FeatureToggle

FeatureToggle allows us to hide features behind a flag. Using this we can safely release partial features, hold back new UI until users have been prepared, and selectively activate features for testing with specific users. For UAT and Prod envs these feature toggles are managed in our appeals-deployment repository in features-config.yml.

Enabling a feature in production (Tech Lead Only as part of a Deployment Request)

1. Either find your flag or add it under features_config -> certification -> prod in features-config.yml.

  # Example of config_file:
  # [
  #   {
  #     feature: "enable_all_feature",
  #     enable_all: true # this can only be a value of true
  #   },
  #   {
  #     feature: "enable_users",
  #     users: ["VHAISADJURIN", "VHAISAPROKOA", "VHAISWSTEWAA"]
  #   },
  #   {
  #     feature: "enable_regional_offices",
  #     users: ["CSS_ID_1"],
  #     regional_offices: ["RO01"]
  #   }
  # ]

2. You can add which users or regional offices the feature should be enabled for by adding users' css_ids or regional office codes
3. Create a PR (example) with your changes and grab a fellow caseflower to review.
4. Either wait for the standard deployment at 10:45a EST or manually run the enable feature script in jenkins
5. Look for a successful deploy in slack

Usage on the back end

Global

FeatureToggle.enable!(:foo)

Regional Office Specific

FeatureToggle.enable!(:bar, regional_offices: ["RO01", "RO02"])

User Specific

FeatureToggle.disable!(:bar, users: ["CSS_ID_1", "CSS_ID_2"])

Only use current_user for a feature flag where current_user is in scope

Depending on where the feature flag is used in the backend, the current_user method may or may not be in scope. However, because the StubbableUser module includes a current_user method, tests will pass even if current_user is used out of scope. As a result, incorrectly using current_user for the user parameter of a feature toggle could introduce a bug that won’t break tests.

To avoid this situation, be sure to only use current_user where it is in scope. To test the scenario where current_user is out of scope, you can mock the current_user method to throw an error.

Meta

Development Environment

A script sets all FeatureFlags found in the code to active in dev scripts/enable_features_dev.rb

• Use make enable-feature-flags to run this script.
• This is also part of make reset.
• This script scans files for FeatureToggle.enabled or feature_enabled.
• To prevent a toggle from being enabled by this script add it to this array
• Individual global features can be adjusted on the user selection page

Getting a FeatureFlag State

FeatureToggle.details_for(:foo)

• You must specify the scope at which you're checking the feature state: if you check enabled? without specifying a user, the result will be false if the feature is only enabled for specific user/regional office.

FeatureToggle.enabled?(:bar, user: current_user)

NB: State checking methods receive User objects, not Arrays

Getting the current FeatureFlags

FeatureToggle.features

=> [:appeals_status, :certification_v2, :reader]

Usage on the front end

In many parts of the caseflow application, we use the following pattern to pass feature flags to and check if they are enabled on the front end.

FeatureToggles are passed to a specific application through its index.html.erb file. This gives us the ability to check these feature toggles in specific components.

