评论-AxoSoft的OnTime缺陷跟踪器

I received an email recently asking if I'd review AxoSoft's OnTime 2005 Team-Based Defect, Feature and Task Tracking software in exchange for a small fee. I'm usually happy to review software and tools when time permits, I'll always do it in an unbiased way to the best of my ability , and the small stipend (or free gadgets) is a nice recognition of the value of my time. This review is by me personally, and has nothing to do with my company who does not use or advocate the user of this tool. Updated: I haven't been paid for this review and won't be. However, I did receive a free copy of the software.

我最近收到一封电子邮件，询问是否 可以以小笔费用 查看AxoSoft的OnTime 2005基于团队的缺陷，功能和任务跟踪软件 。 我通常会在时间允许的情况下乐于审查软件和工具，我会尽力而为地以公正的方式进行操作 ，小额津贴 (或免费小工具)可以很好地体现我的时间价值。 这篇评论由我本人亲自完成，与不使用或主张使用此工具的公司无关。 更新：我没有为此评论付费，也不会。 但是，我确实收到了该软件的免费副本。

AxoSoft's "OnTime 2005" - Team-Based Defect, Feature and Task Tracking Software

AxoSoft的“ OnTime 2005”-基于团队的缺陷，功能和任务跟踪软件

AxoSoft's OnTime 2005 is .NET-based application suite for managing many aspects of the software development lifecycle. It aims to be a complete system for Software Project Management and provides not only a Web-based solution, but also a complete WinForms solution as well as one that integrates with VS.NET as a toolbox.

AxoSoft的OnTime 2005是基于.NET的应用程序套件，用于管理软件开发生命周期的许多方面。 它旨在成为一个完整的软件项目管理系统，不仅提供基于Web的解决方案，而且还提供完整的WinForms解决方案以及与VS.NET集成为工具箱的解决方案。

They also have an "Enterprise Server" edition that lets remote users connect via Web Service rather than directly to back-end SQL. You can use SQL Server or MSDE for your backend. I used a private MSDE installation with no problems. You of course are bound by MSDE's size and concurrency limitations if you take that road, but a team of 5 could certainly do well with MSDE, IMHO.

他们还具有“企业服务器”版本，该版本使远程用户可以通过Web服务而不是直接连接到后端SQL。 您可以将SQL Server或MSDE用于后端。 我使用了专用的MSDE安装，没有任何问题。 当然，如果走那条路，您当然会受到MSDE规模和并发性限制的约束，但是5人一组的团队当然可以在MSDE和IMHO方面做得很好。

There is an SDK in the form of a rich Web Services interface into the OnTime system for integrating into other lifecycle management systems that you may already have in place. This is pretty powerful stuff and it's a shame more applications don't take the effort to expose their core engine as Web Services. (example screencast) I can imagine building defect submission directly into a Help|About box or a global exception handler. Patrick Cauldwell mentioned today that he heard at Devscovery yesterday a koan that really resonated with him: "If you have get an unhandled exception, you've never executed that code in that way before." Integrating the defect tracking system with the application itself is cool thing. AxoSoft also offers a Customer-facing Portal that can enable users to report bugs themselves.

在OnTime系统中有一个丰富的Web服务接口形式的SDK，可以集成到您可能已经安装的其他生命周期管理系统中。 这是非常强大的功能，可惜的是，更多的应用程序不花精力将其核心引擎公开为Web服务。 (示例屏幕广播)我可以想象直接将缺陷提交构建到“帮助|关于”框或全局异常处理程序中。 帕特里克·考德威尔( Patrick Cauldwell)今天提到，他昨天在Devscovery听到了一次与他产生共鸣的可汗：“如果遇到未处理的异常，则以前从未以这种方式执行过该代码。” 将缺陷跟踪系统与应用程序本身集成是一件很酷的事情。 AxoSoft还提供了一个面向客户的门户，该门户可使用户自己报告错误。

Finally, if you're not into managing the infrastructure or SQL/Windows licenses yourself, there's a hosted plan. However, my take is this. They offer a FREE single user version. Not a trial. Free. That'd be a great way to start out with lifecycle management tools for the independent developer and gives AxoSoft a way to compete with the free BugZilla tools. Also, for a limited time they've got a free 2-user license if you mention their software (so they get Google Juice). Not sure how long that will last, but free software is always a good thing.

