Submit bugs from the field: BugzScout
How can I collect bug reports from the field?
Included in every FogBugz installation is a file called scoutSubmit. In FogBugz for Windows, it's an ASP file, in non-windows versions it's a PHP file (in this article the file extension will simply be left off). This file is an entry point for automatic bug submissions. The way it works is that you create an HTTP post containing the values that it expects to receive, and post that directly to scoutSubmit on your web server. (If your web server is behind a firewall, remember to allow the scoutSubmit file to be seen by the public, but not the other ASP/PHP files on your FogBugz installation.)
How do I submit bugs to scoutSubmit?
If you have FogBugz for Windows, included in your FogBugz/accessories folder there is a zipped folder called ScoutSample which contains examples for the two methods of sending this HTTP post:
- scoutsample.html
An HTML form that posts to scoutSubmit. Just open this in your browser and follow the directions on the form, it's easy to use. If you don't have it in your accessories folder, here's a link to it.
- ScoutSample.vbp
Included with FogBugz for Windows, this is a simple VB project that shows you how to interact programatically with our free BugzScout ActiveX control (BugzScout.dll in the Accessories folder), which packages up the values for you and posts them via HTTP to scoutSubmit.asp. If you do not have the tools to open a VB project, you can click here to view some of the source code for the form - we stripped out the UI stuff and left in the parts that interact with the BugzScout control.
ScoutSample.exe is the compiled result of this VB project, just double click on it to run it. Click here to see the interface, with usage tips for the fields involved.
How are these bugs handled within FogBugz?
Duplicate bug submissions: If the description field of a bug submitted via scoutSubmit matches exactly to any existing bug, this new submission will be APPENDED to the existing bug's history, and a new bug will NOT be created in FogBugz. (You can over-ride that behavior if you set ForceNewBug to 1 or "true".) The following two things will also happen:
- The "occurrences" field for the existing bug will increase by 1. (The "occurrences" field of a bug, e.g. "3 occurrences", appears only when there are more than one occurences of that bug. In FogBugz 3.x it is present only in the List view, not the Grid view.)
- FogBugz will return a status message to the person who submitted the bug. If there is already a case in FogBugz with the same description as this new bug, and that case has a "Scout Message" specified, that message will be returned to the customer. Otherwise, the "ScoutDefaultMessage" text will be returned to the customer. An example of a default message could be something general like "Thank you, your bug report has been received."
When you Edit a bug submitted via scoutSubmit, you have these two new fields:
- Scout Msg
Type in a custom message to be returned to the next person who submits this same bug, i.e. if and when a bug with the same description is submitted again. You could use this to provide the user with instructions for a workaround for this bug, or tell the user that this bug has been fixed for the next release. - "Scout Will"...
This controls whether or not future duplicates of this case will be appended to this case. If it is set to "Stop Reports", future submissions with the same description will not be added to FogBugz in any way. "Continue Reporting" simply means that future duplicates will continue to be appended to this case.
For more information on automatically collecting bugs from the field, see this article on our site.
