Features marked with ^{CodeCollaborator only} are available only in CodeCollaborator. All other features are available in both CodeCollaborator and CodeReviewer.

Click the links to see sample screen snapshots!

Support for More File Types

CodeCollaborator 5.0 adds native support for reviewing file types beyond just ASCII text files:

• Documents (PDF files) ^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • View, comment, and add defects on multi-page documents.
  • Add comments in two-dimension space, right on the document.
  • Use "Print to PDF" to view non-PDFs.
• Images (PNG, JPG, and GIF files)
  • Easily flip back and forth between two versions to see what changed.
  • Slider allows you to control partial transparency between the two versions.
• URLs (any web page) - Review HTML, Wiki pages, or documents hosted in an Intranet or web-based document management system.^{CodeCollaborator only}

Work Flow Enhancements

• Notification / "Invite me back" Control - Gives you control over exactly which events during a review cause you to receive a notification or be invited back to a review.
  • Choose between two kinds of "waiting" states:
    • "Waiting" -- I'm not finished with the review, but I have nothing more to do until one of the notifications (below) occurs.
    • "Finished" -- I'm totally finished with the review, but I want to be invited back (i.e. "un-finished") if one of the notifications (below) occurs.
  • Choose between four conditions of notification:
    • Any comment or activity sends notification.
    • Comments by the author or new files uploaded sends notification, but not activity from other participants.
    • New files uploaded sends notification, but nothing else.
    • No activity automatically sends notification, but you can still be "poked" (see below).
• "Poke" a Review Participant - click a link to have CodeCollaborator send someone a notification right away.
  • Use to send notification to someone who is stalling the review.
  • Use to "invite back" someone who is "waiting" or "finished" with the review.
• Improved Chat Comment Added on File Upload
  • Comments that list the files that were uploaded are automatically added to the General Chat along with a hyperlink to each file.
• Control Over Defects Marked Fixed
  • New role setting to limit marking a defect fixed by its creator only.
• Moderator Subscription - option for subscribing to reviews as a moderator.
• Tray-notifier Hover Text Enhancement - makes it clearer whether or not you have action items.

User Groups

CodeCollaborator 5.0 has an optional feature for defining groups of users.^{CodeCollaborator only}Groups could be based on organizational hierarchy, project assignments, and/or whatever the CodeCollaborator administrator chooses . The term "Group" is configurable, so it could be set to "Project" or "Organization" or "Team" or any other term. 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. Access to reviews can be controlled by group.

Groups can be managed manually or synchronized with an external system such as Active Directory, LDAP, or a version control system. You can have both manual and synchronized groups at the same time.

Web GUI Enhancements

• Links to file/line
  • Filenames are automatically hyperlinked to the review screen for that file.
  • Link to a specific line number within the same file by mentioning "line 123."
  • Permalinks to files and line numbers appear in every chat conversation.
• Configurable automatic hyperlinking^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • Configure any number of regular expressions which, if they match any text in the system, automatically hyperlinks the text to a configured URL.
  • This feature can be used to integrate CodeCollaborator with any web-based system, such as bug trackers, wikis, document repositories, etc.
• Compare Any Two Versions
  • Diff viewer can show differences between any two versions, not just any version and the latest version.
  • Useful when a file has been re-worked multiple times during a review, or when reviewing multiple checked-in changelists.
• Prev/Next File Diff
  • Diff viewer has buttons take you to the next or previous file in the review, so that you don't have to go back to the review summary screen.
• Improved Review Summary Refresh
  • The code has been rewritten to do updates in the background and to no longer scroll or "jump around" when there is a long list of files in a review.
• Display Tree Directory Structure in the Materials Section - In addition to the existing "Flat" view, added "Tree" and "Compressed Tree" options:
  • "Flat" view is the same as CodeCollaborator 4.
  • "Tree" view shows files in a standard directory tree.
  • "Compressed Tree" view shows relationships of files while taking up as little space as possible.
  • "Compressed Tree" is the new default - Users can override this default with a preference setting.
• Keyboard Shortcut Changes in Diff Viewer - F7/F8 for moving to prev/next diff/comment; PgUp/PgDn for scrolling the files being diff'ed, instead of the comment text.
• Remember Diff Viewer Window Size/Position - The Diff Viewer window now opens at the same size/position as when it was last closed.
• Link to the Detail Report - Review Summary page now has a link to the Detail Report for that review.
• Add Committed Changelist from the Browser UI (no client install!)
  • Allows you to add a changelist to a review directly from the browser UI - no client-side application needed!
  • In version 5.0 beta, this feature works with Perforce and Subversion only.
• Download Differences between any two versions of a file.
• Time Zone Selection
  • User can independently select which timezone to use for displaying date/time.
  • Timezone of the server is the default timezone - Users can override this default with a preference setting.

Version Control System Integration

• Git - Diff support
• Mercurial - Diff support
• Seapine Surround SCM Support ^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • Beta testing the Surround integration will begin with the initial beta release.
• Enforce Version Control System Access Control ^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • Prevents users from seeing file content unless the appropriate access is allowed in the version control system.
  • In version 5.0 beta, this feature works with Perforce only.
• Action Item for Commit / Commit from the client
  • When review of locally-modified files is complete, a new Action Item reminds you to commit the files.
  • Double-click on action item in tray notifier to commit the files.
  • Command-line command "ccollab commit" can commit the files.
  • In version 5.0, this feature works with CVS, ClearCase, Perforce, Subversion, and Team Foundation Server only.
  • If you use CodeCollaborator clients to do the commit, action item goes away automatically. Otherwise use web interface to manually dismiss the action item when you've done it.
• Perforce File "Move" supported (as a copy+delete operation).
• Perforce Jobs
  • For the specified Perforce jobs, collects the unique set of 0 or more changelists for those jobs, and uploads them to a review exactly as if the user had used ccollab addchangelist REVIEWID CHANGELISTS....
• ClearCase and CMVC Changelists ^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • ClearCase activities and CMVC tracks will be supported in the cross-platform GUI and by ccollab addchangelist on the command line.

Administration/Customization

• Customizable Notification Templates ^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • Set the template used for all system notifications.
  • Dozens of built-in replacement variables let you insert relevant information into the email.
• New Custom Defect Reports
  • Analogous to the existing "Custom Review Reports" but centered around defects.
• Optionally define version control system settings on the server.
• User Accounts that have been disabled are sorted to the end of the list.
• Administrator can set a system-wide message ^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • Message is displayed at the top of all web pages.
  • A way to display system-wide messages without sending emails.
• Hidden Custom Fields ^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • Custom fields that are visible only through review-xml; they are set via the command line client and are defined in admin review custom field.
• Multi-select-typed custom fields ^{CodeCollaborator only}
  • Similar to drop-down (or single-select) custom field. Define a list of possible choices, but the user can select zero, one, or multiple items.
• Improved security of XMLRPC
  • To configure, edit .../tomcat/webapps/<webapp name>/WEB-INF/web.xml and change the servlet-class of the ccollab-rpc-xml servlet tocom.smartbear.ccollab.rpc.SecureXmlRpcServlet.
  • This change will break 4.0 and older clients.
  • This change will need to be repeated on each upgrade during beta until the installer is fixed.