Making ticket history easier to read

RT Users
1

Sorry to ask something I’ve already posted about, but this is the last
major area my boss and coworkers are all continuing to ask me about. It’s
also one area on which I can find nothing at all.

People want the ticket history to read more like a forum or instant message
conversation, rather than an email reply chain with tons of extra links.
Just for two replies on a ticket, here’s what we all see:

Tue Oct 04 10:11:37 2016 ahall (Alex Hall) - Correspondence added
[Reply] [Comment] [Forward]
Download (untitled)
/
with headers

text/plain 121B
[my response]
Tue Oct 04 10:02:58 2016 username (First Last) - Correspondence added
[Reply] [Comment] [Forward]
Subject:
RE: [IT #97] subject of the ticket
To:
ITQueueEmail@domain.com
Date:
Tue, 4 Oct 2016 10:00:57 -0400
From:
“username” email@domain.com
Download (untitled)
/
with headers

text/plain 130B
Download (untitled)
/
with headers

text/html 1.9KiB
what username said

All that is just for TWO responses. When three or four people are on a
ticket, talking back and fourth, it quickly becomes a mess of extraneous
text through which everyone has to wade just to find information.
Alternatively, what we’re hoping to find is a way to make it read more like
this:

On Tue, Oct 4 2016 at 10:11 AM, Alex Hall (ahall) said:
my reply text

on Tue, Oct 4 2016 at 10:02 AM, First Last (username) said:
what username said

And that’s it. I can’t tell you how much easier this would make the lives
of all our customer service people in particular, but of everyone using RT
at this company as well. At this point, I’m even willing to edit source
code, but I have no idea where to start. If anyone has any suggestions or
ideas, I’d love to hear them. Thanks in advance.

Alex Hall
Automatic Distributors, IT department
ahall@autodist.com

2

Sorry to ask something I’ve already posted about, but this is the last
major area my boss and coworkers are all continuing to ask me about.
It’s also one area on which I can find nothing at all.

People want the ticket history to read more like a forum or instant
message conversation, rather than an email reply chain with tons of
extra links. Just for two replies on a ticket, here’s what we all see:
Have a look at RT::Extension::HistoryFilter which will hide quite a bit
of history.

Regards,

Joop

3

Sorry to ask something I’ve already posted about, but this is the last
major area my boss and coworkers are all continuing to ask me about.
It’s also one area on which I can find nothing at all.

People want the ticket history to read more like a forum or instant
message conversation, rather than an email reply chain with tons of
extra links. Just for two replies on a ticket, here’s what we all see:
Have a look at RT::Extension::HistoryFilter which will hide quite a bit
of history.

Regards,

Joop

Hi,

This functionality is included natively in newer RT releases. If just the
few additional links are problematic, you may want to look at:

http://wiki.bestpractical.com/view/BasicVsAdvancedInterface

It allow you to toggle to the SelfService interface which is much more
basic. If that does not work, you will need to take a look at the options
to customize your local system. If you do it cleanly, then updates are
much simpler.

Regards,
Ken

4

Thanks guys. For the RT::Extension::HistoryFilter, where should the config
file go and what should it have? The readme says to put it in /etc, but
that doesn’t seem right. Even if it is, the readme never details the
options or syntax that can be used in the file. I’ve installed the
extension, but see no difference thus far.

Upgrading from 4.2.8 to 4.4.x isn’t an option at the moment, even if I can
get a from-source install to work. I will look at the patch the link
describes, though, and hope that an upgrade will be possible soon. Maybe
over Christmas while no one is using the system for a few days. . Thanks.On Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 1:20 PM, Kenneth Marshall ktm@rice.edu wrote:

On Tue, Oct 04, 2016 at 07:13:12PM +0200, Joop wrote:

On 4-10-2016 16:31, Alex Hall wrote:

Sorry to ask something I’ve already posted about, but this is the last
major area my boss and coworkers are all continuing to ask me about.
It’s also one area on which I can find nothing at all.

People want the ticket history to read more like a forum or instant
message conversation, rather than an email reply chain with tons of
extra links. Just for two replies on a ticket, here’s what we all see:
Have a look at RT::Extension::HistoryFilter which will hide quite a bit
of history.

