Reporting Bugs

Reporting a bug in Xenbase

If you find a bug in Xenbase, we would really like to know!

To help us find your bug, please fill out form below, and e-mail it to us at xenbase@cchmc.org

Xenbase Bug Report
Date of bug- MM/DD/YYYY
approximate time at which the bug occurred: HH:MM:SS

Reporter:[your name]
URL at which the bug occurred:[Give the urls from the pages where you first felt that something was wrong]

1. What is the problem?
[A brief, one sentence explanation of the bug]

2. What were you trying to do?
[A brief explanation of what you were trying to do when the bug occurred]

3. Please give a step-by-step summary of the actions you took from the time you decided to perform the action in question 2 to the time you experienced the bug in question 1. If you were 
searching for something or changing the properties of something (i.e. changing a user's address), please include the exact text you entered (as far as you can remember).

4. On a scale of 1 to 6, how will this bug impact your ability to use the website? [Put your answer HERE]
[1= not at all] 
[4= Working around this bug requires significant changes in how I use Xenbase]
[6= While this bug exists, I cannot use Xenbase to do what I need to do]

Below you can find an example pre-filled bug report.

Xenbase Bug Report
Date of bug- 04/11/2020
approximate time at which the bug occurred: 15:34:29

Reporter:John Smith
URL at which the bug occurred:http://www.xenbase.org/gene/searchGene.do?method=search&searchIn=0&searchValue=XPax-8&searchType=0

1. What is the problem?
I cannot search for genes with synonyms.

2. What were you trying to do?
I was trying to search for "pax2" with its synonym, "EPax-2"

3. Please give a step-by-step summary of the actions you took from the time you decided to perform the action in question 2 to the time you experienced the bug in question 1.If you were 
searching for something or changing the properties of something (i.e. changing a user's address), please include the exact text you entered (as far as you can remember).
 
 1. I started at www.xenbase.org.
 2. I entered "EPax-2" in the search box.
 3. I received no results.
 
4. On a scale of 1 to 6, how will this bug impact your ability to use the website? 4

[1= not at all] 
[4= Working around this bug requires significant changes in how I use Xenbase]
[6= While this bug exists, I cannot use Xenbase to do what I need to do]

An explanation of how to fill out each of the fields and why they are helpful, is below.

Date and Time

These fields are necessary when someone reports a bug that we cannot find the cause of. We can check Xenbase's error logs at that date and time to see if any errors occurred which might tell us more about the bug.

The seconds of the time field need only be approximations.

1. What is the Problem?

Please provide a very short (1-2 sentence) summary of the problem.

2. What were you trying to do?

This field gives us some context as to what you were attempting to do. It helps us determine which page you were on and pages you were likely to have been on before that.

3. Step-by-step Summary

Write out, as well as you can remember, each and every step you took from the moment you decided to do the action in number 2 to the moment the bug from number 1 occurred.

Why is this summary important?

Some bugs may be crucial to Xenbase running correctly, but may only occur after a user has performed a very specific sequence of steps. The more specific you are about the steps you took (exactly which search box you used, where you reached an image edit page from, etc.)the easier it will be for us to isolate your bug.

An extreme example (unrelated to Xenbase) of how specific a bug report may need to be in order to isolate a bug can be found here. Each and every step from that bug report would need to be performed correctly in order to generate that bug.

That being said, we understand your time is valuable and very few bugs actually require a report in the above level of detail. Just tell us which buttons you pushed and which pages you navigated to and if we need more information, we will e-mail you. :-)

4. The Scale From 1 to 6

Unfortunately we cannot get to every bug as soon as it is submitted. Some bugs need to wait in our bug queue before we can fix them. To help us prioritize the ordering of these bugs in the queue, we would like to know how inconvenient these bugs are for you. The scale is summarized in the bug report above; however, a more detailed scale summary can be found below.

1. = The problem does not affect my ability to use the website.
2. = I can easily work around the problem.
3. = I can work around the problem.
4. = I can work around the problem with some difficulty.
5. = It is very difficult to work around the problem.
6. = I cannot work around the problem.