l i v e c o d e

RevZilla 2.5
Revolution stack / Freeware

Minimum Requirements
Downloadable Items
What is RevZilla? (New Users)
RevZilla is a stack that acts as a front end to Runtime Revolution's Bugzilla bug tracking system. I (along with a number of others) felt that the web-based interface for Bugzilla was funky, and felt as though some bugs may not have been logged because of the issues with dealing with Bugzilla directly. As a result, RevZilla was created. It has most of the features you'll find on Bugzilla, plus a couple brand new ones, like voting for features and saving bugs offline to post later.

How Do I Install RevZilla?
RevZilla is a Revolution stack file, so you can open it any way you'd like. For quick access, you might want to install it in the Revolution Plugins folder.

RevZilla can also be made into a standalone if you like, or it can be run inside the MetaCard IDE, either as a plugin or as a normal stack file. (Note: If you would like a copy of RevZilla as a standalone, please send an email to revzilla@sonsothunder.com.)

How Do I Use RevZilla?
IMPORTANT: Before you use RevZilla, you will need to enter your user name and password for the Bugzilla system. RevZilla will prompt you for this if you have not entered it previously. If you do not have an account set up on Bugzilla yet, you should go ahead and Set up an account at Bugzilla before using RevZilla.

Preferences File
Once you have defined a name and password, this information is written into the preferences file for RevZilla, which is located in the following places:

Mac OS X:    /Users/<userName>/Library/Preferences/RevZilla 2.0 Prefs
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\RevZilla 2.0 Prefs
Windows Vista/7: C:\ProgramData\RevZilla 2.0 Prefs
Linux: ~/rz2prefs.txt

In addition to the user name and password, other information is stored in there as well, such as named searches and stored bugs that await posting.

If for any reason you find that your login information, named searches or pending bugs are not behaving properly, you can always trash your preferences file and RevZilla will create a new one the next time you open it.

Posting Bugs
When you first open RevZilla, it automatically logs into Bugzilla and displays the Post a Bug tab so that you can submit bugs to Bugzilla using a more familiar Revolution interface:

RZ-PostABug2

One of the first things you should notice is that the window is resizable. All windows in RevZilla are resizable and their sizes are remembered for next time.

RevZilla will automatically set the option menus to specified values (see below). The options on this screen are:

Version: The version of Revolution to which the bug is associated. RevZilla automatically sets this to what is specified in the "Default Version" field on the Options tab (which is currently "5.0.2 GM1").
Component: The is the component in Revolution that has the bug you're about to post. Look at all the options and select very carefully before you post your bug as different parts of Revolution are assigned to different people to fix, and you don't want it delayed by having to be reassigned because it was associated with the "wrong" component.
OS: The is the operating system where you discovered the bug. RevZilla will automatically set it to the OS of the machine that is currently running RevZilla, although you can change it to anything that is appropriate.
Severity: This tells RunRev how severe the bug is. By default it is set to "normal", but if you have a bad bug you'd probably want to set it to "major" or "critical", and if it was a crashing bug, you'd want to set it to "blocker". Note also that there is "enhancement" on this list, so you can use RevZilla to submit suggestions for enhancement, and later on people can vote on these features to help RunRev determine the priority of features to be added to Revolution.
Summary: A basic "one-liner" summary of the bug (like "revPlayAnimation playback is very choppy", etc.)
Description: The full description of the bug. Provide as complete a recipe as you can, step by step, to help RunRev replicate the bug. If you need to send an attachment, you'll have to do it through Bugzilla (see Bugzilla Link below), either after the bug is submitted by RevZilla (RevZilla will tell you what the bug number is of the bug you're submitting so you can go to it on the Bugzilla site), or instead of using RevZilla (note that attachment support will be coming in a future release). Unfortunately it is not possible at this time to send attachments.
CC: This is one or more email addresses (separated by spaces or commas) that are to be kept "in the loop"; that is, whenever the bug is changed, the original poster along with the people on the CC list are notified via email.
Bugzilla Link: When you click this link, it will launch your default browser and go to the "Enter Bug" page on Bugzilla (in case you need features that Bugzilla provides that RevZilla does not.)
Action Menu: When you click this button, RevZilla will display a set of options that are available for this screen. Options include:
Refresh: When you select this option, RevZilla will refresh the contents of the Version, Component, Platform, OS, and Severity option buttons (which is useful if you have problems connecting).
Save Bug: If you are not currently connected to the Internet, or prefer to create your bugs in stages, you can choose to type up a bug and save it for posting later by selecting this menu item. You will be asked to provide a name to save it under, and it will be saved to your Preferences file and the name of the saved bug will be displayed in the Action Menu.
<Bug Name>: If you select the name of saved bug, all of its data is retrieved from your Preferences file and inserted back into the Post a Bug screen. That menu item will be checked to indicate that it is *this* bug that is currently displayed.
Forget <Bug Name>:If you select this, you will be asked to confirm that you want to 'forget' this bug. If you say 'Yes', the currently displayed bug will be removed from your Preferences file.

