Can I add Folder to Structure?

[Goodgame Studios]

It would be great, If there would be a way to add the Folders to the Structure that use the Insert issues Automation. Now I get the message:

You are about to create folder Folder. It will be impossible to add it to the structure because of the automation installed: Cannot add items to JQL query result. You can drag-and-drop the item to a different location.

Looking forward to your answer.

Kind regards,
Tatiana 

[Eugene Sokhransky _ALM Works_ · Accepted solution]

Hello Tatiana,

Currently there is no way to manually group results of the automation into folders. We have an improvement for that in our backlog, but it’s not an easy thing to implement, so it will take us some time to get that ready.

But there are several workarounds you can try. Is there some logic for grouping your issues? Maybe component or some other value? If that’s the case, you can use Group generator for one of the existing fields, or, if such field does not exist, create it first. Will such approach work for you?

Thanks,

Eugene (ALM Works)

[Amit Tripathi]

Very useful Eugene. Thanks. 

[Eugene Sokhransky _ALM Works_]

Tatiana, you are very welcome!

The feature is currently in our internal tracker, but I've added a link to this question so we'll provide an update here as soon as we have some news. And I also added your vote there too 

If you want, I can also create a corresponding issue in our public JIRA too - just let me know.

[Goodgame Studios]

Hello Eugene,

Thank you very much I think, this is really sufficient :)

Regards,
Tatiana 

[Stepan Kholodov _ALM Works_]

Hello everyone,

Apologies for the much-delayed answer - this post got lost for some reason. The mentioned issue can already be realized using the Manual Adjustments feature released in Structure 5.0 - it allows to adjust content in a structure that is added by generators, including adding folders moving items to them.
https://wiki.almworks.com/display/structure/Manual+Adjustments

But please note that we recommend to use this feature with caution and only in cases where there is no alternative. The more adjustments are made in a structure, the more confusion it can create since items are not positioned according to how existing generators originally place them.

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
ALM Works

[Gaetano]

Hi Stephan, 

the proposed solution doesn't solve the original request in this thread. I have exactly the same issue.

Thanks

[Stepan Kholodov _ALM Works_]

Hello Gaetano,

The Manual Adjustments feature allows to create folders in the dynamic content that is added by a generator. So please clarify - do you experience some other problem or you can't create a folder after enabling the Manual Adjustments feature?

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
ALM Works

[Gaetano]

Thanks Stepan and apologies for mispelling your name.

The folder is created indeed but I am not able to add a generator for that folder.

In my specific use case I have a structure with Issues grouped by Projects.

I created a Folder where I wanted to collect specific issues of one project querying by "issue name". I am not able to do it

[Stepan Kholodov _ALM Works_]

Hello Gaetano,

Thank you for clarifying. Currently, there is a limitation for adding generators under generated content, which is not going to apply to folders in the future. You can use this workaround until then: instead of creating the folder in generated content and then adding a generator to it, create the folder in the structure's root(above its generators). This way the folder will not be manually adjusted on its creation. And then you can drag and drop this folder to where you want it to be in the generated content and after that, it should be possible to add a generator inside of it. 

Best regards,
Stepan Kholodov
ALM Works

[Pat Cullen]

I'm curious if there is any timeline to when Structure is intending to release this enhancement? Using fields is not really a solution for our use case.  The number of sub-folders and breakdown of milestones in our company is quite variable. If I knew you were releasing this feature in the next 6-8 weeks, I could hold off on figuring out an alternative. Next month? Next 3 months? Later this year? Maybe 2018?

[gyoung_swingtech]

I was hoping for the same thing—but Tatiana et al, if it helps, I found that I was able to add folders to a structure that uses a synchronizer (one that I had migrated from v2). My sense is that ALM Works isn't necessarily recommending synchronizers, and I could imagine them possibly being deprecated in the future...but for now, this could be a way to go.

Synchronizing is more hidden in the interface...you'll find the settings for doing so in a Sync With column under Manage Structures. And, I think Synced structures don't allow one issue to appear twice...but to me, folders is the more useful feature, so I'm probably going to go this route for now.

Hope this helps!

Gary

[Goodgame Studios]

Hello Gary,
Thank you for sharing your find. Maybe it could be interesting for some structures. But most of them will go for the Automation.
Regards,
Tatiana

[Goodgame Studios]

Hello Eugene,

Thank you for the fast response.

Yes we are already using the grouping automation. But we really like the Folder feature to fast group the issues manually, without creation of new custom fields.
Can you send us the link for the improvement to know when you plan to implement it and maybe to give some votes? :)

Kind regards,

Tatiana.