Reviewing Text Files¶
Overview¶
Much like diffs, text files can be reviewed. This is useful for reviewing out-of-band files such as documentation or notes, and can also be used to review full source files (as opposed to changes to source files).
To begin reviewing a text file, just click the thumbnail for the file attachment on the review request page.
Commenting on Lines¶
To place a new comment, either click a line number, or click and drag over a range of line numbers. This will pop open a new comment dialog, just like in the diff viewer.
Comments support rich text using the Markdown language. See Using Markdown for more information.
The file attachment comment dialog supports issue tracking. See the section on Issue Tracking for more information.
Once you’re done writing your comment in the text area, click Save to save the comment.
After saving a comment, a green comment flag will appear next to the first line in your selection, indicating that you have an unpublished comment. Click the line number or comment flag to pop open the comment box for your existing comment again.
Reading Existing Comments¶
Any existing comments will show up as blue clickable comment flags along the left-hand side of the text file. Each comment flag corresponds to a line containing a comment.
If you move the mouse cursor over the comment flag, a tooltip will appear showing a summary of the comments made.
If you click on the comment flag or line number, the comment dialog will appear, along with a blue side panel on the left showing those existing comments. You can still write new comments in the green area of the comment box.
If you have something new to say as part of your own review, you can write a new comment in the comment dialog.
Note
It’s important to note that this is not the place to reply to those comments. When you add a comment from the diff viewer, it’s creating a new top-level review (akin to a new thread). If you want to reply to existing comments, you can do so from the Reviews page. The Reply link here is a shortcut to jump directly to the relevant comment on the Reviews page.
The view here is meant to be used only as a reference to see if other people have already said what you plan to say.
Viewing Other Text Revisions¶
New in version 2.5.
As explained in Reviewing File Attachments, you can view and compare revisions of a text file attachment. When viewing interdiffs, Review Board will display the two file revisions side by side.