FileReview

FileReview is a simple program for reviewing text files and storing the results efficiently and fast. It’s free to use and download.

For news and updates of FileReview, click here. Read on for download link, installation and guidelines.

Goals:

  1. Smooth and efficient process to review the code files and give feedback.
  2. Results become DevOps tickets for the team in question to review and respond to.

Feel free to contact me with questions – just keep in mind that sometime there may be a few days before I can respond.

Installation

  1. This installation assumes a Windows machine. Should work on Windows 7 or newer, but has not been tested.
  2. Unzip FileReviewApp folder to a location of your choice. It should contain 4 files after unzip:
    • FileReview.exe
    • Filereview.exe.config
    • Microsoft.SqlServer.TransactSql.ScriptDom.dll
    • ReadMe.txt
  3. Open Filereview.exe.config in notepad and set the connection string to your SQL database.
    • This can be any recent MS Sql server database. Try SqlExpress on your local machine if needed.
    • The example connection string in the config file is easy to adjust but try this site if you need help formatting the connection string to your sql server.
    • For teams it may be practical to have a shared database and have IT control access with windows authentication.
  4. Double click FileReview.exe
    • When prompted, install the FileReview database.
  5. FileReview will create schema fre and a few objects on that.

Reviewing files

  1. Use [Alt] to display keyboard shortcuts. For example, [Alt+O] -> [OK – next]
  2. Enter name of project into combo box and hit “New proj”. Use “Edit proj” to set properties that help with DevOps import later.
  3. Set your name as “Reviewer name” – this marks your reviews with your name. This is helpful if there is a team using FileReview on the same database.
  4. Reformat – check this box to reformat sql files. This checkbox will only work for .sql endings and for files 1mb and less in size.
  5. [OK – next] – use this to submit file reviewed with no feedback (IssueLevel=0) and see the next file.
  6. [Minor – next] – submit Minor level (IssueLevel=1, Low) Feeback and see the next file. Typically, minor is something that can be improved, but it doesn’t have to happen.
  7. [High – next] – submit High level (IssueLevel=2, High) Feedback and see the next file. Typically, high items are considered non-negotiable to fix ASAP.

Add reviews to DevOps

  1. Use Excel get data from database and pull in data from FileReview database view [fre].[ReviewCsvExport]
  2. Filter in Excel at will based on project etc.
  3. Copy the content, starting with column ID (skip the first two columns) and paste the content into a new Excel file. Safe that new file as an csv. You can then import that into DevOps in DevOps->Work Items->Import CSV
  4. OR, as alternative to nr.3 above, one can connect Excel to Azure DevOps directly, to add items.

Other reporting

For other reporting, add views to the database and load into Excel or any tool of choice. The database is very simple, only two tables. You can study the provided view for hints.

Updates and maintenance

On launch, FileReview checks if an update is available and if so, prompts the user to visit this website.

FAQ

Q: Does FileReview auto review code, like sql code?
A: No, for now, FileReview purpose is to make it efficient and fast to review code files. It does not automate the review process, it is the reviewer who needs to manually review the code.

Version history

0.1 – 2023-01-31 Alpha, first test release. Known issues: Almost no error handling, fixed unseizable window.