15 February 2013

Structure 2.1 adds undo, automatic daily backups, support for GreenHopper 6.1, and contains quite a few minor improvements and bug fixes.

Download the Latest Version
Structure on Plugin Exchange

Version Highlights

  • Support for GreenHopper 6.1 with the new Epics
  • Undo
  • Automatic daily backup and maintenance

Changes in Detail

Support for GreenHopper 6.1

In version 6.1, GreenHopper team had introduced a new approach to epics, backed by a different set of custom fields, notably Epic Link and Epic Name. The old Epic/Theme field was deprecated and is used now only on classic boards. Structure 2.0 and earlier versions are not fully compatible with this change.

With Structure 2.1, you can continue using GreenHopper and Structure together:

  • GreenHopper synchronizer can now work with the new epics, synchronizing structure with epic-story assignment on the Scrum Board. When installing the synchronizer, select Scrum Board Epics as the "Epic Field". The synchronizer can still work with older Epic/Theme field as well.
  • When a new epic is created in the Structure Widget, and the Epic Name is not set by the user (it's a required field for epics), Structure automatically uses the value you have entered as the issue's Summary.
  • Structure section on the issue details panel in GreenHopper now enters "Pinned" mode by default, showing you only the parent issues and sub-issues of the selected issue. You can pin and unpin Structure widget as usual.

If you are upgrading Structure and already have GreenHopper synchronizer installed, it will continue working with the old Epic/Theme field. To switch to the new Scrum Board Epics integration, you need to use Manage Structures page to delete or disable the old synchronizer and create a new one.

Documentation: JIRA Agile (GreenHopper) Synchronizer, Structure on Agile Boards

Undo

Structure 2.1 adds limited Undo functionality, which lets you revert a single recent change you've made to a structure. Not all operations can be undone, but those most frequently used – like removing issues from structure or drag-and-drop – can be reverted.

Documentation: Undoing Changes

Automatic Daily Backup and Maintenance

As Structure data is stored in its own database, it needs to be backed up separately from the main JIRA backup. That also means that the default automatic backup run by JIRA does not cover Structure data.

Starting from this version, Structure can automatically run daily maintenance procedure at the time specified by JIRA administrator. The maintenance procedure creates a backup of Structure data and performs several optimizations on the Structure database.

Documentation: Automatic Structure Maintenance

Structure Can Be Selected as "My JIRA Home"

You can now select Structure Board as your default page in JIRA (on JIRA 5.1 or later).

Click the profile menu in the top right corner and select Structure under My JIRA Home directory. After that, if you open JIRA in browser using its general address, Structure Board will be shown automatically, with the latest structure you've been working with.

Other Notable Improvements and Bugs Fixed

Supported JIRA Versions

Structure 2.1 supports JIRA 5.0 — 5.2+.

Installation

The plugin may be installed from the Plugin Exchange or from the Administration | Plugins menu. Further information is available in the Administrator's Guide.

Upgrading from a Previous Version

If you upgrade from version 1.7.1 or earlier, please read the upgrade section in Structure 2.0 Release Notes.

Migration from version 2.0 to version 2.1 is pretty straightforward. Structure Backup is recommended as a safety measure.

If you're using GreenHopper 6.1 and the new epics functionality, please review the configuration of your synchronizers. You might want to delete the old synchronizers and install new GreenHopper synchronization that works with the new epics.

JIRA administrators are advised to contact the users who had installed GreenHopper synchronizers and advise them about the changes in Structure 2.1. You can find out which structures have synchronizers at the Manage Structures page.

Proper upgrade sequence:

  1. Create backup of Structure data. You can either use Administration | Structure | Structure Backup menu or do a cold backup by copying the whole structure/ sub-directory under JIRA home while Structure is disabled. See Backing Up Structure for details.
  2. Install the new version of the plugin.

    Note for early adopters: if you have a pre-release version of Structure 2.1 installed, you need to uninstall it first, and only then install the released version. All structure data will be kept.

  3. Monitor catalina.out or jira-application.log for log messages from Structure.
  4. Recreate GreenHopper synchronizers if needed, and advise the owners of the structures about the new GreenHopper synchronizer's functionality.

Detailed Change List

Our public JIRA contains the full list of issues resolved in Structure version 2.1.