Here are a few tips on ways to make your bug report better so that the RDCC will be able to better assist you.

Number 1
The basics: what you did, what you wanted to happen, and what actually happened.

Those are the three basic elements of a bug report. You need to tell us exactly what you did (for example, "My program runs the query SELECT * FROM Watermelons WHERE Seeds = 'N' AND Organic = 'Y'), what you expected to have happen (to continue the example, "I expected R:BASE to return an "organic" watermelon with "no seeds"), and what actually happened ("It gave me an organic watermelon with seeds.").

Yes, the example may sound ridiculous. But, if your bug report simply said "Querying the watermelons table doesn't work," we wouldn't be able to say "That's because, technically, there cannot be such a thing as an organic seedless watermelon."

By telling us what you asked for, what you expected to get, and what you actually got, we don't have to guess.

Number 2
Be brief, but don't leave any important details out. This is a fine line to walk. But there are some general guidelines:

Remember the three basics: what you did, what you expected to happen, and what happened.

When you provide sample database and code that demonstrates the problem, it should a small sample or except of your existing code. Anything to large will probably contains a lot of code that has nothing to do with the problem, which just takes longer to figure out the real problem. And after creating your sample, be sure that it still demonstrates the bug you're reporting and doesn't have some other problem because you've accidently trimmed out something you thought wasn't important, but was!)

Number 3
Include "Step-by-Step" detailed instructions.

If there are many controls on a form or several steps to follow through application menus, be sure we can find exactly what is causing your issue.

Number 4
Only report one problem in each bug report.

If you have encountered two bugs that don't appear to be related, create a new bug report for each one. This makes it easier for different people to help with the different bugs.

Number 5
If you don't understand an error message, ask for help.

Don't report an error message you don't understand as a bug. There are a lot of places you can ask for help in understanding what is going on before you can claim that an error message you do not understand is a bug.

(Now, once you've understood the error message, and have a good suggestion for a way to make the error message more clear, you might consider reporting it as an enhancement request.)

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We thank you for your attention towards the above.

R:BASE Development Team