Regards,

Joop

Hi,

This functionality is included natively in newer RT releases. If just the
few additional links are problematic, you may want to look at:

BasicVsAdvancedInterface - Request Tracker Wiki

It allow you to toggle to the SelfService interface which is much more
basic. If that does not work, you will need to take a look at the options
to customize your local system. If you do it cleanly, then updates are
much simpler.

Regards,
Ken

RT 4.4 and RTIR training sessions, and a new workshop day!
https://bestpractical.com/training

  • Boston - October 24-26
  • Los Angeles - Q1 2017

Alex Hall
Automatic Distributors, IT department
ahall@autodist.com

5

Thanks guys. For the RT::Extension::HistoryFilter, where should the config
file go and what should it have? The readme says to put it in /etc, but
that doesn’t seem right. Even if it is, the readme never details the
options or syntax that can be used in the file. I’ve installed the
extension, but see no difference thus far.

Upgrading from 4.2.8 to 4.4.x isn’t an option at the moment, even if I can
get a from-source install to work. I will look at the patch the link
describes, though, and hope that an upgrade will be possible soon. Maybe
over Christmas while no one is using the system for a few days. . Thanks.

Hi Alex,

On our system, the config file is:

/opt/rt3/local/plugins/RT-Extension-HistoryFilter/etc/HistoryFilter_Config.pm

and contains:

configuration for RT::Extension::HistoryFilter

Set( @HistoryFilterTypes, qw(Create Correspond Comment) );

1;

Regards,
Ken

6

Do you happen to know where that is on Debian? I can’t locate a plugins
directory anywhere I’ve tried, and putting it in /usr/request-tracker4/etc
didn’t seem to work correctly. Thanks.On Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 4:36 PM, Kenneth Marshall ktm@rice.edu wrote:

On Tue, Oct 04, 2016 at 04:21:13PM -0400, Alex Hall wrote:

Thanks guys. For the RT::Extension::HistoryFilter, where should the
config
file go and what should it have? The readme says to put it in /etc, but
that doesn’t seem right. Even if it is, the readme never details the
options or syntax that can be used in the file. I’ve installed the
extension, but see no difference thus far.

Upgrading from 4.2.8 to 4.4.x isn’t an option at the moment, even if I
can
get a from-source install to work. I will look at the patch the link
describes, though, and hope that an upgrade will be possible soon. Maybe
over Christmas while no one is using the system for a few days. . Thanks.

Hi Alex,

On our system, the config file is:

/opt/rt3/local/plugins/RT-Extension-HistoryFilter/etc/
HistoryFilter_Config.pm

and contains:

configuration for RT::Extension::HistoryFilter

Set( @HistoryFilterTypes, qw(Create Correspond Comment) );

1;

Regards,
Ken

Alex Hall
Automatic Distributors, IT department
ahall@autodist.com

7

Do you happen to know where that is on Debian? I can’t locate a plugins
directory anywhere I’ve tried, and putting it in /usr/request-tracker4/etc
didn’t seem to work correctly. Thanks.

Hi Alex,

Try doing a find for a ‘HistoryFilter’ directory. Unfortunately, I am
unfamiliar with Debian.

Regards,
Ken

8

Oh right, of course. Still not used to all the commands available, I guess.
For anyone who is reading this and needs to locate the folder, I found it at
/usr/local/share/request-tracker4/Plugins
In there is a folder for this extension, and presumably others I install.
In the extension’s folder is etc, and in that is the configuration file.

All that said, I don’t see a difference between the RT with this plugin
active and the one without it. Just as much extraneous detail seems to be
on both pages. It looks like my only recourse now is to try the basic
interface option.On Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 6:13 PM, Kenneth Marshall ktm@rice.edu wrote:

On Tue, Oct 04, 2016 at 05:10:57PM -0400, Alex Hall wrote:

Do you happen to know where that is on Debian? I can’t locate a plugins
directory anywhere I’ve tried, and putting it in
/usr/request-tracker4/etc
didn’t seem to work correctly. Thanks.

Hi Alex,

Try doing a find for a ‘HistoryFilter’ directory. Unfortunately, I am
unfamiliar with Debian.