Managing My Bugs
The My Bugs tab lets you manage bugs that you have submitted to Bugzilla (either through the web site or through RevZilla).
RZ-MyBugs2

Any bugs that are submitted by you are tagged with your email address, and RevZilla can help you manage them. The title will tell you the last time you retrieved the listing of your bugs, and how many there are in the list. Here's a rundown on the options on this tab:
Bug Table: The table lists the bugs retrieved by clicking the Get My Bugs button. You can click on the column headers to sort the bugs, or Alt/Option-click to sort in descending order. If you double-click on a line in the table, it will open a View Bug palette so you can see more information on the bug. See Viewing Bugs below for more information.
Watch List: Entries that are displayed in red are Watched Bugs - ones that have been posted by other people, but are ones that you would like to keep on your list. The list of Watched Bugs (the "Watch List") is stored in your Preferences file and can be managed directly on the Options tab. You can also add a new bug to your Watch List, or remove a selected bug from your Watch List through the Action menu (see below).
Get My Bugs: Click this and your bugs will be retrieved and displayed in the table. The bugs that are retreived are the ones that have a status of UNCONFIRMED, PENDING, NEW, ASSIGNED, or REOPENED; basically, ones that have not been fixed or marked as invalid.
Command Key: If you hold the Command/Control key down, you will get the same results as if you clicked "My Bugs" in Bugzilla (that is, only NEW, ASSIGNED, or REOPENED bugs; UNCONFIRMED and PENDING will not be retrieved).
Get All of My Bugs: Click this and all of your bugs will be retrieved and displayed in the table, regardless of their status.
Action Menu: When you click this button, RevZilla will display a set of options that are available for this screen. Options include:
Show Bug #: When you select this option, RevZilla will display a dialog box asking you to enter a number of a bug that should be displayed. When you do so, RevZilla will bring up the View Bug palette and display the bug to you.
New Arrow Show Another Person's Bugs: When you select this option, RevZilla will display a dialog box asking you to enter the email address of another person who has logged bugs in Bugzilla. If it is a valid person, you will get a list of their bugs so you can look at their list.
Watch Bug #: Similar to Show Bug above, but RevZilla will ask you for the number of a bug to add to your Watch List. The next time you retrieve your bugs by clicking Get My Bugs, this new bug will be listed along with your other watched bugs.
Remove Bug From Watch List: This is only enabled when you have a watched bug highlighted in the bug list. Selecting this option will confirm first that you want to remove the bug from the Watch List, and if you agree, it will be removed from your Watch List and also removed from the list of bugs that are currently being displayed.
Bugzilla Link: When you click this link, it will launch your default browser and go to the "My Bugs" page on Bugzilla.

Viewing a Bug
You can view a specific bug by double-clicking a bug entry in the My Bugs, Search For Bugs or Voting tabs, or by selecting Show Bug #... from one of the Action menus and specifying a bug number to view.

