As of June 1, 2015, the IDE Connector documentation will no longer be maintained by Atlassian. See https://developer.atlassian.com/blog/2015/06/discontinuing-ide-connectors-support/ for more information. We will also be making this documentation available for our open source community here: http://atlassian-docs.bitbucket.org/

The Atlassian Connector for Visual Studio allows you to monitor, add and update JIRA issues from within Visual Studio.

Prerequisites

Please make sure that you have installed the Atlassian Connector for Visual Studio, as described in the Installation Guide, and defined at least one JIRA server, as described in the Configuration Guide.

Summary of What You Can Do

Below are the highlights of viewing and acting upon JIRA issues within Visual Studio. Follow the links to the relevant sections of the user guide.

Accessing the JIRA Issues Window in Visual Studio

To open the connector's JIRA Issues window in Visual Studio, if it isn't already open:

  1. Open a solution in Visual Studio.
  2. Click 'Tools' and select 'Toggle Atlassian Tool Window'
  3. The connector window appears within Visual Studio. Here's an example, showing the dropdown menu that appears when you right-click an issue:

Using the JIRA Issues Tab

The JIRA issues tab shows a list of issues on the selected JIRA server(s). The issues are on the right, the servers and filters are on the left. You can add and remove JIRA servers, as described in the Configuration Guide.

To build the list of issues, you will use a filter. Currently-defined filters are shown on the left of the JIRA issues tab, under the relevant server name. Available filters are:

  • Preset filters. Please note, all preset filters are server-wide by default. However, you can set a project context on any of the filters by right-clicking the filter and selecting "Set Project" from the popup menu.
  • One or more custom filters that you have defined locally in the connector window.
  • One or more filters defined on the JIRA server.

In the sections below, we tell you what you can do with the following parts of the JIRA issues tab:

  • The toolbar to the left of the list of servers
  • The toolbar above the list of servers
  • The toolbar above the list of issues
  • The popup context menu for each issue in the list

Using the Toolbar to the left of the list of Servers

The toolbar above the list of servers provides the following functionality:

Open the connector configuration panel, to set up your servers and other options. (See Configuring your JIRA Options in IDEA.)

Open the global connector options, to configure preferences for your IDE. (See Configuring your JIRA Options in IDEA.)

Open all the filter lists, so that you can see the server name and filter names for all servers and filters.

Using the Toolbar above the Servers

The toolbar above the list of servers provides the following functionality:

Retrieve information from all the configured JIRA servers and re-run the currently defined filters.

Add a new custom filter, defined locally in the connector, for retrieving issues from your JIRA server. See Adding a Custom Filter. You must select 'Custom Filters' in the server list to enable this button.

Remove a custom filter. You must select the desired custom filter in the server list to enable this button.

Edit a custom filter. You must select the desired custom filter in the server list to enable this button.

Using the Toolbar above the Issues

The toolbar above the list of issues provides the following functionality:

'Find' dropdown

The 'Find' dropdown text box gives you quick access to an issue. Just start entering part of the issue key or issue summary and the connector will display matching issues as you type. Note, this does not execute a new search on the JIRA server. Open the dropdown to select previously executed searches.

'Group By' dropdown

Divide the list of JIRA issues into groups. You can choose:

  • None — Display a flat list of issues, using the sorting order of the filter (if specified).
  • Project — Display the issues per project, as defined on the JIRA server.
  • Type — Display the issues per issue type, as defined on the JIRA server. For example, this would group all feature requests under one heading, all bug reports under another heading, etc.
  • Status — Display the issues per issue status, as defined on the JIRA server. For example, this would group all closed issues under one heading, all open issues under another heading, etc.
  • Priority — Display the issues per priority. For example, this would group all blocker issues under one heading, all major issues under another heading, etc.
  • Last Updated — Group the issues depending on the date of last modification. The connector groups the issues into logical time periods: today, yesterday, 2 days ago, last week, etc.

Collapse sub-issues under their parents. This option is useful if you have defined sub-tasks in JIRA. Note, "orphaned" subtasks (i.e. subtasks whose parents do not match the filter) are displayed as top-level issues.

Open the selected issue in an Visual Studio window. See below.

Open the selected issue in your browser, using the JIRA user interface.

Open the selected issue in your browser, using the JIRA user interface.

Add an issue to the active JIRA server, i.e. the server for which you have currently selected a filter in the left-hand panel.

Open a search box in Visual Studio. If you enter a valid issue key, the issue will be displayed in a Visual Studio window. If you enter general text, a search will be executed on your JIRA server and the results displayed in your browser.

Refresh the contents of the currently-displayed issues list by re-running the selected filter. Note, only the first N issues matching the filters will be retrieved (where "N" is defined by the Issues Batch Setting in the JIRA options for your connector). The number of issues will be restricted to "N" issues on refresh, even if you previously clicked "Get More Issues...".

Using the Context Menu for an Issue

You can perform the following functions for each issue in the list:
(info) If your update does not appear in the issue preview, click the refresh icon .

  • Double-click a line to open the selected issue in a Visual Studio window. See below.
  • Right-click a line to show a popup context menu (pictured in the screenshot above) with actions that can be performed for the selected issue:
    • Open in IDE — Open the selected issue in an Visual Studio window. See below.
    • View in Browser — Open the selected issue in a new browser window, using the JIRA user interface.
    • Edit in Browser — Open the selected issue for editing in a new browser window.
    • Log Work — Record the time worked against the issue.
    • Perform Issue Workflow Actions — Hover over this option to see a list of available actions relevant to the current state of the issue (e.g. 'Resolve Issue'). Click the menu option to perform the action. If the action needs more information, a dialog box will open for you to enter the information required.