最后，如果您不打算自己管理基础架构或SQL / Windows许可证，则可以制定一个托管计划。 但是，我的看法是这样。 他们提供免费的单用户版本。 没有试用。 自由。 对于独立开发人员而言，这是从生命周期管理工具入手的好方法，并且为AxoSoft提供了与免费的BugZilla工具竞争的方法。 另外，如果您提到他们的软件，那么在有限的时间内他们会获得免费的2用户许可证(因此他们会获得Google Juice )。 不确定会持续多久，但是免费软件始终是一件好事。

I installed a private instance of MSDE that I called (local)/OnTime before starting. Then I installed the WinForms, Web and VS.NET versions of OnTime. They came in three MSIs, and we're trivial installs (next, next, next, finish). On running each application I was prompted to connect the database. I was a little confused since I used MSDE and had forgotten the (local)/instance style of connection string. It would have been nice had that tip (or a step-by-step MSDE vs. SQL quick start) been in the OnTime help file. They suggest in the Planning Section to use MSDE Instances, but then Instances aren't mentioned later in the help. Also, I installed my MSDE instance as "Windows Integrated Auth" only, and I should have used Mixed Mode, allowing both Windows users and SQL users to connect. This caused trouble when I tried to run the Web version of OnTime. Once I switched over to Mixed Mode it was cool. It would be nice if OnTime helped diagnose that likely common problem in a friendlier way. However, these are nits, and the install in total was all of 10 minutes.

在启动之前，我安装了一个称为(本地)/ OnTime的MSDE私有实例。 然后，我安装了WinTimes，Web和VS.NET版本的OnTime。 他们进入了三个MSI，我们的安装非常简单(下一个，下一个，下一个，完成)。 在运行每个应用程序时，系统提示我连接数据库。 自从我使用MSDE并忘记了连接字符串的(本地)/实例样式以来，我有点困惑。 如果将提示(或分步的MSDE与SQL快速入门)放在OnTime帮助文件中，那将是很好的。 他们建议在“计划”部分中使用MSDE实例，但是稍后在帮助中不会提及实例。 另外，我仅将MSDE实例安装为“ Windows Integrated Auth”，并且应该使用混合模式，允许Windows用户和SQL用户进行连接。 当我尝试运行OnTime的Web版本时，这引起了麻烦。 一旦我切换到混合模式，那就太酷了。 如果OnTime以友好的方式帮助诊断出该常见问题，那将是很好的。 但是，这些都是尼特，安装总共需要10分钟。

I was pretty pleased to see on the database configuration dialog a "Populate New Database with Sample Data" checkbox. I love stuff like that. Simple and does the job. Of course, checked. The sample data is pretty extensive and include three fictional projects and their numerous associated sub-projects. It's fairly classic three-pane style with tabs. (screenshot above). The datagrids include excellent filtering, grouping, sorting, yada yada support. They also handled my crazy font changes. I always mess with the defaults to see if an app can handle it. Plus, it makes it easier to see. No problems there.

我很高兴在数据库配置对话框中看到“用示例数据填充新数据库”复选框。 我喜欢那样的东西。 简单而有效。 当然要检查了。 样本数据非常广泛，包括三个虚构项目及其众多关联子项目。 这是带有选项卡的相当经典的三窗格样式。 (以上截图)。 数据网格包括出色的过滤，分组，排序，yada yada支持。 他们还处理了我疯狂的字体更改。 我总是搞砸默认值，看看应用程序是否可以处理它。 另外，它更易于查看。 那里没有问题。

The WinForms and the WebForms applications have surprising parity of look and functionality. I can see using either without any concerns that I'm "not seeing something" by using the Web version. The Web version did have what I feel are VERY heavy page weights. The home page with grid populated with the default sample data was over 125K, not counting images, graphics, css, and considerable amounts of included javascript. Additionally IIS wasn't configured optimally with "If-Modified-Since" set for the various static directories. Consequently there were times when I felt the site was a little slower than it could me. This was more client-side rendering than server-side it seems. When I manually added Content Expiration for the directories containing static content to expire in 1 month the speed picked up. I suspect that adding HTTP Compression would also make a huge difference. I think the installer should set reasonable defaults in all cases. These optimizations are easy to do and only make the product look better.

