Major Features of CodeCollaborator

What's new in v5.0?

Based on seven years of experience, and close attention to users' feature requests, CodeCollaborator is a full-featured, powerful, and easy-to-use tool with 20,000+ active users.

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Threaded, Contextual Chat

File changes, chat conversations, and defects are linked together. Each conversation is threaded by file and line number and can be viewed simultaneously with file content. No switching back and forth between emails and editors.

Choose between multiple views, or download differences to your local machine for further inspection and testing. Hyperlink directly to a file or line numbers.

Version Control Integration

Integrates with many version control systems including CVS, Git, Mercurial, Perforce, Subversion, Vault, AccuRev, ClearCase, CMVC, MKS, StarTeam, Surround, Team Foundation Server, Visual Source Safe. Review before or after check-in.

Before local file changes are checked into version control, upload them for review with a single click. Or upload already checked-in changes by label, date, branch, changelist number, and more.

You can even upload arbitrary files or file-differences from your local hard drive.

Asynchronous Review

Perform and manage reviews even when participants are separated by many timezones.

All conversations and actions are tracked like newsgroups so it's easy to view and edit the review at any time. Keep track of which reviews are still not finished, what everyone has been saying, and which defects have been fixed.

Real-Time Chat

The web-based "chat" interface really is just like instant messenger. If another user chats, your screen will automatically update in a few seconds, without "refreshing" the screen.

Review More Than Just Text Files

Document files (.pdf)

• View, comment, and add defects on multi-page documents.
• Add comments in two-dimensional space, right on the document.

Image files (.png, .jpg, and .gif)

• Easily flip back and forth between two versions to see what changed.
• Slider allows you to control partial transparency between the two versions so you can easily see differences.

URLs

• Review HTML, Wiki pages, or documents hosted in an Intranet or web-based document management system.

Metrics & Custom Reports

CodeCollaborator automatically collects metrics like man-hours spent in review (without stopwatches!), LOC inspected, and defect data. Easily compute key metrics such as defect density, inspection rate, and defect detection rate.

Customizable reports show everything from status of pending reviews to detailed audit trails. Choose from 40 columns and filters.

View results on-line, print, or export as CSV. View the SQL used to make the report to jumpstart a report-writing tool such as Excel, Access, or Business Objects.

Subscriptions

Users can have themselves added automatically to new reviews. Be a reviewer or observer whenever some other user creates a review, or subscribe to certain files. Uses include:

• Code Ownership: Be the reviewer whenever someone modifies your code
• Mentoring: Assign a mentor to new hires who will always review their code
• Notification: Be an observer for any review in your group

Eclipse Plug-In

Users of Eclipse-based applications can interact with Code Collaborator without leaving the IDE. View live Action Items, upload files with version control integration, and more.

Supports Eclipse v3.1 or higher. Supports various Eclipse-based applications including WebSphere and of course the Eclipse IDE itself.

Use our Eclipse update site to start using the Eclipse plug-in today.

Contextual Defects / To-Do's

When a problem is found, create a defect. Customizable fields let you collect as much or as little data as you want.

Defects are threaded by file and line number but are also viewable in an overall review log. Authors correct defects and can upload changes back to the review for verification.

Even if line numbers shift around because of the defect fix, CodeCollaborator is smart enough to keep all chat conversations and defects threaded to the correct logical line of code. Try doing that with email!

Customizable Workflows

Change the rules for the review depending on pre-defined, configurable review types. A "Self Check" review might only require that the author look over his own files. A "Formal" review might require a moderator, author, one or more reviewers, and a recorder. Configurable roles allow you to indicate the expectations of each person in the review and control what each user can do and view. Per-user control over workflow allows you to mark reviews Waiting or Finished, and also let you choose which events will re-open the review or notify you about review updates.

Test and Diff Files Locally

Compare any version of a file with any other version. Download a ZIP file containing the latest contents of all files under review. Expand into your development environment for manual testing, checking the build, and running unit tests.

Or click a button to download all diffs and view in a local diff viewer such as DiffMerge or Araxis Merge.

Super Search

Search across review chat conversations, custom fields, defects, file paths, and users. Find all reviews that contain a certain file, or all defects relating to a certain checklist item, or recent reviews that a user participated in or created.

Server-Side Triggers

The CodeCollaborator server will execute your custom script upon certain events such as review-creation and files uploaded. The script can effect change on the server using our command-line or with a batch XML command language.

Use triggers to enforce custom workflow rules. Also use triggers to integrate CodeCollaborator defects into external issue tracking systems.

User Management

Authenticate users internally or through corporate LDAP or ActiveDirectory. Manage privileges and activity. Usage metrics can be used for reports on inspection rate and defect rate.

Optionally define groups of users. Groups could be based on organizational hierarchy, project assignments, or whatever you choose. Group definitions can be imported from an external system (e.g. LDAP, Active Directory, version control, etc.). Each review may be associated with a group, which is used to narrow the list of candidate participants for the group. Reports can be filtered and sorted by group.

Database Support

CodeCollaborator supports a variety of databases including MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle. For trials, we ship with a zero-configuration embedded database (which can be migrated to a real database at any time).

Our database schema is completely documented so you can run your own reports.