Making an Issue your Active Issue

Screenshot: Making a JIRA issue your active issue

Active Issue Toolbar

From the JIRA issues tab, described above, you can start working on a JIRA issue within Visual Studio. For example, you can do one of the following to open the issue and start work on it:

  • Select the issue and then click the 'Start Work' icon , or
  • Right-click the issue and then select 'Start Work' from the popup context menu.

When you start work on an issue it becomes your active issue, with the following effects:

  • The issue is automatically assigned to you.
  • The issue status changes to 'In Progress', if applicable.
  • An internal timer starts up for the issue. When you log work against the issue, the time will be automatically populated from the internal timer.
  • The issue appears in the issue toolbar under the servers and issues windows. Common functions for the issue will be available in the issue toolbar:
    • Click the issue key/name to open the active issue in Visual Studio, if it is not already open. You can swap easily to a previously-active issue by clicking the arrow next to the active issue key/name and selecting the issue in the drop-down menu that displays.
    • Click the 'Stop Work on Active Issue' icon to pause work on the issue. A 'Stop Work on Issue <issue key>' window will automatically open. You can optionally log work on the issue (note, the time spent will be automatically calculated for you) or run an issue action (transition).
    • Click the 'Pause Work on Active Issue' icon to pause work on the issue.
    • Click the 'Log Work on Active Issue' icon to log work on the issue.
    • Click the 'Comment on Active Issue' icon to add a comment to the issue.

Viewing and Updating Issues

From the JIRA issues tab, described above, you can open a JIRA issue in a Visual Studio window. For example, you can do one of the following:

  • Select the issue and then click the 'Open Issue' icon , or
  • Right-click the issue and then select 'Open in IDE' from the popup context menu, or
  • Double-click the issue.

The issue will open in a Visual Studio window. The window will have multiple tabs, displaying information related to the issue.

Viewing Issue Details

Screenshot: JIRA issue window, showing the issue details

The toolbar provides the following functionality:

Open the selected issue in your browser, using the JIRA user interface.

Refresh the issue.

Close the issue tab/window.

Opens a Visual Studio window to log work on the issue. See below

Click this dropdown to display the issue workflow actions available and select the desired workflow action.

You can also edit many of the fields inline by clicking the edit icon next to the field.

Viewing and Adding Comments

Screenshot: JIRA issue window, showing the issue comments

To expand or collapse the comments, you can click the blue arrows in the comment pane or click the 'Expand All' and 'Collapse All' icons in the toolbar above the comment pane.

To add a new comment, click the 'Add Comment' icon .

Viewing, Downloading and Uploading Attachments

Attachments are shown in the 'Attachments' tab of the JIRA issue window.

  • You can view the attachment by clicking it.
  • You download the attachment by clicking it, then clicking the "Save As..." button.
  • You can upload a new attachment by clicking the "Upload New..." button and selecting your file, or by dragging and dropping the file onto the attachments list.

Screenshot: JIRA issue window with two image attachments

課題の作業ログの作成

To log work on an issue, you can set it an your active task as described above. Your time spent will be automatically calculated when you stop work on the active issue. You can also manually log work against an issue, as follows:

From the JIRA issues tab, described above, you can log work on a JIRA issue within IDEA. For example, you can do one of the following to log work on it:

  • Set an issue as your active issue, as described above. Your time spent will be automatically calculated when you stop work on the active issue in the 'Log Work for Issue' screen.
  • Open the issue by double-clicking it and then click the 'Log Work' icon . The 'Log Work for Issue' screen will display.
  • Right-click the issue and then select 'Log Work' from the popup context menu. The 'Log Work for Issue' screen will display.

Fill in the details for the work you are logging in the 'Log Work for Issue' screen:

  • 'Time Spent' — Enter how much time you have spent working on the issue.
  • 'Remaining Estimate' — Select whether you'd like the 'Remaining Estimate' of work for the issue to be adjusted automatically by the work you are logging, left unchanged or adjusted by a manually entered amount.
  • 'End Time' — Click the 'Change' button if you would like to adjust the end time of the work you are logging.
  • 'Comment' — Optionally enter a comment for the work you are logging. You can see this comment when viewing the worklog in JIRA.

Screenshot: Logging work on an issue

Adding a Custom Filter

You can add a custom filter that is defined locally in the connector, for retrieving issues from your JIRA server via the toolbar above the server list. The 'Edit Custom Filter' window will display.

Fill out the fields as desired and click the 'OK' button to create your filter.

関連トピック

6 Comments

  1. Anonymous

    It's not currently possible to create a sub-task for an existing issue from the VS Connector: one has to open an issue in a browser to create a sub-task. However it is possible to see a list of existing sub-tasks and work with them. It will be really convenient to be able to create a sub-task from the VS Connector interface.

  2. We would like to create sub-tasks from inside the IDE - any news on that issue?

  3. Anonymous

    Hi!

    Any news on the option of creating Sub-Tasks from the IDE plugin? This functionality would be very helpful in our daily work.

    Cheers!

  4. Another vote for the ability to create subtasks from the Visual Studio IDE Connector. Strangely this issue link to PLVS-65 (https://studio.atlassian.com/browse/PLVS-65?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:all-tabpanel#issue-tabs) seems to indicate it should exist already - are we missing something?

    Edit: Added feature request for people to vote on at https://studio.atlassian.com/browse/PLVS-339

  5. Anonymous

    Is there a way to start watching a issue using this connector?

  6. Anonymous

    Vote to add support for mandatory custom fields.