Compare review items

It is possible to compare two arbitrary Review Items that are included in the same Review. Typically this will be used to see the differences between two versions of a given code change. In order to do this, select two Review Items in the Review Navigator (using Ctrl-Left click or Shift-Left click) and then right click on one of the items and select the "Compare Review Items" command from the context menu.

This will open a Structural Compare Editor that will show the files versions that are different. The file that belong to the most recently committed Review Item will always be the target files (on the left side) and the files belonging to the oldest Review Item will be the base files (on the right side).

Finally, it is possible to navigate through the annotations by using the Next Annotation/Previous Annotation global eclipse commands, or by using the new Next Open Anomaly/ Previous Open Anomaly commands in the compare editor toolbar menu

Inline Markers and Annotations

Annotations for Delta/Selections and Anomalies are now shown in editors that are opened from the R4E Navigator View. They are shown in the vertical ruler (to the left of the editor window) and in the overview ruler (to the right of the editor window) for the single editors, and in the vertical ruler only for the compare editors. These annotations can be used to quickly navigate through the elements, view their main properties, and to access their contextual commands, without having to leave the editor context. It also makes for a more visual and enriched Review experience

In addition, the editor now highlights the text range that corresponds to the selected R4E element.
Highlighting properties can be controlled in the Eclipse Preferences, on the General->Editors->Text Editors->Annotations preference page

Finally, it is possible to navigate through the annotations by using the Next Annotation/Previous Annotation global eclipse commands, or by using the new Next Open Anomaly/ Previous Open Anomaly commands in the compare editor toolbar menu

Review and Anomalies Due date

It is now possible to specify a due date for Reviews. If the due date is passed and the review is not completed, it's corresponding Review Navigator Element will be decorated to remind participants of this fact

Anomaly elements in the Review Navigator are now also decorated in the same fashion if they are overdue

Include Sender in Notifications

There is a new preference setting in the R4E User Preference page to include the sender in the receivers list for all notifications sent

BIRT Report Improvements

Generated reports have been improved to show Anomalies per Anomaly Class. Additionally the "Generate Report" command will not show if the R4E reporting feature is not installed

Anomaly Cloning

It is now possible to duplicate (clone) existing anomalies to new locations either by using an editor context command, by dragging and dropping anomalies in the Review Navigator view or by using default copy and paste hotkeys.

Comment Cloning

It is also possible to clone comments across anomalies by using copy and paste default hotkeys or mouse drag & drop in the Review navigator.

Import Global Anomalies support

It is now possible to import global anomalies that are set to POSTPONED in other reviews within the same review group. This behaviour is optional and controlled via the R4E preferences.

Duplicate Anomaly Handling improvements

Anomalies applicable to the same file version across multiple commits Review items are now represented as a single entry in the latest commit Review Item. This will remove a potential source of confusion for users.

Anomaly Classes Improvements

New Comment and Missing Classes have been added to the list of possible Anomaly Classes.

Help Restructured

Help has been restructured to split the installation and user guide parts.

Initial R4E layout

This is the first R4E release.

Review types

R4E provides 3 types of reviews:

• Basic: Anomaly stateless, review is Active or Completed
• Informal: Anomaly stateful, review is Active or Completed
• Formal: Anomaly and review stateful

Review Navigator

A Review Navigator is provided for navigating within the reviews.

Review Navigator UI Legend

Here is a screenshot of the legend that can be displayed as required while using the navigator.

Review Item handling

R4E Integrates Mylyn Versions Connectors in order to support multiple Version control systems. R4E provides support for SVN and Git. R4E can generate automatically the review items from the version control system or generate manual selection from a file in your workspace.

Platforms supported

R4E is validated and supported for Eclipse 3.6.x (Helios), 3.7.x (Indigo) and 4.x (Juno) on the following platforms:

• Windows Vista 32-bit
• Window 7
• Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 32-bit and 64-bit versions
• Solaris 10
• Mac OS X

Support for adding multiple Participants in batch to a Review

When using the New Participants dialog, users can now enter multiple Participants that can be added together as a batch to a Review. If an LDAP database is configured, user information will automatically be pulled from the Database and relevant dialog fields will be auto-filled.