WinForms和WebForms应用程序具有惊人的外观和功能奇偶性。 我可以看到使用任一版本，而不必担心使用Web版本会“看不到东西”。 Web版本确实具有我认为非常繁重的页面重量。 带有默认样本数据填充的网格的主页超过125K，不包括图像，图形，CSS和相当数量的所包含的javascript。 此外，对于各种静态目录，IIS的最佳配置不是“ If-Modified-Since”。 因此，有时候我觉得该网站的运行速度比我想象的要慢一些。 看起来，这比服务器端更多的是客户端渲染。 当我为包含静态内容的目录手动添加Content Expiration使其在1个月内过期时，速度加快了。 我怀疑添加HTTP压缩也会带来很大的不同。 我认为安装程序应在所有情况下都设置合理的默认值。 这些优化很容易做到，只会使产品看起来更好。

The WinForms has a nice, speedy UI with splitter support in all the appropriate panes. The dialogs are logical and well laid out and I didn't need to read any documentation to get started immediately. I was able to add a custom field to my bugs (I added "locale") and associate a pick-list with choices (en-us, es-mx, etc) without trouble. There are Defects, Features and Tasks and all support an unlimited number of custom fields. 

WinForms具有一个不错的，快速的用户界面，在所有适当的窗格中均支持拆分器。 对话框是合乎逻辑的，布局合理，我不需要阅读任何文档即可立即开始。 我能够在错误中添加一个自定义字段(添加了“ locale”)，并将选择列表与选项(en-us，es-mx等)相关联。 有缺陷，功能和任务，并且都支持无限数量的自定义字段。

Some of the dialogs were not resizable and should have been, with the User Options dialog being the most obvious omission. There were a few subtle dialog updating bugs I found like the Windows Common Font Dialog isn't populated with the current font when you press "..." in the User Options dialog. I suspect it'll be fixed when they read this review. :) However, I didn't have any crashing bugs and didn't come upon any major functional bugs in my week with the application.

有些对话框无法调整大小，应该调整大小，其中“用户选项”对话框是最明显的遗漏。 我发现了一些微妙的对话框更新错误，例如，在“用户选项”对话框中按“ ...”时，Windows通用字体对话框未填充当前字体。 我怀疑当他们阅读此评论时，它会得到解决。 :)但是，在使用该应用程序的那一周，我没有遇到任何崩溃的错误，也没有遇到任何主要的功能性错误。

There is a QuickAdd feature in the WebForms version that would be a nice addition to the WinForms version. The dialogs in the WinForms version, particularly for editing an item are modal, and AxoSoft could really increase usability by making them modeless and allowing multiple simultaneous views/edits.

WebForms版本中有一个QuickAdd功能，它是WinForms版本的很好的补充。 WinForms版本中的对话框(特别是用于编辑项目的对话框)是模态对话框，AxoSoft可以通过使它们成为无模态并允许同时进行多个视图/编辑来真正提高可用性。

There are 17 built-in reports that will meet 85-90% of your needs I suspect and 100% of Mort's needs. The lack of an editable report maker was the only real missing chunk of desirable functionality that I found, but I suspect I could use any reporting tool to make my own pretty easily. I do wish though, that the charting colors were at least configurable for red-green colorblindness. In the WebForms application the reports are automatically exported as PDFs, and in the WinForms application they are exportable PDFs in an embedded control within the application.

有17种内置报告可以满足您怀疑的85-90％的需求和Mort的100％的需求。 缺少可编辑的报告制作器是我发现的唯一真正缺少所需功能的部分，但是我怀疑我可以使用任何报告工具轻松制作自己的报告工具。 不过，我确实希望图表颜色至少可配置为红绿色色盲。 在WebForms应用程序中，报告自动导出为PDF，在WinForms应用程序中，它们是应用程序内嵌控件中的可导出PDF。

The configurable workflow capabilities really shone, I thought. The default five defect steps are typical, but you can add your own, as well as modify many of the items fields as they move through the process. You're not able to provide arbitrary script or modify your custom fields from the workflow that I could see. The features don't come with automatically configured workflows, but they can be added exactly as with defects. The workflow dialogs are simple, but provide logical defaults for what a small team would need to manage a defect's lifecycle.

