Mantis Bug Tracker - Forums

I don't see a use for Mantis iPhone app.
Please help me understand the usefulness and ROI of that

Atrol: The iPhone and other smartphones have very capable web browsers. Even though you can technically do everything in Mantis on them, that doesn't mean that it's easy. Mantis has a very busy UI, - even on a laptop display. Using it as is on a smartphone requires a lot of zooming which can make creating, viewing, and updating tickets very cumbersome.

Personally I don't think a native app is really required, just a slimmed down web version designed to fit well on a mobile screen.

There's probably been a ticket or two created for this anyway, but I think even the standard Mantis UI could benefit from a little streamlining. For example, about 1/3 of the "View Issues" screen on my 13" Macbook is devoted to filtering. That's way more than necessary.

tjspiel wrote: Personally I don't think a native app is really required, just a slimmed down web version designed to fit well on a mobile screen.

Should be possible in future versions
http://www.mantisbt.org/wiki/doku.php/m ... tyle_guide
I think there is no real killer feature where you have to use an app. (at least when talking about typical usage of MantisBT)

buzzdiya wrote:I don't see a use for Mantis iPhone app.
Please help me understand the usefulness and ROI of that

call it hype

atrol wrote:

buzzdiya wrote:I don't see a use for Mantis iPhone app.
Please help me understand the usefulness and ROI of that

call it hype

While I'm sure the Mantis people have a lot more important stuff on their plate, I wouldn't call the idea of a native iPhone App "hype". There are many examples of well done native iPhone Apps for websites such as Ebay, Facebook, and Amazon. It's not that you can't use those sites without the app, but it's much nicer with.

And a native app does allow you to do some things you can't easily do with the web app, one of those being accessing the alert system. For example, with a native app you can have an alert displayed on the iPhone screen whenever a critical bug is assigned to you. All you can really do with a web app is send an email, but I won't see the message displayed on my screen. It's also possible to send a text but there are fees associated with that.

Finally, if your Mantis installation is behind a firewall, trying to access the system while out and about doesn't work unless you're using a VPN that has an iPhone client. It would be possible to write a native app that allows you to sync with Mantis while in the office and work on your tickets, submit new ones while out of the office. Once you're back in the office again, the local data and the data on the Mantis server are synced again. Not necessarily an easy thing to do, but it's something you can do with a native app if you wanted.

tjspiel wrote:it would be possible to write a native app that allows you to sync with Mantis while in the office and work on your tickets, submit new ones while out of the office. Once you're back in the office again, the local data and the data on the Mantis server are synced again. Not necessarily an easy thing to do, but it's something you can do with a native app if you wanted.

Write a specification how to deal with merge conflicts of multiple offline users who change the same issue (change description, change priority, change assignment, ...) and you will get an impression of the effort which is needed to write a real good solution. Offline entering of new issues would be easier. But there is no need for an app to get this functionality.

atrol wrote:

tjspiel wrote:it would be possible to write a native app that allows you to sync with Mantis while in the office and work on your tickets, submit new ones while out of the office. Once you're back in the office again, the local data and the data on the Mantis server are synced again. Not necessarily an easy thing to do, but it's something you can do with a native app if you wanted.

Write a specification how to deal with merge conflicts of multiple offline users who change the same issue (change description, change priority, change assignment, ...) and you will get an impression of the effort which is needed to write a real good solution. Offline entering of new issues would be easier. But there is no need for an app to get this functionality.

Like I said, it's not easy thing to do, but you were looking for functionality a native app could provide that couldn't be done via the web app. Being easy wasn't a condition.

My first idea though wouldn't be too bad, - a native app that would tap into the iPhone's notification system. That would be some additional functionality not available through the traditional Mantis web app.

BTW, I've done more than write a spec for this kind of thing. I designed and coded a system for synchronizing postgres databases in java. It was a homegrown solution and not nearly commercial quality but complete enough that I've got a pretty good understanding of what the challenges are. It's not something I'd like to do again.

tjspiel wrote: My first idea though wouldn't be too bad, - a native app that would tap into the iPhone's notification system. That would be some additional functionality not available through the traditional Mantis web app.

You are the first one who is saying more than: I want to have an app.
I am no specialist for the iOS SDK, but seems that there are more and more functions available for web applications.
For example since version 3 you can use the geolocation services in browser.
So maybe the notification system will also be available.

IMO the MantisBT core team will hardly deliver an iPhone app because,
a) not enough members and time
b) there are also other platforms for mobile apps
c) Android might fit better to open source development
d) not enough benefit compared to the web app
....

If there is any 3rd party development, maybe I would buy one for 0,99

haha..

yes yes.. I do hope that it is also applicable for androids too. Most of me stuff is android.. so.. if you can have one that is compatible.. it would be really very nice.. =)

yea that would be a blessing to have and app for that. maybe we will see soon!

I have started development of it.

Pls share your details if you are interested.

Regards,

Shripal Shah

HI All,

I am planning to develop one, share your thoughts on features for the initial application,

Regards,

Shripal Shah

rajveeshri, will this be an open or closed source development?

atrol wrote:rajveeshri, will this be an open or closed source development?

Hi Atrol,

It will be a closed source Development.

I will make it available on iStore to buy or may be put it free to use with advertisements.

I hope putting it paid is fine!

Regards,

Shripal Shah

It's a great idea to produce an iphone optimized application since it runs faster than web application, but i dont think any optimized application is being developed so far. I would look more into it. Thanks for this geat idea tho.