Mylar hooks to external task repositories. The Mylar download site offers support for integrating with Bugzilla, JIRA, and Trac. There is a long talk proposal for EclipseCon that intends to discuss (among other topics) integration with XPlanner. I’ve been using the Bugzilla integration to triage Eclipse Corner Article submissions and Phoenix bugs. I’ve just started using the JIRA integration to keep tabs on the Apache Harmony bugs.
Adding entries to the task list is a matter of building a query on a repository. The query pulls the matching tasks (bugs) into the workspace where they can be manipulated (offline manipulation is supported). Creating repository queries is very easy using first class tools that resemble the corresponding web user interfaces (but feel far more elegant in the case of Bugzilla). I find the JIRA web interface a little clumbsy (likely due to my inexperience with it), but the query wizards provided for Mylar are intuitive and easy to use.
I like the permanent nature of the tasks. They’re loaded into your workspace and they’re updated on a regular (configurable) interval. Tasks that change are marked in the task list, making them really easy to spot. Mylar lets you attach additional information to the tasks, including such things as schedule information (when are you going to work on task), how long you estimate the task will take to complete, how much of the task is complete, and more. It also keeps track of how long the task is active (on a side note, it might be cool to build a BIRT report that details some of the statistics).
I’ve done a little digging and I’m quite sure that it’d be easy to create a mapping to a custom database table or web service for storing regular (i.e. non-bug) tasks. I’ve been toying with the idea of sorting out how to create integration with Outlook (or possibly an Open-Xchange server)…
Eclipse Hints, Tips, and Random Musings 
Won’t you agree that JIRA query editor is much nicely crafted then similar one for Bugzilla? 😉
That’s what I was trying to say… Did it come across. I quite like it. Nice work!
Thanks. There is some insights about this dialog in my blog.
Cool info about the NBA, but I was also thinking of shedding some more light on the WNBA, which doesn’t get much publicity, although it should. Here are some interesting facts about the WNBA:On February 15, 2005, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that Donna Orender, who had been serving as the Senior Vice President of the PGA Tour and who had played for several teams in the now-defunct Women’s Pro Basketball League, would be Ackerman’s successor as of April 2005.The WNBA awarded its first expansion team in several years to Chicago (later named the Sky) in February 2005. In the off-season, a set of rule changes was approved that made the WNBA more like the NBA Wizards game stats.The 2006 season was the WNBA’s tenth; the league became the first team-oriented women’s professional sports league to exist for ten consecutive seasons. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary, the WNBA released its All-Decade Team, comprising the ten WNBA players deemed to have contributed, through on-court play and off-court activities, the most to women’s basketball during the period of the league’s existence.In December of 2006, the Charlotte Bobcats organization announced it would no longer operate the Charlotte Sting. Soon after, the WNBA announced that the Charlotte Sting would not operate for the upcoming season. A dispersal draft was held January 8, 2007, with all players except for unrestricted free agents Allison Feaster and Tammy Sutton-Brown available for selection. Teams selected in inverse order of their 2006 records, with Chicago receiving the first pick and selecting Monique Currie.For more info on NBA, NFL news and team resources, MLS and NASCAR you are welcome to visit my blog.Michael S.USA Sports Statistics, Teams and News