To:	SMGR Users

From:	Neal Rhodes /MNOP Ltd

Subject: ADDING YOUR OWN CODE TO THE ISSUE RECORDS IN SMGR.  [Bulletin #1]

We have been asked to consider changes to SMGR to provide this, and would
certainly like to hear any input you would have on the following ideas: 

If you need to provide for additional fields, provisions have been made in 
SMGR.  You basically have two options:
	A. Add addiitional fields to the existing smprob record;
	   Pros 
                + conceptually simple;
                + fields are readily available for simple reporting purposes;
           Cons
                - must save and protect these field changes in the event of
                  updates of SMGR;
                - may have to conform to screen/field conventions of SMGR 
                  regarding display and updating syntax.

	B. Add your own parallel record, and create and maintain it.
	   Pros 
                + must save and protect the file definition, but integrating
                  a new SMGR is simpler;
                + fields are readily available for simple reporting purposes;
           Cons
                - conceptually more complex;
                - fields are not readily available for simple reporting 
                  purposes since this separate record must be found each time;
		- must incorporate code to handle insertion and update. 
                  (fortunately, Issues aren't likely to get deleted.)

CURRENT BEHAVIOR
----------------
On creation of an issue record, the include file smissnum.i is included to 
create the issue number.  You should have clear source for this file, and 
could include code here to create other related records.  The slight 
exposure here is that IF you create some ancillary record, the user may not 
go ahead with the creation of the actual issue record. 

PROPOSED CHANGE 1
-----------------
On the Issue Detail window, there will be a User option, which calls code 
included in the file trissdet.i.  You can readily augment the schema 
to add your fields to the smprob record in the database, and display/update 
them within this include file.   Or retrieve and update a record based on the
value of the global shared variable sprob-number.

	Problem: no space on the menu for one more User command, without 
	abbreviating existing ones.  

	Possible Solutions: 
		a. do this on the Issue Browser Screen instead. 
		b. remove fixedBy, Assign, or Relates, since they are also
                   on the parent browser menu.