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Reporting a Connexions Bug

Module by: Mark Husband

Summary: Instructions for reporting bugs.

Submitting a Bug Report

In any software package you may encounter the occasional flaw with a feature or the documentation. Please bring these flaws, or bugs, to the attention of the Connexions team with the Report a Bug link, which is located on the Connexions Home page and on other Connexions web pages in the Personal Toolbar.
To report a bug, use the following steps:
  1. Click on the Report a Bug link. The Bug Report Submission Form displays.
  2. Enter a short summary of the problem.
  3. Enter your name and e-mail address. These aren't required, but it helps us to know who's having trouble, and if you don't enter an email address we can't get back to you with an answer.
  4. The page you were on immediately before the bug form is entered automatically into the "Problem URL" field. If you didn't come directly from the error page, please go back to the page where you had the problem and enter its address here. If the problem was on a module or collection, the object ID number is sufficient, e.g. m99999. A content object's ID appears in its URL or on the page behind the "More About This Content" link.
  5. Specify the nature of the error. Click the down arrow in the "Category" field and select the appropriate entry from the drop-down menu.
  6. Specify the impact of the error. Click the down arrow in the "Severity" field and select the appropriate entry from the drop-down menu.
  7. Enter a one-line summary of the bug in the "Task Title" field.
  8. Enter an explanation of the circumstances of the error in the "Description" field. Include your actions and the system's actions that led up to the error condition. If possible, include step-by-step instructions for reproducing the bug.
  9. Click Submit to enter the bug into the Connexions tracking system.

Helpful Tips for Submitting Bug Reports

Here are some tips for submitting error reports that will help us fix the bugs quickly.
  • First, do not close the error message display until you have captured some information from it to include in your bug report. The error message contains important information. If you have left it to go to the Bug Report Submission Form or to a Help page, use the Back function on your browser to redisplay the error message.
  • Include a copy of the error page. If the error displays an actual error message, please copy the text of that message and paste it into the bug report. It is even better to include the HTML source of the error message -- some of our systems include important information in HTML comments. While the error message is displaying, right click your mouse and select the View Source or View Page Source option, depending on your browser, to display the HTML for the page. Then you can copy the HTML information and paste it into the bug report.
  • Full descriptions of errors are very useful. If your error involved a specific module, include the name of the module. If you were in the editing interface, include the workgroup and/or module with which you were working. If you were using the Collection Composer, mention which course you were working with, and so forth. Include the exact URL of the page on which the error occurred. Always include a description of what you were doing, if you can.

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