Vivid Trace 1.2 Release Notes

Highlights

Project, component, and version issue relation graphs + Handling improvements.

Access graphs for all issues in a project, component, or version. Confirm version release readiness. Identify blocking upstream issues. Build cross-team awareness and fill in blindspots. Save time explaining a situation to others by simply showing them a picture of it. Decide your next moves. More information

The graph handling experience has also improved. Issue relationships are now labelled by default. Wider graphs are horizontally scrollable, so you can now see the full graph in-place. To support the integrity of your processes, graphs and JQL query results inform viewers when they are incomplete due to insufficient permissions.

New JQL functions for comprehensive traceability.

Need to pinpoint all issues outside of your project blocking a release? Want to examine requirements satisfaction? Bring the strong tracing abilities of these JQL functions to bear on nearly any situation. More information

German and Japanese add-on localizations.

With complete German and Japanese add-on localizations joining English, the Vivid Trace JIRA add-on is now available in 3 languages. The localizations are generated from Vivid Trace's open translation management system — improvements and new language contributions are very welcome.

Update Notes

Vivid Trace 1.2 is recommended for general production including as an update to Vivid Trace 1.1 and prior versions. The update can be validated on a test instance of JIRA before updating the add-on on your production systems. Points of caution associated with this release:

• In addition to the Issue Linking feature, Vivid Trace now also explicitly checks whether the Sub-tasks vivid.lib.views.icons$link_external@490d7d21 feature is enabled in your JIRA system. Vivid Trace will issue warnings whenever either issue linking or sub-tasks is disabled so that users unaware of these Administrative settings can still reason about results produced by JIRA. Product value might be nullified if both issue linking and sub-tasks are disabled and so in this case Vivid Trace will issue errors instead. It is possible JIRA to store issue links and sub-task issue data even while the respective features are disabled. Vivid Trace's behavior is unspecified when used in conjunction with such disabled features.
• The JQL function linkPartition() is deprecated. It can be safely replaced with its functional equivalent relations(), a far more flexible and comprehensive JQL function newly introduced in this release. For more information, consult the the documentation entry for linkPartition().
• When installing or upgrading to Vivid Trace version 1.2, your JIRA instance will need to be re-indexed vivid.lib.views.icons$link_external@490d7d21 before Vivid Trace can be used. The JIRA administration section will display a reminder until the reindex is performed. JIRA version 5.1 instances will be unavailable while re-indexing is taking place, but with JIRA instances whose version is 5.2 or newer you can choose Background Indexing with no disruption to availability.
• Circular dependency highlighting is now configurable on a per-project basis as a setting in the project issue relation graph configuration, and is off by default.
• The Direct Feedback feature has been removed, and is replaced by a simpler, always-available Send Feedback feature that allows anyone to send feedback emails directly to Vivid, relieving JIRA and mail administrators.

Change List

• new
  TRACE-96: Issue relation graphs for components, projects, and versions
• new
  TRACE-152: Suite of JQL functions for tracing issues
• new
  TRACE-182: German Localization for Add-on
• new
  TRACE-183: Japanese Localization for Add-on
• improved
  TRACE-81: Optionally display relation type + arrowheads
• improved
  TRACE-94: Viewport manipulation for graphs with higher issue counts
• improved
  TRACE-102: Indicate whenever results have been truncated due to the Issue Count Soft Maximum
• improved
  TRACE-175: Document the Rollout Readiness Checklist
• improved
  TRACE-177: Warn when the sub-task feature is disabled
• improved
  TRACE-188: Toggle-able enablement of highlighting display
• improved
  TRACE-212: Warn when results are truncated due to lack of permissions
• improved
  TRACE-243: Visually indicate when graph is loading
• improved
  TRACE-249: Replace "Direct Feedback" feature with "Send feedback"

Known Issues

• Flaw
  TRACE-154: Issue relation graph layout algorithm has scope for improvement.

  Graphs are visual representations of the relationships between issues in JIRA. With simpler, non-pathological topological relationships between issues, the graph layout algorithm calculates reasonable layouts. As the complexity of the relationships between issues increases, the algorithm may express weaknesses that result in sub-optimal output, making relationships difficult to discern. These deficiencies may manifest as related issues being placed further apart than desirable or such that lines coincide or overlap. The algorithm also exhibits similar deficiencies with pathological cases, such as dependency cycles, regardless of graph complexity.

  In addition to a forthcoming improved graph layout algorithm, secondary measures for overcoming this situation are also scheduled for future release: TRACE-28 (Spatially-consistent graph representation), TRACE-36 (Repositionable graph elements), and TRACE-158 (Mechanism for examining pathologies).

  Updated in this release: The following issues have been addressed in this release, as indicated in the Change List above: TRACE-94 (Viewport manipulation for graphs with higher issue counts).

• Flaw
  TRACE-171: Issue links created by Zephyr for JIRA between test cases and defects are displayed backwards.

  When filing defects during test case execution using a recent release of Zephyr for JIRA, Zephyr for JIRA will add an issue link between the filed defect and the test case using JIRA's standard "relates to" issue link type. These issue links are created such that the defect will be positioned upstream from the test case instead of downstream from it, in a "backwards" configuration. Depending on how issues are aligned in the issue relation graph, the filed defect issues may appear along side the actual bugs that prompted the test case, complicating interpretation of the issue relation graph.

  Update 2015 May 22: Vivid has established communication with the manufacturer of Zephyr for JIRA, D Software Inc., about this situation. The manufacturer has indicated that a forth-coming version of Zephyr for JIRA will include a user-selectable option that provides control over how those issue links are made.

• Flaw
  TRACE-267: Operating graph menu items jumps window location to different tab.

  After switching tabs to the Trace tab in the project, component, or version views, operating certain Issue Relation Graph menu items causes the window location to jump to a different tab. This defect occurs only for certain web browsers. One way to avoid this defect is to reload the web browser page immediately after switching to the Trace tab, and then proceeding to operate the menu.

End-of-Support Statements

There are no end-of-support statements in this release.