RZ-ShowBugView2

RZ-ShowBugChange2

The View Bug palette allows you to see more information about a specific bug. You can have more than one palette open at a time if you like, and resize them to suit your preference. The title of the palette shows the Bug ID number along with the email address of the person who submitted the bug. The palette has the following capabilities:
View or Change/Respond: This allows you to toggle between just viewing a bug (the default) and changing/responding to the bug.
Viewing a Bug: This allows you to view the selected bug and to vote on it.
Changing a Bug: If you are the owner of the bug (that is, you are the one who submitted it to Bugzilla), you can change version, component, platform, etc. information or add a comment to the bug.
Responding to a Bug: If you are not the owner of the bug, all you are permitted to do is respond to the bug by adding a comment.
No Attachments (sorry): Unfortunately, in the current version of Bugzilla, attachments are only allowed through the web site, so RevZilla cannot submit attachments. Do do that, you will need to bring up the bug in your web browser by clicking on the BugZilla Link (see below) and submit the attachment that way.
Wrap: Turn this checkbox on or off to change the dontWrap of the Description field.
HyperLinks: You can click on the hyperlink text in the Description field. The following links are supported: mail links (launches your local mail client with the person you clicked on as the recipient), web links, and attachment links. Any other links you click on will do nothing.
Change the Default Palette Size: Normally, the View Bug palette that is displayed is at a particular size, and any additional bugs you view will open a palette of the same size. You can resize them individually, but the next time you open a palette, it will have returned to the default size. You can change the default size by holding down the Control (Win) or Command (Mac) key when resizing and it will remember the new size as the new "default".
Bugzilla Link: When you click this link, it will launch your default browser and go to the page on Bugzilla for the current bug you are viewing. This can be useful to add comments or attachments to a specific bug (at least until RevZilla incorporates these features ;-).
Voting: At the bottom of the View Bug palette are options that let you control your votes on various bugs and features. This is only available when you are Viewing a bug and not attempting to make changes or respond to a bug. For more information, see Voting, below.
Add to Watch List: If you have a bug that is being displayed that is not your own, or is not currently on your Watch List, you can click this button to add the button to your Watch List.

Searching For Bugs
RevZilla allows you to quickly look for any bugs that match particular criteria. Here's what the Search for Bugs tab can do:
New Search: Click this button to bring up the Search parameters window:

RZ-Search2

Automatically restore last search when card opens: If this is checked, any previously entered search criteria will be displayed in the Search parameters window when this window opens. If it is unchecked, all search criteria is cleared when this window opens.
Search Criteria Lists: Select one or more items from the list (use the Command key to select multiple discontiguous items).
If you wish to clear all of your selections in particular list quickly, click the label above the list. If you wish to select all of the items in a particular list, click the lable above the list while holding down the Option key.
After you have set your search criteria, click Search. If you want to clear all the settings and start over, you can click on the Reset button.
Action Menu: When you click this button, RevZilla will display a set of options that are available for this screen. Options include:
Save Search: When you select this option, RevZilla will store the current search criteria in your Preferences file. You can provide a descriptive name for the stored search criteria.
<Search Name>: If you select the name of saved search, the criteria is retrieved from your Preferences file and the interface is updated to show the retrieved criteria.
Forget <Search Name>:If you select this, you will be asked to confirm that you want to 'forget' the currently displayed search. If you say 'Yes', the currently displayed search and its associated criteria will be removed from your Preferences file.
After your search, you will get the results coming back; something like this:

RZ-SearchResults2

You can double-click on a bug in the list to bring up the View Bug palette for that bug, and sort the table by clicking on the column headers. Other features are:

Action Menu: When you click this button, RevZilla will display a set of options that are available for the Search Results screen. Options include:
Show Bug #: When you select this option, RevZilla will display a dialog box asking you to enter a number of a bug that should be displayed. When you do so, RevZilla will bring up the View Bug palette and display the bug to you.
Add Bug To Watch List: This is only enabled when you have a bug highlighted in the bug list. Selecting this option will add the selected bug to the Watch List and will notify you that this has occurred.

Voting
To aid in the addition of features to Revolution, RevZilla enables you to vote on a specific bug or feature (an "item") that is already in Bugzilla.

RZ-Voting2

Like the My Bugs and Search for Bugs tabs, you can sort the items by clicking on a column header, or can view an item by double-clicking on it in the list. The Votes column indicates the number of votes so far for a given item, and is the default sort column. Only items that have been voted on (i.e. have 1 vote or more) will appear in this list, unless you use the Option key (see below). Features of this tab are:
Features: Click this button to get a list of the new features from the Bugzilla web site that have been voted on (i.e. number of votes > 0).

Option Key: If you click on this button with the Option/Alt key down, you will get a list of features that have not been voted on (i.e. number of votes = 0).

Bugs: Click this button to get a list of the bugs from the Bugzilla web site that have been voted on (i.e. number of votes > 0).

Option Key: If you click on this button with the Option/Alt key down, you will get a list of bugs that have not been voted on (i.e. number of votes = 0).

