Setting the default work item type

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You can set the default work item type and change the order of the types in the work item editor by using the Eclipse client.

About this task

The order of work item types in the work item editor is determined by the order in which they appear on the Types and Attributes page for a project area. The first entry in the Work Item Types list is the default type. Using the Eclipse client, you can change the default type and reorder the types by editing the process configuration source XML code for the project area.

Procedure

  1. In the Team Artifacts view of the Work Items perspective, right-click the project area and select Open.
  2. On the Process Configuration tab, click Project Configuration > Configuration Data > Work Items, and then click Types and Attributes.
  3. In the Work Item Types section, note the order of the types in the work item types list.
  4. Click the Process Configuration Source tab.
  5. Search for the <configuration-data> section of the XML source and within the section, the type category definitions for the work item types.

    For example, the following XML source defines the work item types and custom attributes for a project area. For illustrative purposes, the work item types are designated in bold type.

    <configuration-data xmlns="http://com.ibm.team.workitem/workitemTypes" id="com.ibm.team.workitem.configuration.workItemTypes">
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/bug.gif" id="defect" name="Defect">
          <alias name="bug"/>
     </type>
     <type category=category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.task" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/task.gif" id="task" name="Task">
          <alias name="work item"/>
          <alias name="workitem"/>
          <alias name="item"/>
     </type>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.story" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/story.gif" id="com.ibm.team.apt.workItemType.story" name="Story">
          <alias name="user story"/>
     </type>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.epic" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/planitem.gif" id="com.ibm.team.apt.workItemType.epic" name="Epic"/>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.buildTracking" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/build.gif" id="com.ibm.team.workItemType.buildtrackingitem" name="Track Build Item"/>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.impediment" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/imped_obj.gif" id="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.impediment" name="Impediment"/>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.adoption" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/adoption.gif" id="com.ibm.team.workItemType.adoption" name="Adoption Item">
          <alias name="adoption"/>
     </type>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.retrospective" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/retrospect_obj.gif" id="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.retrospective" name="Retrospective"/>
     <customAttributes category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.story">
          <customAttributes id="com.ibm.team.apt.attribute.acceptance" name="Acceptance Test" type="html"/>
          <customAttributes id="com.ibm.team.apt.attribute.complexity" name="Story Points" type="complexity"/> 
     </customAttributes>
     <customAttributes category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.adoption">
          <customAttributes id="com.ibm.team.rtc.attribute.impact" name="Impact" type="impact"/>
          <customAttributes id="com.ibm.team.rtc.attribute.affectedTeams" name="Affected Teams" type="teamAreaList"/>
     </customAttributes>
</configuration-data>
    Notice the order of the work item types:
    • Defect
    • Task
    • Story
    • Epic
    • Track Build Item
    • Impediment
    • Adoption Item
    • Retrospective

    Defect is the default type.

  6. To change the default type and reorder the types, carefully cut-and-paste the <type></type> tag pairs.

    For example, in the following XML source, the Defect type was moved to the bottom of the list and the Retrospective type was moved to the top. Retrospective is now the default type.

    <configuration-data xmlns="http://com.ibm.team.workitem/workitemTypes" id="com.ibm.team.workitem.configuration.workItemTypes">
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.retrospective" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/retrospect_obj.gif" id="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.retrospective" name="Retrospective"/>
     <type category=category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.task" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/task.gif" id="task" name="Task">
          <alias name="work item"/>
          <alias name="workitem"/>
          <alias name="item"/>
     </type>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.story" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/story.gif" id="com.ibm.team.apt.workItemType.story" name="Story">
          <alias name="user story"/>
     </type>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.epic" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/planitem.gif" id="com.ibm.team.apt.workItemType.epic" name="Epic"/>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.buildTracking" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/build.gif" id="com.ibm.team.workItemType.buildtrackingitem" name="Track Build Item"/>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.impediment" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/imped_obj.gif" id="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.impediment" name="Impediment"/>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.adoption" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/adoption.gif" id="com.ibm.team.workItemType.adoption" name="Adoption Item">
          <alias name="adoption"/>
     </type>
     <type category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType" icon="processattachment:/workitemtype/bug.gif" id="defect" name="Defect">
          <alias name="bug"/>
     </type>
     <customAttributes category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.story">
          <customAttributes id="com.ibm.team.apt.attribute.acceptance" name="Acceptance Test" type="html"/>
          <customAttributes id="com.ibm.team.apt.attribute.complexity" name="Story Points" type="complexity"/>
     </customAttributes>
     <customAttributes category="com.ibm.team.workitem.workItemType.adoption">
          <customAttributes id="com.ibm.team.rtc.attribute.impact" name="Impact" type="impact"/>
          <customAttributes id="com.ibm.team.rtc.attribute.affectedTeams" name="Affected Teams" type="teamAreaList"/>
     </customAttributes>
</configuration-data>
  7. Click Save to save your changes.

Results

The default work item type is reset and the order of the work item types is changed.