I'd like for the users of my application to be able to submit bug reports containing useful information. Perhaps this is done at the time of an exception or simply upon user request (Help->Bug Report). There are certain files that I want to be submitted along with this bug report. What is the best way of transmitting this data in a professional manner? Also, other than the exception and these data files. What other useful information can/should I obtain?
-- EDIT 4/9/10 --
In the corporate world might the e-mail solution cause problems? Seems like companies might disallow this kind of traffic to protect themselves. If that's the case, what's the next best method to communicate a bug (along with the attachments)?
1 answers
I'd suggest you use email for bug reporting which will allow the application to send the files to you as attachments and provide automatic isolation for each incident. You can use the classes in System.Net.Mail to do this (see this FAQ) though you'll need a relay server such as MS Exchange.
If the user is going to participate in this exercise, you could ask them to explain what they were doing at the time.
If the user is not going to participate, I'd pop up a messagebox to tell the user that the exception is going to be reported automatically and what the report will contain unless they cancel the notification.
It might help with some exceptions if the report were to include the state of certain variables though the info may be unreliable if the exception, even though caught, has left the application in an unstable state.
answered one year ago by:
17279
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Thanks! What would be wrong with simply creating a mail account (ex: bug@mycompany.com) dedicated to bug reporting and using our SMTP server to transmit the information?
17279
Yes, using your SMTP server with a dedicated mail account should be fine for this :)