Linking tickets

Two tickets often belong together: one has to be done before the other can go on, or two tickets describe the same thing. A relation records that on the ticket.

Create a relation

1. Open the ticket and choose Link in the "…" menu at the top right. If the ticket already has relations, + Link at the end of the Relations section works as well.
2. Choose the relation.
3. Type the number or part of the title into the Ticket field. The list shows matching tickets with their project.
4. Pick a ticket and click Link.

You need write access to tickets in the project of the open ticket, and read access to the other ticket.

The kinds

Each relation shows on both tickets, read from that ticket's side: "A blocks B" appears on B as "is blocked by A".

With precedes and follows you can enter a gap in days. Lalabase shows it, for example as "+3 days", but moves no date: tickets have no start date that could move.

There are no circles: if A waits for B, B cannot also wait for A, neither directly nor through other tickets. Lalabase refuses such a relation with a message.

Relations change no status. A ticket may be finished while it still waits, and a duplicate is not closed by itself.

Waiting on

When a ticket waits for an open ticket (is blocked by or follows), the header shows Waiting on next to the metadata, with the number and title of the other ticket. If it waits on several, the hint shows the count, and a click jumps to the Relations section. Once the other tickets are done, or the ticket itself is, the hint goes away.

In the list, on the board and on a phone

You can see that a ticket waits without opening it. The sign for it is an hourglass.

• Ticket list: In the column picker you can add the Waiting column. It shows the hourglass and the number of open tickets the ticket waits on. Tickets that wait on nothing, and done tickets, stay empty. The column is not shown by default, and the list cannot be sorted by it.
• Board: The card of a waiting ticket shows the hourglass next to its number, without a count.
• Phone: In the ticket list the hourglass stands next to the number.

The board and the phone always show the hourglass, whatever columns you chose. When you point at the hourglass, it tells the count, for example Waiting on 2 open tickets.

Tickets are counted, not relations: a ticket that blocks and also precedes counts once. The count includes tickets in projects you may not see. The list, the board and the phone never say which tickets they are, not even when you point at the hourglass. You find the ones you can see in the open ticket.

Filtering: Waiting and Blocking

In the ticket list, + Filter offers two conditions for this:

• Waiting: tickets that wait on at least one open ticket, marked is blocked by or follows.
• Blocking: tickets that at least one open ticket waits on.

Both have a single value. With is the list shows the tickets in that state, with is not all the others, done tickets included. The condition then says yes or no, for example Waiting: no, and the sentence above the list reads, for example, “Only tasks that are waiting on an open ticket.”

Only open tickets count, at both ends: a done ticket does not wait and holds nobody up, and nobody waits on a done ticket. What done means is decided for each ticket by the statuses of its own project. The kinds relates to and duplicates do not count.

Blocking counts even when the waiting ticket lies in a project you may not see, and Waiting counts a blocker you cannot open as well. The list still shows only tickets you see anyway, and does not name the other ticket.

You can combine both conditions with others, such as status and tags, and save them as a view. When you open the view again, they are there as before. The filters exist for tickets only, not for notes, documents or meetings.

The Relations section

As soon as a ticket has a relation, it shows the Relations section above the history. It groups the linked tickets into Waiting on, Blocks / precedes, Related and Duplicates. Done tickets are greyed out at the end of their group.

If a linked ticket is in another project, the project is shown next to it, and a click opens the ticket in its own project. The ✕ at the end of a row removes the relation. That works on both tickets.

Across projects

Relations cross projects, but never leave your organisation. A ticket in a project you may not see appears nowhere with its title, number or project, not even in the search when linking. If a ticket waits on such a ticket, the hint only says Waiting on 1 ticket you cannot open.

When the display changes

When you create or remove a relation, the section and the hint of the open ticket change right away, and so do its row in the ticket list next to it and its card on the board.

Next to an open ticket the list often has room for the number and the title only. You see the Waiting column there only if you pin it in the column picker: its value then stands under the title, for example Waiting on 1. Otherwise the row shows the change as soon as you close the ticket.

The rows and cards of other tickets change after a reload. That includes the linked ticket and other open pages, such as a second window. When a ticket that others wait on is finished, their rows keep the hourglass until you reload the list. The same goes for a list filtered by Waiting or Blocking.

Relations do not appear in the history and send no notification.