[YouTrack – Not Just an Issue Tracker] Webinar Recording, Slides and Session Q&A
Thank you for taking time to join us for our live webinar: YouTrack – Not Just an Issue Tracker on Tuesday, January 21. The recording of the webinar is now available on JetBrains YouTube Channel, as well as the slides from the presentation.
During the webinar we demonstrated how to use YouTrack as an accounting/event management tool. The main idea was to show that YouTrack is so customizable that you can re-purpose it from tracking bugs to tracking anything! We also covered external automation using the REST API and YouTrackSharp:
We received tons of questions during the webinar and today we would like to share our chat history with you. We’ve chosen the most relevant questions and added more detailed answers:
Q: Can I use YouTrack to store snippets of information, web links, project requirements and details, general notes?
A: Yes, of course it’s not a traditional way of using issue tracker, but possible.
Q: I have “broken workflows” in a couple of projects… and I don’t know what to do about it. Please advise.
A: It happens when you change the custom field scheme. YouTrack normally leads you through the process of fixing broken workflows. If you mouse over or click on the highlighted workflow, YouTrack will guide you right to the broken rule. When you get to the broken rule, YouTrack will suggest Quick Fixes, such as adding a missing field value to your project. Apply the fixes, and YouTrack will complete the whole process for you.
And of course, you can always contact our support team if you need any help creating/editing your workflows.
Q: How does the WF editor get information about the customized database?
A: The WF editor downloads the custom fields scheme and workflows when you connect it to your YouTrack server.
Q: Is it possible to create a workflow that will execute an external API call?
A: Unfortunately, not. Please file an issue with an example of your use case.
Q: What is the underlying engine for the WF editor in YouTrack? I heard it’s MPS. Is it correct?
A: Yes, YouTrack Workflow editor is based on MPS with a DSL developed specifically for creating custom workflows. It gives our customers full freedom of customization, being flexible enough to support even the most complicated business processes.
Q: How do you create a bespoke application using MPS?
A: You first create a set of DSLs using MPS language design functionality. Then you write your application code using these DSLs.
To create YouTrack, we first designed several DSLs to cover a common stack of web development tools: persistence, services layer (including REST services) and templating. We also created a typed JavaScript.
Q: How good is the issue text fields editor for large string fields? Is it Google Doc-like (WYSIWYG HTML), wiki-like, or just plain text?
A: Wiki markup syntax is supported. Please check the full Wiki Reference. The most popular HTML tags are supported inside the wiki as well. Here are some useful tips: highlight the code using {code} tag, add the link to the issue attachment [file:attachment.png], or insert the attachment preview [!attachment.png!].
Q: How well is YouTrack supported by Eclipse Mylin?
A: Mylyn connector plugin is being developed by JetBrains Intern and will be reviewed by the Mylyn connector team. The plugin is under testing now. It will be supported by YouTrack team. Please check the GitHub repository for current progress.
Q: The REST API deals with plain passwords for authentication? Any idea to handle this with encrypted passwords?
A: Consider leveraging TLS/SSL (HTTPS) to secure your channel and thus protect your data. Modern authentication protocols tend to avoid any ad hoc encryption and rely on TLS/SSL. For example, in OAuth they had ‘proprietary’ encryption which was abandoned in OAuth2.
Q: We did have a question/request. We would really like to be able to use decimal fields for time tracking, not just integer types.
A: Here is your feature request, please get some more votes and we’ll try to include it in the next YouTrack version.
Q: Will we get the link to the webinar recording by email afterwards?
A: Yes, we always send a follow-up email with the link to the recording to everyone who registered to the webinar. We also tweet about it @jetbrains and @youtrack, and announce it in our blogs. So stay tuned!
Please leave your comments with ideas for future YouTrack webinars. Let us know what you want to know about YouTrack!
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