Introduction

Effectively reporting issues helps us help you! When reporting issues and bugs, please follow this guide to help us solve your problem quickly and painlessly. This also applies to any suggestions you have for improvements. The first section will discuss general practices for good issue reporting. The next section discusses things specific to Astroid that you should provide with your bug report.


Please submit all support tickets through the freshdesk support portal or to appsupport@dotdecimal.com.


General Reporting Guidelines

Be Cautious

After a problem has occurred, avoid doing anything that might change the state of your environment. For example, don't try a reinstall right away or try to delete things. Write down what happened and then perform the most cautious actions possible as you attempt to reproduce the problem. Make sure to take note of the plan that is producing this issue, and refrain from making any more changes. Consider cloning that plan if you require making any more changes to ensure the exact state of the plan producing the issue is preserved. 


Be Proactive

Once you can safely pass the cautious stage, do your best to make sure that it is in fact a bug or deficiency in Astroid before filing a report. If you receive an error or message that is unclear, check the documentation to see if it is explained. 


Be Specific

When you are reporting an issue, write down exactly how the problem occurred. Read through your notes, and, if at all possible, use them to reproduce the problem so that you can be certain it can be caused by following your instructions. This information is a vital piece in a bug report. Avoid bug reports which merely say things like "It doesn't work" or "It's broken". It is also wise to be wary of pronouns, which can be ambiguous. If a window popped up when you clicked a button, include what kind of window it was (Was it an error window? Was it a confirmation alert message?)


Be Verbose

More information is almost always better than less. Extraneous information can be ignored, but missing information will mean that more time will have to be spent asking questions and figuring out how the problem occurred.

 

Ticket Fields

When submitting a new support issue, the following fields should be utilized by the user to best describe the ticket:

  • Subject: a brief but complete description of the issue (e.g.: Crash when creating structures within the calculation grid task).
  • Description: a detailed and complete statement of the problem as well as exact and detailed steps to reproduce the issue. The realm, context ID, and plan info should be included (if applicable) for the plan that produces the problem.
  • Attachments: Providing a screen shot that shows the issue can often supplement statements provided in the details of the ticket. The screen shot can be used to easier explain the exact location and problems causing the issue and provide the development team with clues for reproducing and resolving the issue.


Providing Astroid-Specific Information

Note: It is usually a good idea to include your realm name and context ID in the bug report, and it is safe to do so. However, never send us your password, and understand that a legitimate .decimal customer support representative will never ask for it. To obtain the Astroid realm name and context ID select the "View" > "App Info" menu bar option.

Astroid Errors

If you receive an error in Astroid, first check the Astroid errors documentation. Using this documentation, you may be able to infer the cause of the error message received. If you require additional help, be sure to include the original error message, the realm name, context ID, and the exact detailed steps taken to reproduce the issue.


Astroid User Interface

Misspellings/Typos

If you have found a spelling or typographical error, include in your support ticket the location in the Astroid app or user documentation it can be found. Annotated screenshots are optional but may be easier than trying to explain where the error is located.


Formatting/Style

If the error is a formatting or styling error, especially if it degrades the usability of the application, we want to hear from you. Please include a screenshot (if possible) and a description of what is wrong and what you were expecting. If the bad formatting only occurs when you are performing a certain action a particular way, include that information, too.


Software Bugs

If you encounter a software bug while using Astroid, include in your support ticket the location in Astroid where the issue occurred and the exact detailed steps used to reproduce the bug. Annotated screenshots are optional but may result in additional clarity when trying to fully explain the bug.


Feature Requests

If a feature is missing from the software or could be improved, include in your support ticket a detailed description of exactly how this feature should function and where it should be located. Being as specific as possible allows the developers to create detailed requirements for how to implement the feature. If possible, attaching a simple mock-up of the desired functionality is preferred to ensure it is implemented as you expect. The development team may reach out to the reporter of the issue for requirement review and mock-up approval prior to assigning a release schedule and undertaking development of the feature.