I use elog's built-in ticketing system, and use the auto-generated ticket number to cross-reference with other matters/documents/files.  Much of the documentation for tickets is rather buried away under Subst <attribute> = <string>.

I've not found a way to link from an entry to a set of entries in another thread by their ticket number, particularly across more than one logbook.  [This is possible via their elog entry number, and which logbook it is in].  The former would be usefil to cross-reference an incident which you identify external to the elog system - "Oh, it's another one like [Ticket no] NOV12-001" possibily easier than "Oh it's another one like elog:archive12/67142 ".  Oh, the last bit should be highlighed as a (non-existant) link here, to show my point, nice of the ticket could be as well.

On the plus side, you can arrange the ticket number to show up in the thread display, quick search by ticket number, run different ticket colours (as it were) in different logbooks (i.e. different prefixes).  Just ensure you don't archive the latest entry, as that can lead to duplication of ticket numbers.

 By "ticket number" are you referring to the Message ID, or is there some additional trouble ticket functionality buried away?  And... can you point me to the documentation that's "buried away under Subst <attribute> = <string>?  Thanks!

Message ID is the internal numbering of each entry.  It is the number that is used internally for generating the threads, and which you can reference with the elog:[message ID] code within an entry to cross reference the entry with that message ID.

"Ticket" is the name of an attribute.  You define the attribute "Ticket", and can preload the attribute with the format  you require(*).  In the following extract of an elog.cfg file are the relivent lines to generate tickets, show the ticket number in the thread display, search for a particular ticket, and allow it to be edited when writing an entry - there are reasons.  The attribute "Organisation" here is an example of another attribute you would enter with the initial entry, of course there will be others specific to your requirements.

Attributes = Ticket, Organisation, ...

Preset ticket = T#####

Thread display = $Ticket: $Organisation, ...

Quick filter = Ticket, ID

When you start an new entry, the Ticket attribute is prepopulated with a number.  The first time will be T00001, subsequently it will be one higher than the currently existing highest ticket number in the logbook.

Why might you edit the ticket number?  You may wish to go back and edit an old (complete) entry's ticket number so it has some obvious name - perhaps the solution of what proves to be a stock problem, that has become known by a pet phrase, so it can be found by searching for that phrase in the quick fillter "Ticket".  That is a more advanced use of the ticket system.

 (*) Further on the format of the ticket is in the documentation under Subst <attribute> = <string>

Sorry for multiple edits, why cannot I cross-reference an entry in this forum as I can in my local logbook?

Thanks for the additional details!

> Try to submit the following message:
> 
> *** cut here ***
> -------------------------------------------------
> -------------------------------------------------
> -------------------------------------------------
> -------------------------------------------------
> *** cut here ***
> 
> In fact after the next line there were 4 lines with '-', but
> they were not accepted by elog:

Ok, also fixed. Updated version is at 

http://midas.psi.ch/cgi-bin/cvsweb/elog/elogd.c

Here is actually an example with '----' at the end:

-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------

This was a bug which only occurs under certain conditions, that's why nobody 
has seen it yet. I fixed it, the new version is available under CVS:

http://midas.psi.ch/cgi-bin/cvsweb/elog/src/elogd.c?rev=1.275

> This was a bug which only occurs under certain conditions, that's why nobody 
> has seen it yet. I fixed it, the new version is available under CVS:
> 
> http://midas.psi.ch/cgi-bin/cvsweb/elog/src/elogd.c?rev=1.275

Great! 

I'm inclined to wait until you release a new rpm with the changes, as I'm 
likely to mucky things up by trying to upgrade from the cvs archive rather than 
using the rpm mechanics. 

But glad to hear it's fixed.  

By the way, ELOG is a fantastic tool. I'm very thankful for all the effort gone 
into it. I do wish there were standard sql hooks, as I'm a bit fearful of how 
it will scale. But the front-end, which is often most neglected, is well 
thought out.  Thanks so much, Val

> There are too many <table> tags when displaying a singel entry.  E.g.
> in http://midas.psi.ch/elogs/Config+Examples/1 the row 'Configuration Name'
> is not aligned with the others (see attachment).

The <table> tags are there on purpose. As you can combine several attributes
into one line (see this forum for example), it's necessary to make an
independent <table> for each line. This causes the shifting as you noted
correctly. To avoid this, simple increase the width of the attribute name field
in the CSS file. Edit <elo>/themes/default/default.css, find the section with
".attibname" and change the width from 150px to 200px, such as

.attribname {
  width:200px;
  background-color:#CCCCFF;
  border:1px solid #0000FF;
  border-top:1px solid white;
  border-left:1px solid white;
  padding:3px;
}

I tried this with http://midas.psi.ch/elogs/Config+Examples/1, and it wroked
fine (see attachment). [I had to increase the text size a bit in my browser to
reproduce the initial problem]