The Customize Item Fields page allows you to customize Vault Professional work item tracking fields to meet the needs of your development team. You can modify the default values for certain system fields and add custom fields. These Vault Professional System Fields and Custom Fields are used in the Add and Modify Work Item pages and Query Items pages. Only Global Admins can create and modify Custom Fields.
To add and configure custom fields, click the Custom Fields tab on the Customize Item Fields page. If you upgraded from an earlier Vault Professional version where custom fields were configured, they will appear in this tab. You can add, modify, or delete a custom field. You can change the name of a custom field, add a description, specify whether the field will be Required (must have a value before saving the work item), Private Only (only seen by users in the Private group), and whether the field is Active (available in the work item page). Note: Private Only fields will not appear on the External Add page.
Click Preview to view the new field, and Save to save it in the database. Click Cancel to cancel unsaved changes.
After you have added a Custom Field, it must be added to the Design Form in Design Item Tracking Forms so that it appears on Work Item pages.
To add a new custom field, click Add in the Custom Fields bar.
In the Add New Custom Field dialog:
Create a Label for the new field.
Select a value from the Type dropdown. The field Type will determine the Field Data.
Field Data: Click one of the radio buttons to set a default value.
| (None) |
| Current Date |
| Selected Date: Enter a date or select a date from the calendar |
Field Data: Select the Database Value type:
| String |
| Numeric |
Options: Add one or more labels. You can also assign a numeric value to that label. Click the + to add.
Field Data: Select the Database Value type:
| String |
| Numeric |
Options: Add a label. You can also assign a numeric value to that label. Click the + to add.
Field Data: Enter the number of rows for the Field Data.
Field Data: Enter the default value. Choose the value type from the dropdown.
| String |
| Numeric |
Field Data: Select the default username from the list of Vault Professional users.
You can also select these options for the custom field:
| Required (must have a value) |
| Private Only (unavailable to users in the Public Group) |
| Active (appears on the Work Item form.) |
Click Preview to view the new field, and click Save to save it in the database. Click Cancel to cancel unsaved changes.
To modify a custom field, click the Modify icon. Make the desired changes, then click Preview to review the changes. Click Save to save the changes, or Cancel to leave the field unchanged.
To delete a custom field, click the Delete icon. You will receive a confirmation dialog. Deleting a field cannot be undone. To delete the field click OK or click Cancel to leave the field unchanged.
As an alternative to deleting a field, you can de-activate the field by clicking the Modify icon and unchecking the Active checkbox in the custom field's modify dialog.
Vault Professional System Fields are built-in fields with default values for certain drop down lists that appear in the Add and Modify Work Item pages and Query Items pages. Every project that is created will use System fields.
The following table contains the System database fields, description, data type and default values. Depending on the specific System field, you may be able modify the label, description and field data.
|
Field |
Description |
Type |
Default Values |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Assignee |
User responsible for completion of this item |
User List |
(None) |
|
Description |
Short description of this item |
Textarea |
1 text row |
|
Details |
More extensive description of this item |
Textarea |
3 text rows |
|
Due Date |
Date by which this item should be completed |
Date |
(None), Current Date, Selected Date |
|
Platform |
The operating system that the issue pertains to |
Select List |
Unknown, Windows, Unix, Mac |
|
Priority |
Relative importance of an item |
Select List |
Unknown, Low, Medium, High, Urgent |
|
Project |
Project to which this item belongs |
Project |
Value is Project name |
|
Resolver |
User responsible for verifying completion of the item |
Select List |
(None) |
|
Status |
Current state of this item. |
Select List |
Unconfirmed, Open, Completed, Verified, Invalid, Disregard, Duplicate |
|
Time Estimate |
Estimate of working time required to complete this item |
Time |
Blank |
|
Type |
Type of this item |
Select List |
Bug, Feature, Task, Discussion Item |
|
Version |
Version for which this item is relevant |
Text Box |
Blank |
To modify a system field, click on the Modify pencil icon in the System Fields tab of the Customize Item Fields page. You can modify the default field Label and Description and check or uncheck the Private Only box. Settings for Required, Active and the data Type cannot be modified. However, the default field data values for certain system fields can be modified. See details for modifying each field data type:
To add a new database field value to a Select List, enter the new label in the Options text box located at the top of the Field Data then click the + button. The new label value will appear in the list. Click the up or down arrow to change the order of the value in the select list. Check the checkbox next to a value to default to that value when a work item is created. Click the Modify icon to change the name of the value. Click the Save icon to save the change or the X icon to cancel the edit. To delete a database field value, click the Delete icon associated with the value you wish to delete.
To select a default value for a User list, choose (None) or a user name from field data dropdown list.Click Preview to see how that field will appear in Work Item Tracking, click Save to keep the changes, or click Cancel to cancel your changes. The new value will appear when a new work item is created.
To change the number of rows of text in a Textarea, click the up and down arrows in the number box in the Field Data box. When a new work item is created, this value determine. the number of rows in the Textarea.
The default value is None. To change the default database field value, select the radio button for Current Date or Selected Date button in the Field Data box. If you choose Selected Date, a calendar control will appear when you click or type in the text box. The value will appear when a new work item is created.
The default value is blank. To add a new database field value, enter a value in the Default Value box in the Field Data box. The new value will appear in the work item.
"Status Type" allows allows you to assign Status labels a Type of Open, Pending or Closed. This is especially helpful when viewing search results, bug-in-progress lists, etc. For example, you can define many variations of "open issue" status (Researching, In Progress, etc.) and still have them all show up in "Open" or "My Open" searches. Completed work items are by default "Pending." Verified, Invalid, Duplicate and Disregard have a default status type of "Closed." The default values for Vault Professional work item Status can be renamed. The Type can be changed on all Status types except Open and Completed.
All items begin in the "open" state. This status is hardwired into a built in query like "My Open". If it's renamed, clicking on "My Open" will show bugs that have the renamed status, but they will still be your open bugs.
A (potential) bug has been reported and logged in Vault Professional. After investigating the bug, the developer is unable to reproduce it. The developer changes the status to unconfirmed and changes the assignee to a tester. The tester will spend more time trying to reproduce and isolate the bug. If it's successfully reproduced, the bug goes back to open (with comments detailing the steps necessary to make it happen). If it can't be reproduced, it will be marked invalid.
A bug that has been logged, but can't be reproduced. Either a customer report was wrong, an internal tester was wrong, or the bug has become invalid over time as the project matures (e.g. the bug has been sitting "open" for so long that the feature with the bug has been removed or substantially modified).
The work item is the same as another item is already logged in work item tracking.
This can be used for a bug that was logged as a test, or It can also be used as a flag for items that can be deleted for some reason.
A developer has checked changes into the tree that are meant to address the work item. The work item now goes to a tester or Resolver who does some regression testing and either marks the bug "verified" or resets it to "open" with comments on what failed and it returns to the developer. This one is also hardwired to "My Open", but the "Completed" tab of it.
Items that have passed through testing, and the tester or Resolver is confident that the item has been addressed and nothing else has been broken in the process. Work is completed on this item.