[rt-users] RT to go? Dependency graphs?

[Johan Ihren]

Matt Disney <matthew.disney at fedex.com> writes:

> Johan Ihren writes:
> >I found zero documentation on DTRT (in fact, the only thing I found
> >was other people asking for help with installation). So any
> >information on how you set it up would be very much appreciated.
> 
> Ok, so there are four directories in 
> http://fsck.com/pub/rt/contrib/2.0/rt-addons/DTRT/
> 
> at the time I'm writing this email. They are: Elements, Scheduler,
> html, and lib.
> 
> 1. Take everything in the "lib" directory and put it in your 
>    $PATH_TO_RT/lib directory.
> 2. Take everything in the "html" directory and put it in your
>    $PATH_TO_RT/WebRT/html directory (or the equivalent using 
>    multiple HTML::Mason component roots).
> 
> I think that's all I did. I believe everything in Elements is 
> either superfluous or unnecessary for core functionality. And I
> don't know what the Scheduler stuff is.

Nope, didn't work. I get no reference to DTRT whatsoever from the UI
and if I reference directly I get the error "RT Error: No ticket
specified".

But, since I see references a la "DTRT/Overview.html" in the *new*
Elements/Tabs I suspect that whatever.html should actually be located
in a subdirectory called "DTRT", so I shifted everything down one
level into

$PATH_TO_RT/WebRT/html/DTRT/

and that "kind of worked". I can create tasks and new subtasks and so
on. However, the scheduling seems to get confused by dates that do not
sufficiently overlap:

 "RT Error: Something circular going on! There is nothing scheduled for day 1"

Also, I'm unable to get the Gantt chart working, that always ends up
in the following Mason error:

        error in file:  
        /usr/local/vol/rt2/WebRT/data/obj/STANDARD/DTRT/Gantt.html

        line 24: 
        Can't use string ("0") as a HASH ref while "strict refs" in use

        context:  

        ... 
        20: 
        21: my ($calendar, $ticketinfo) =$schedule->Build($id);
        22: 
        23: 
        24: my @dates = sort (keys %{$calendar});
        25: my $last = $dates[0]; 
        26: my @tasks = sort { 
        27: $ticketinfo->{$a}->{'startson'} <=> 
        28: $ticketinfo->{$b}->{'startson'} } 
        ... 

        component stack:  /DTRT/Gantt.html [standard]
                          /autohandler [standard]

        code stack:  /usr/local/vol/rt2/WebRT/data/obj/STANDARD/DTRT/Gantt.html:24
                     /usr/local/vol/rt2/WebRT/data/obj/STANDARD/autohandler:66
 
Possibly this is triggered by my cavalier attitude towards delivery
dates, but it is still a bug.

It seems like a more or less trivial error, that possibly even I can
figure out if I set my mind to it, but right now I at the level where
I can figure my way around my own perl code, but I'm a bit overwhelmed
by the plethora of strange and mystical perl modules like "Mason" and
whatnots that interact in devious ways in a package like RT.

I think this shows great promise and could be a really great addition
for me. But before achieving that I think that I need

a) a bit more integration. As it is, if I stumble out of DTRT then I
   have to *know* my way back to find it.

b) less focus on dates. I care much more about relationships between
   tasks than I care about exact delivery dates. And although I may be
   confused by the things I've stumbled on it seems to me that the
   basis for DTRT structure is time stamps more than relationships.

c) Working Gantt charts. 

I don't really need the scheduling right now. So my next step will be
to go hunting for some spare time. Hopefully I'll find it in one of my
colleagues offices, because I really don't have it right here ;-)

> Let me know if there is anything else you find out or any additional
> questions I can answer.

Question 1: do you have the gantt charts working?

Question 2: in your experience, is it possible to work with DTRT with
            focus on relationships between tasks rather than time?

Question 3: have you done any integration work between RT and DTRT?

Thanks for your help getting me this far,

Johan Ihrén
Autonomica

PS. One really great corner was "MyDay.html". I think that one alone
will make many people happy if integrated into the base RT package.