Currently Implemented Toggles

Toggle Name	Description	Related Epic/Tickets	Sprint Team	Created	Released	Paused	State	Notes
acd_cases_tied_to_judges_no_longer_with_board	Cases Tied to Judges No Longer with the Board or Otherwise Ineligible
acd_disable_legacy_lock_ready_appeals	LOCK_READY_APPEALS
acd_distribute_by_docket_date	By Docket Date
acd_exclude_from_affinity	Named Judge Affinity Inclusion Levers	Named Judge Affinity Inclusion Levers	MoonWalkers 🌑	Q1 2024
alert_duplicate_veterans
api_v3
appeal_viz
async_manual_start	Manually running Scheduled Jobs
attorney_fees
automatic_ramp_rollback
bgs_forward_proxy
cavc_remand	Controls the JMR & JMPR CAVC Remand flow access	JMR/JMPR CAVC Remand Entry & JMR/JMPR Task & Routing Logic	:dolphin: Echo	Dec 2020	Feb 16, 2021
cavc_dashboard_workflow	In development
ce_api_demo_toggle	Feature toggle to enable or disable the mocked Claim Evidence API success/failure response on Demo environments and local.	APPEALS-27311 and APPEALS-27458
cc_vacatur_visibility	Controls the visibility of the task descriptions for motions to vacate in case timeline						In development
mdr_cavc_remand	Controls the MDR CAVC Remand flow access. Requires cavc_remand enabled		:dolphin: Echo	Jan 2021
reversal_cavc_remand	Controls the Straight Reversal CAVC Remand flow access. Requires cavc_remand enabled		:dolphin: Echo	Jan 2021
dismissal_cavc_remand	Controls the Death Dismissal CAVC Remand flow access. Requires cavc_remand enabled		:dolphin: Echo	Jan 2021
contestable_rating_decisions
correct_claim_reviews
covid_timeliness_exemption
decision_review_queue_ssn_column	Displays Veteran SSN column in the table on decision review page instead of the Veteran Participate Id		Titan	Jan 2023
detect_contention_exam
disability_issue_test
disable_claim_establishment
docket_switch	Related to work around enabling ClerkOfTheBoard users to initiate a docket switch	#13978	:fox_face: Foxtrot
edit_contention_text
inbox
judge_admin_scm	Related to work around allowing judge teams to have admins that are neither attorneys or judges	#11801	:dolphin: Echo				PLANNED ROLLBACK	Was scrapped by board and has a planned rollback in #13991
justification_reason	Created for MST/PACT justification reason for adding/editing the MST/PACT status of an issue. This work was not enabled upon release but the work was hidden behind the justification_reason feature toggle in case it was needed in the future. Since this work was never released with MST/PACT, the toggle is disabled by default in disabled_flags within the file enabled_features_dev.rb.	APPEALS-17497 and APPEALS-37777
legacy_das_deprecation
legacy_mst_pact_identification	Enable/disable MST/PACT special issue designation on Legacy appeals, and issues within Caseflow.	APPEALS-17497 and APPEALS-37777
mpi_nod_updates	Disables MPI NOD work for updating SFNOD in corres in VACOLS.			10/13/2022			IN DEV
mst_identification	Enable/disable MST special issue designation on Legacy/AMA appeals, request issues, and decision issues within Caseflow.	APPEALS-17497 and APPEALS-37777
overtime_revamp	Determines whether judges can mark cases as overtime in caseflow #13418	#13418	:dolphin: Echo	5/23/2020			READY FOR PILOT	Will remove once enabled for all judges
pact_identification	Enable/disable PACT special issue designation on Legacy/AMA appeals, request issues, and decision issues within Caseflow.	APPEALS-17497 and APPEALS-37777
priority_acd	Determines whether the requested case distribution for a judge should use the updated distribution logic described in #14538	#14538	:dolphin: Echo	6/29/2020			IN DEV	Will remove once enabled for all judges
queue_correspondence	Enable/disable C&P correspondence mail package workflow within Caseflow Queue	APPEALS-27311 and APPEALS-27458
ramp_intake
ratings_at_issue
release_db_connections
restrict_appeal_intakes
review_motion_to_vacate
schedule_virtual_hearings	Enables a dropdown in Hearing Details page to allow hearing coordinators to switch a video hearing to a virtual hearing	#11132	:dancer: Tango	10/25/2019	05/19/2020		IN PROD	It's been enabled for all hearing coordinators (#14282) and will be removed
schedule_virtual_hearings_for_central	Enables a dropdown in Hearing Details page to allow hearing coordinators to switch a central hearing to a virtual hearing	#13804	:dancer: Tango				WIP	It's being worked on in #13832
scm_view_judge_assign_queue	Gives members of the Case Movement team access to Judge Assign queues	#12423	:dolphin: Echo					Might be ready to be removed?
send_original_dta_contentions
set_no_cache_headers
show_future_ratings
special_issues_revamp	Controls whether the four new contentions & validation applies for Queue (Atty Checkout and Judge Checkout)	#13423	:dolphin: Echo		8/3/2020		FULLY RELEASED	To be removed after epic is user tested and fully released
special_issues_revamp_dispatch	Controls whether the four new contentions & validation applies for Caseflow Dispatch	#13423	:dolphin: Echo				OBE	Feature to be removed from Caseflow Dispatch completely
split_appeal_workflow
sys_admin_page	Allows system admins to access new admin page	APPEALS-10135		10/21/2022			IN DEV
unidentified_issue_decision_date
use_ama_activation_date
use_poa_claimants
user_queue_pagination	Determines whether or not a user's queue is paginated on the back end	#14142	:dolphin: Echo		7/30/2020		FULLY RELEASED	To be removed after epic is user tested
vbms_forward_proxy
vbms_pagination
verify_unidentified_issue
vso_claimant_representative
vso_virtual_opt_in	Limits access to the Hearings section of the Case Details page for VSO users to allow for a limited release of the VSO Virtual Opt-In feature.	#17295
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