Show Items I Have Voted On: Click this button to get a list of the bugs and features from the Bugzilla web site that you personally have voted on. The Votes columnd will display the number of votes you applied to each item over the total number of votes that the item has received from all voters.

Action Menu: When you click this button, RevZilla will display a set of options that are available for this screen. Options include:
Show Bug #: When you select this option, RevZilla will display a dialog box asking you to enter a number of a bug that should be displayed. When you do so, RevZilla will bring up the View Bug palette and display the bug to you.
Remove My Votes From This Item: This is only enabled when you have an item highlighted in the bug list and you have voted on the selected item. Selecting this option will remove the votes from the selected item and return those votes back to your voting "pool".
Add Item To Watch List: This is only enabled when you have an item highlighted in the list. Selecting this option will add the selected item to the Watch List and will notify you that this has occurred.
Voting: In order to vote on an item, double-click it (you can do this from the My Bugs or Search for Bugs lists as well) to bring up its View Bug palette.

RZ ShowBugVoting2

At the bottom of the View Bug palette, you'll notice there are voting controls that allow you to vote on the currently displayed item. Currently, you are only allowed to vote a maximum of 5 votes per item, up to a maximum of 100 votes total across all the items in the Bugzilla system, so you will need to vote wisely! The good thing is that you can "take back" votes on one item and apply them to another item (or put them back into your "pool", if you like).

The controls for voting are as follows:

  • Total Votes on This Item: This indicates how many votes are attached to this item across all users who may have voted on this item.
  • My Votes on This Item: This indicates how many of your 5 possible votes per item have been spent on this item. You can use the spinner control to increase or decrease the number of votes you'd like to spend, and then click the Submit button to effect your changes.
  • Votes Spent on All Items: This indicates how many votes you've cast across all of the items in Bugzilla, out of your maximum 100 total votes.
  • Submit: This button when clicked will take the current number of votes you have set for the current item using the spinner control and will send them to Bugzilla. If successful, you should get a confirmation dialog that the votes were accepted. The button is only available if the number of votes you would like to spend on this item has changed since the opening of the View Bug palette.
  • Show Vote: This button will open a dialog and show you all of the votes that have been cast for this item across all the users who have cast the votes. This allows you to see just who cast votes for this item and how many votes they cast.
Setting Options
The Options tab lets you set the following options:

RZ-Options2

E-mail address and Password: This is where you enter the email address and password that you would use to access Bugzilla if you were using a web browser.

Manage Watched Bugs: In addition to being able to add bugs/features to your Watch List or remove selected bugs/features from your Watch list by using the Action Menu on the other tabs, you can also do the same things here.

To add a bug to the Watch List, you can click the Add... button and enter the name of a bug or feature to watch.

To remove a bug from the Watch List, select it in the list and click Delete.

Automatically 'Get My Bugs' when 'My Bugs' card opens: If this is on, it acts as if you clicked on the Get My Bugs button as soon as you click on the My Bugs tab.
Automatically clear list when 'Search for Bugs' card opens: If this is on, it will clear the Search Results list as soon as you click on the Search for Bugs tab.
Automatically clear list when 'Voting' card opens: If this is on, it will clear the Voting list as soon as you click on the Voting tab.
Firewall Support: If you happen to behind a firewall, you can enter a user name and password for authentication in the fields provided. These will then be prepended to all URLs implemented by RevZilla, in order to go through your firewall to get to the Internet.
Default Version: When RevZilla gets the lists to populate the menus on the Post a Bug tab, the Version numbers are retrieved as well. You can tell RevZilla what to use as the default version to choose by entering a value here that matches one that is in the option menu. This is set to "5.5.0 GM 2" by default (the last version that came out before RZ 2.5 was released).

Other Settings
Help Link: When you click this link, it will retreive the help for the tab or window that you are currently displaying and present it in a palette window.
If you click on the About RevZilla tab, you can find out information about RevZilla. On the About RevZilla tab there are also links to screens that allow you to submit a bug that is in RevZilla itself, to send feedback or suggestions for improvement on RevZilla, or to get more information about Sons of Thunder Software.

Well, that's it. We hope you enjoy RevZilla and use it to make Revolution the best, most stable development environment on the planet by reporting those bugs as soon as you find them so they can be fixed.

If you are interested on being on the beta testing team for the next version of RevZilla, please send an email to Ken Ray or use the Send Feedback screen in RevZilla to let us know that you'd like to beta test the next version.

Enjoy!


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