Important note Retirement of icTime and Retirement of biz on December 29th, 2023
Custom Field Log Work for ictime
- Former user (Deleted)
- Reinhard Lopinski
- Smadoa GmbH
ictime provides log work functionality that enhances the functionality of the default JIRA "Log Work" functionality. This chapter gives some information on what you have to do if you want to use the full ictime functionality with interfaces other than the JIRA/ictime "Log Work" interfaces, i.e. workflow transition screens.
This chapter only applies for "Log Work" functionality added to other (workflow transition) screens like "resolve issue" or "close issue" or individual workflow screens!
Create Log Work (ictime) Field as Custom Field
Please note that the screens/steps to create a custom field are different for different JIRA 6.x versions. Description in this documentation refers to JIRA 6.2.x, oder versions as well as newer versions look different (but in general, functionality is the same).
As a first step, you need to create a custom field in the following way. In JIRA, go to
Administration - Issues - FIELDS - Custom Fields
and click the button "Add Custom Field". You see a list of field types to choose from.
Choose the field type "Log Work ictime" and go to the next step.
Usually, you can leave all fields (except for the name) like they are, but you also might apply restrictions according to what JIRA offers. Click on "Create" and the new custom field will now be available to be placed on screens.
After saving the custom field, JIRA will directly offer the option to add the new field to one or more screens. If you use this feature (and do not proceed like described below), please do not forget to remove the existing Log Work field from screens if you have added the Log Wok ictime field to such screens (see below).
The custom field will now also be listed under "Custom Fields):
JIRA by default offers the option to edit/configure custom fields. This is only partly supported for the "Log Work (ictime)" custom field, i.e. the option "Edit" and "Configure" will allow you to edit e.g. the name or to add a new context, but it won't be possible to configure default values. This screen will throw an error when you try to save your changes.
Replace JIRA "Log Work" Field by "Log Work ictime" Field
You need to create Log Work ictime as custom field first, see above.
In the JIRA default configuration, the "resolve issue" workflow and the "close issue" transition workflow is based on a screen that contains the JIRA Log Work field. This means when performing these actions, you can directly log work as part of the action. You should not use this field when working with ictime. ictime provides the option to use a custom field instead, like described above, "Log Work ictime". If you want to include the option to log work into workflows like "resolve issue" or "close issue" - or any other custom screen -, please remove the original Log Work field and add the Log Work ictime field instead on the respectiv screen/s.
For detailed information on configuring screens and adding/removing fields, please refer to the respective JIRA documentation: http://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Defining+a+Screen. This is a short description:
To add the Log Work ictime field, in JIRA, go to
Administration - Issues - SCREENS - Screens
In the list of all available screens, choose the one where you want to add/replace the field and click on "Configure".
Add the Log Work ictime field by choosing it from the dropdown.
After you have done this, do not forget to remove the Log Work field provided by JIRA:
If you do not remove the Log Work field provided by JIRA, you will have the "log work" option twice on your respective screen:
Combine "Log Work ictime" with JIRA "Time Tracking" Field
By default, on workflow transition screens like "Resolve issue" or "Close issue", JIRA places the "Time Tracking" field, too. This field is not related to logging work (don't be confused by the name), but just places two input fields with the original estimate and the remaining estimate on the screen. If this field is combined with our custom "Log work ictime" field (and the field has been configured to be optional, which is the default), all fields for logging work won't be displayed by default, but would only be displayed when the user checks the respective checkbox:
Once you tick the checkbox "Log Work", the "Remaining Estimate" field from the time tracking fields will disappear (as this is replaced by the different options for the remaining estimate from the "Log Work" mask):
For more details, please refer to Log Work (Workflow Screens).
Make Custom "Log Work ictime" Field Mandatory
There might be use cases where it would be desirable to make it required to log work on an issue transition screen. Unfortunately, this is not possible with the "Log Work ictime" field for different reasons:
Like for all other fields, you can define a custom field as required (mandatory) or optional. This is not part of the configuring the field itself, but is done in the respective "Field Configuration" (System/Fields/Field Configurations). Please refer to the JIRA documentation: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Specifying+Field+Behavior.
However, this does not work for many fields and/or custom fields and can't work for the "Log Work ictime" custom field. Reason is that JIRA applies this setting not only on masks where the respective field has been placed (like e.g. an issue transition screen), but requires this field on all existing screens (e.g. create issue), even those that are not configurable at all (like the screens used for moving an issue or converting an issue to a sub-task). In case of "simple" fields, it is sometimes possible to place them on all screens that are configurable (and on other screens, they will work, i.e. you can enter a value), but it won't be possible not to have them on certain screens. "Log Work ictime" can not work on screens like moving an issue or converting an issue to a sub-task, as it is no simple field but a complex functionality and Atlassian does not provide any solution to make this functionality work on screens that are not configurable (our add-on has no access to the functionality of these screens, as it is not possible to add the "Log Work ictime" field to these screens).
Just as a note, for the default "Log Work" field provided by JIRA, in fact it is possible to make this field required without running into the problems mentioned here. Reason is that Atlassian obviously has programmed an internal solution that is not available for add-ons and their custom fields.