Regards,
Ken

Alex Hall
Automatic Distributors, IT department
ahall@autodist.com

9

Oh right, of course. Still not used to all the commands available, I
guess. For anyone who is reading this and needs to locate the folder,
I found it at
/usr/local/share/request-tracker4/Plugins
In there is a folder for this extension, and presumably others I
install. In the extension’s folder is etc, and in that is the
configuration file.

All that said, I don’t see a difference between the RT with this
plugin active and the one without it. Just as much extraneous detail
seems to be on both pages. It looks like my only recourse now is to
try the basic interface option.

Hmm, thats strange as I seem to remember that the only things being
shown is Create/Correspond/Comment. There is a user preference which can
add back all the transaction types available. Its in the Ticket Display
box at the end and that can be reached using the righthand menu
Settings/Preferences.
I’m thinking that the extension is not enabled. (See the menu
Admin/Tools/SystemConfiguration). I’m on RT-4.4.0

Regards,

Joop

10

Oh right, of course. Still not used to all the commands available, I
guess. For anyone who is reading this and needs to locate the folder,
I found it at
/usr/local/share/request-tracker4/Plugins
In there is a folder for this extension, and presumably others I
install. In the extension’s folder is etc, and in that is the
configuration file.

All that said, I don’t see a difference between the RT with this
plugin active and the one without it. Just as much extraneous detail
seems to be on both pages. It looks like my only recourse now is to
try the basic interface option.

Hmm, thats strange as I seem to remember that the only things being
shown is Create/Correspond/Comment. There is a user preference which can
add back all the transaction types available. Its in the Ticket Display
box at the end and that can be reached using the righthand menu
Settings/Preferences.
I’m thinking that the extension is not enabled. (See the menu
Admin/Tools/SystemConfiguration). I’m on RT-4.4.0

Regards,

Joop

Hi Joop,

Alex is referring to the things like ‘Brief headers – Full headers’ and
‘Download (untitled) / with headers’ links that adorn the updates.

Regards,
Ken

11

The plugin seems to be enabled. I see it in the plugin variable, in the
html path list, the loaded configuration files, and so on. I think it’s
doing its job, but what I’m hoping for isn’t the problem it aims to solve.
Hopefully the basic interface preference in 4.4.x is closer to what I’m
being asked to provide, or it’ll be source code time and I don’t know Perl
or the template language used in RT at all. Should be a good time. :slight_smile:

At least I now know where to customize the transaction types visible, and
was reminded that system configuration is a great place to see everything.
I updated the root in my web server after seeing that RT goes to
/usr/local/share/request-tracker4/html first, and I know where to check on
plugin files being loaded.On Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 3:29 PM, Kenneth Marshall ktm@rice.edu wrote:

On Wed, Oct 05, 2016 at 09:20:06PM +0200, Joop wrote:

On 5-10-2016 14:33, Alex Hall wrote:

Oh right, of course. Still not used to all the commands available, I
guess. For anyone who is reading this and needs to locate the folder,
I found it at
/usr/local/share/request-tracker4/Plugins
In there is a folder for this extension, and presumably others I
install. In the extension’s folder is etc, and in that is the
configuration file.

All that said, I don’t see a difference between the RT with this
plugin active and the one without it. Just as much extraneous detail
seems to be on both pages. It looks like my only recourse now is to
try the basic interface option.

Hmm, thats strange as I seem to remember that the only things being
shown is Create/Correspond/Comment. There is a user preference which can
add back all the transaction types available. Its in the Ticket Display
box at the end and that can be reached using the righthand menu
Settings/Preferences.
I’m thinking that the extension is not enabled. (See the menu
Admin/Tools/SystemConfiguration). I’m on RT-4.4.0

Regards,

Joop

Hi Joop,

Alex is referring to the things like ‘Brief headers – Full headers’ and
‘Download (untitled) / with headers’ links that adorn the updates.

Regards,
Ken

RT 4.4 and RTIR training sessions, and a new workshop day!
https://bestpractical.com/training

  • Boston - October 24-26
  • Los Angeles - Q1 2017

Alex Hall
Automatic Distributors, IT department
ahall@autodist.com