "mobile" contributor. In this case, this contributor will retrieve the ticket when logging in to the Control Centers again.
Minimum version required
  • Version 12
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Last update: 09/04/2023

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