User Info

EN | Purpose, features, utilization of the UPPS! Extension Smart Insert (IN)

Page overview

Who is this documentation for?

You are a Polarion user responsible for creating Work Item content.

Prerequisites

Before reading this documentation you should be familiar with the following:

Creation of Work Item content.
The concept of LiveLinks and Cross-References in Polarion.

What you will learn

After reading this documentation, you will be able to:

Understand the purpose and concept of the Smart Insert.
Use the Smart Insert to search or create content and insert it to Polarion text fields.

Introduction

The Smart Insert allows you to generate and insert content, such as timestamps, mentions, and cross-referenced Work Items directly while typing in Polarion text fields (e.g. Work Item Description, Text Custom Field, Comment Thread).

You can activate the Smart Insert by typing any configured group symbol (such as %, #, or @) while editing a text field. This opens the Smart Insert menu, which displays the different type of content which can be generated and inserted into your text field.

Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + Space to open the Smart Insert menu. This displays all available symbols, which you can then select to insert the desired type of content.

Use cases

Search and insert a Work Item as a LiveLink or Cross-Reference

Imagine, you are working in a Live Document which represents the system requirements specification for a mechatronic product under development—specifically, an infotainment system for a vehicle. In this document, under the heading Functional Requirements, you use the Work Item type SY (System Requirement) to describe the functional system requirements of the infotainment system. Elsewhere in the same Live Document, under the heading Verification Criteria, you have used the Work Item type VC (Verification Criterion) to specify the verification criteria to be applied when testing the functional system requirements.

To comply with the relevant standards, you want to list the associated verification criteria as cross-references in the Description field of each functional system requirement. With the help of Smart Insert, this is, so to speak, a snap:

Insert the current date and your name into a Polarion field according to a specific format

Imagine you are working in a Live Document which represents the imported customer requirements specification for a mechatronic product that your company is to develop and deliver, namely a radio key for a vehicle. In this document, the customer requirements are Work Items of type C, Customer Requirement. To ensure that any questions that arise can be clarified with the customer via roundtrip, each work item has a custom field called Supplier Comment. It is stipulated that any person who encounters ambiguities when assessing the customer requirements must use this field to address his questions to the customer, first entering the current date and his name in a specific format and then his question(s) to the customer. Compliance with the formatting rule will slow you down and possibly annoy you. With the support of Smart Insert, it's a snap, so to say:

Enter user names correctly and in full in a Polarion field

Imagine you are editing a Work Item in the Work Item form layout and want to mention the names of some colleagues in the comment field. Of course, you don't have the correct spelling of their first and last names in your head, and you may not even know all of their first and/or last names. With the support of Smart Insert, all it takes is a few simple clicks:

Insert text template into the Work Item description

Suppose you are editing a Work Item in the Work Item form layout or the Live Document editor, and you want to insert a text template into the description field. This can be helpful, for example, to insert a table into a requirement Work Item where parameter values are to be entered, or to insert a table into a function Work Item that defines the framework for a workflow to be described. With the help of Smart Insert, all it takes is a few clicks:

Instructions for use

Preconditions

To use the Smart Insert in your current project, the extension must be enabled. To verify whether the Smart Insert is activated, follow these steps:

1. Click the UPPS! Extensions icon in the Polarion navigation header.

2. Select Smart Insert Config.

3. Ensure that Enable Smart Insert is toggled on. If it is disabled, switch it on.

4. Click APPLY to save changes.

Open the Smart Insert Menu

To start using the Smart Insert, click in any text field of Polarion (e.g. Work Item Description, Text Custom Fields, Comment Thread).

If the Smart Insert is available in that field, the Smart Insert icon in Polarion navigation header will be highlighted as shown below:

Next, type in any configured group symbol (e.g. %, #, or @) or press Ctrl + Space to activate the Smart Insert. The Smart Insert Menu will appear near your cursor.

Smart Insert Menu overview

Once the Smart Insert Menu is displayed, you can use the mouse or the available keyboard shortcuts to navigate through the different content, select one, and insert it into your text field.

As you type, the Smart Insert will automatically filter and display the matching results and suggestions.

After selecting the desired content, it will be inserted into the text field.

Predefined Group Symbols

By default, the following group symbols are available for use with the Smart insert:

@ Mentions: Lists all users of the current project. Selecting a user inserts a mention (e.g., @Max Mustermann (maa)).
# Polarion Objects: Lists Work Items, LiveDocs, or Test Runs. You can filter the list and insert the selected object as a Cross-Reference or Live Link.
% Stamps: Generates and lists various time stamps, with or without user information, and allows you to insert the chosen one.

Note that the available group symbols in your project may differ if your system or project administrator has extended or customized the default configuration.

Keyboard shortcuts

Use the following shortcuts to start working with the Smart Insert and to navigate through the Smart Insert menu.

Shortcut	Action	Description
`%`, `#`, or `@` (or any configured symbol)	Opens Category Options	Opens the Smart Insert menu at the current cursor position and displays the types of content assigned to the symbol.
`Ctrl + Space`	Open Smart Insert Menu	Opens the Smart Insert menu at the current cursor position and lists all available symbols.
`↑ / ↓` (Arrow Keys)	Navigate vertically	Move up or down through the available menu options.
`Enter`	Select or Advance	Selects the highlighted menu option or inserts the chosen item.
Mouse Click	Select	Select an item from the menu using the mouse.
`Tab`	Advance	Move to the next menu option.
`Shift + Backspace` or `Shift + Tab`	Go Back	Return to the previous menu option.
`Esc`	Close	Cancel the Smart Insert process and close the Smart Insert menu.

User settings

You can configure the Smart Insert to match your personal preferences. To access the user settings:

Open the UPPS! Extensions Menu in the Polarion Navigation Header.
Select Smart Insert Config.

The User Configuration dialog opens, which provides the following user settings:

Enable Smart Insert:

Enables the Smart Insert feature.

Enable Indicator:

Enables the Smart Insert icon in the Polarion Navigation Header. The icon is highlighted when the cursor is positioned in a text field that supports the Smart Insert.

Enable Instant Execution:

If enabled, the Smart Insert Menu opens autoatically when a configured group symbol is typed.
If disabled, the Smart Insert Menu opens only when the Ctrl + Space key combination is pressed.
Starting with Polarion 2512, the character @ is used to insert mentions in rich text fields. To avoid conflicts with the Smart Insert, the Smart Insert menu does not open when @ is typed in rich-text fields, even if Instant Execution is enabled.

Settings saved in the User Configuration dialog apply only to the current user and are effective across all projects on the server where the extension is active.