Improved LDAP Database Users lookups

It is possible to search for users by using multiple successive filters to narrow down the query result. It is also possible to add multiple users together to a review.

Participants Lists

R4E adds support for Participants Lists. Participants Lists are similar to mailing lists and provide a way for the users to bundle together selected users (and their email addresses) under a single list that can be added as a whole to a Review. When adding such a list to a Review, all the Users included in the list will be added to the Review. Participants Lists can be defined in the R4E User Preferences.

Assigning Participants to Review Items, Files and Changes

It is possible in R4E to assign specific Review Items, File Contexts and Changes (Delta/Selections) to specific participants to split the review among multiple reviewers. The users can also filter the Review Navigator view to only see the elements assigned to a particular participant.

Navigator View Alternative Display

Review Navigator View has two ways to display the Review elements:

• tree view
• table view

Anomaly creation

The dialogue allow you to define mandatory and optional information concerning the issue.

Anomaly Rejection shall include a mandatory comment

The reason for rejection requires a new comment from the user upon transitioning to the REJECT state.

Postponed Anomalies

Import anomalies from a review having the same files and the anomaly was saved as "Postponed" in the previous review. e.g. Reference to original review is available at the anomaly level.

R4E property view

R4E properties view is used in conjunction with the navigator view. Depending of the selected items in the R4E navigator view, some fields are adjusted from the property view.

It's possible to copy R4E properties from the Eclipse properties view e.g. Absolute path, Project Relative Path, etc...

Short keys

R4E defines some keys as accelerator keys to help the user to perform reviews. Each command starts with ALT + 4 as below:

Design Rules

R4E support the use of Design Rules, to help reviewers enforce consistent design conventions and rules. A Rule Set is a container that includes multiple related Rules. Rule Sets are independently defined and can be shared among multiple Review Groups. Take note that the use of Design Rules is completely optional. When you create a new Rule Set, its references are automatically included in your workspace. To import other Rule Set references, open the R4E Preference Rule Sets Tab.

This opens the New Rule dialog.

Disable/Restore elements

When Review Navigator elements are not relevant anymore (e.g. completed reviews), they can be removed from the view by using the ''Disable ''command from the element's context menu.
Ideally, disabled elements should never be shown, but there could be a need to restore mistakenly disabled elements. To do so, first go to the Eclipse preferences R4E page, on the Filters tab and enable the Show Disabled Elements filter, then return to the Navigator view and select the ''Restore '' command from the disabled element context menu.

Filters and sorters

The Navigator elements can currently be sorted alphabetically or by review type, by selecting the appropriate sorter in the Review Navigator Toolbar menu.
The Navigator view provides also different filters that can be used to limit the visibility of elements within the navigator tree. Filters are available in the Review Navigator Toolbar menu. If you select the "Go Into" option, it will focus on a particular element and its children. This is a special filter that will take the selected element of the Navigator and put it at the root of the Navigator tree.

Email notifications

E-mail notification can be sent on Review Navigator elements by using the Send Email/Notification command from the selected element context menu. Once the command is triggered, a dialog appears asking the kind of notification to be sent. Take note that not all the options are available depending on the element selected, the review type and other factors. A notification can be sent to other review participants.

Reports

To generate a statistical report, select in the Review Navigator view one or more review, the right click and select "Generate Report". Two types of report can be generated.

• Inspection record: when you select only one review to generate a report, this type of report will be initiated. You will see a list of anomalies at the end of the report.
• Global report: when two or more review are selected. It gives a summary of information based on the selected reviews.

Issues and Limitations

It is strongly recommended to run Eclipse with a JRE1.6 virtual machine or later. R4E is also supported in Eclipse running JRE1.5, but the Send Meeting Request Notification functionality will not work if using the SMTP mail extension.