我认为，可配置的工作流功能确实发光了。 默认的五个缺陷步骤是典型的，但是您可以添加自己的缺陷步骤，也可以在过程中移动许多项目字段时对其进行修改。 您无法提供任意脚本，也无法从工作流程中修改自定义字段。 这些功能没有自动配置的工作流程，但可以与缺陷完全一样地添加。 工作流程对话框很简单，但是为小型团队管理缺陷的生命周期所需的逻辑默认值。

Email notification also plays a big part in OnTime, and the you or anyone in the team can be notified as items move through the process. I also noted that I didn't have to explicitly opt-in to including my custom "locale" field into the emails. It was added automatically. You can imagine that this saved me the time of digging wondering why it wasn't included.

电子邮件通知在OnTime中也起着重要的作用，当项目进行时，您或团队中的任何人都可以得到通知。 我还指出，我不必明确选择将我的自定义“区域设置”字段包括在电子邮件中。 它是自动添加的。 您可以想象，这节省了我大量的时间来思考为什么不包括在内。

An Audit Trail is also included for all events and can be filtered by any aspect including the source of the event - was the item changed manually, as a result of a workflow, via data import or by a customer on the portal?

还为所有事件提供了审计跟踪，并且可以通过任何方面进行过滤，包括事件的来源-是由于工作流，通过数据导入还是由客户在门户网站上手动更改了项目？

Exporting of data is only supported in CSV, and it would be nice if they'd include an XML feature, but the XML Web Services interface from the OnTime SDK can arguably serve one's purposes as well.

数据导出仅在CSV中受支持，如果它们包含XML功能就很好了，但是OnTime SDK的XML Web Services接口也可以满足人们的目的。

I liked the flexibility of Security Roles for giving certain classes of users add, manage, delete, etc capabilities to projects. However, it appears you can't change the "verbs" on a project by project based. Meaning that if Tester Fred can add defects on project A, then he can add them anywhere. They do get around this in a reasonable way by combining roles and projects into project-specific roles ("Tester - Project A"). Since a user can be a member of any number of groups this technique works fine. I think though the that the presentation of this information, while complex, could have been more explicitly expressed.

我喜欢安全角色的灵活性，它可以为某些类别的用户提供对项目的添加，管理，删除等功能。 但是，您似乎无法按项目更改项目上的“动词”。 这意味着如果Tester Fred可以在项目A上添加缺陷，那么他可以将缺陷添加到任何地方。 通过将角色和项目组合为特定于项目的角色(“测试人员-项目A”)，他们确实以合理的方式解决了这一问题。 由于用户可以是任意数量的组的成员，因此此技术可以正常工作。 我认为尽管这些信息的呈现虽然很复杂，但可以更明确地表达出来。

The VS.NET view is a composite that appears as a toolbar within VS.NET and for me, it looks a bit like Team System except it's running on Visual Studio 2003. The grid in VS.NET includes tasks, features and defects all in the same grid. After using it for a while exclusively within VS.NET, I found myself wishing that this composite view was available in the WinForm and/or WebForms application.

VS.NET视图是一个组合，在VS.NET中显示为工具栏，对我来说，它看起来有点像Team System，但它运行在Visual Studio 2003上。VS.NET中的网格包括所有任务，功能和缺陷。相同的网格。 在VS.NET中专门使用了一段时间后，我发现自己希望此复合视图在WinForm和/或WebForms应用程序中可用。

All in all, OnTime 2005 Small Team Edition offers a great deal of value for the $ in my opinion. The single user version is free, and $495 for 5 users or $995 for 10 seems very reasonable for any small development shop using the Small Team Edition. The pricing for the Standard Edition (for > 10 users) is much less compelling per-seat at nearly double the price for license that let users use any version (Win/Web/VS.NET) of the product. The Small Team Edition is definitely worth a good look.

总而言之，我认为OnTime 2005 Small Team Edition为$提供了很多价值。 单用户版本是免费的，对于使用Small Team Edition的任何小型开发商店，5位用户495美元或10位用户995美元似乎非常合理。 标准版(供10个以上的用户使用)的定价令人信服，其许可价格几乎是用户使用任何版本(Win / Web / VS.NET)的许可价格的两倍。 小型团队版绝对值得一看。

P.S. They are also looking at Source Control Integration directly into OnTime, which sounds pretty sweet.

PS他们也正在考虑直接将源代码控制集成到OnTime中，这听起来很不错。

翻译自: https://www.hanselman.com/blog/review-ontime-defect-tracker-from-axosoft