In this section:

Overview

The Change Explorer provides an interface for understanding the code changes and how they affect the application under development. You can access the Change Explorer by clicking on the Files - Changed widget or by clicking on a link in the Reviews Report or Review Findings Report.

The Change Explorer is divided into six panels:

1. Search panel; see Using the Search Panel.
2. Search results table; see Viewing Search Results.
3. Baseline panel; see Viewing Diffs.
4. Changed panel; see Viewing Diffs.
5. Summary panel; see Viewing Summary Information.
6. Build Reviews panel; see Reviewing Findings.

Using the Search Panel

The Change Explorer shows data according to the filter, baselined build, and target build specified in the widget you clicked to open the explorer, but you can easily change the search to view specific information.

1. Click Change Search to open the Search Options overlay.
   
   You can perform the following actions:

1. • Change the filter: Choose a new filter from the drop-down menu (see Creating and Managing Filters for additional information).
   • Specify the baseline build: Choose a baseline build from the drop-down menu. A baseline build is a snapshot of the code at a previous state.
   • Specify the target build: Choose a target build from the drop-down menu. The target build contains the updated files as compared to the baseline build.
   • Specify the scope of files: Click the Include File Pattern Exclude File Pattern option and specify file paths to refine the scope of the search. Ant-style patterns are supported.
     
2. Click Search when your search parameters are set to load the results in the search results panel.

Viewing Search Results

The search results panel returns the changed files in the build organized by module. Green file names are files that were added since the baseline build. Red file names are files that have been removed since the baseline build. Click on a file to view the differences between the files in the Baselined Version and Changed Version panels.

Reviewing Changes

You can review and annotate code changes in the Baselined Version and Changed Changed Version panels. Differences between the versions of the file are highlighted.

If a review has been associated with You can click in the margin of the source code viewer and add inline comments. See Reviewing Findings.

Viewing Summary Information

You can view information about file changes between the baselined build and the build selected for comparison in the Summary panel.

Reviewing Findings

The Reviews panel is an interface for reviewing code changes and adding findings. Reviews are associated with a specific combination of filter ID, baseline build, and target build (see Using the Search Panel). Findings are individual annotations associated with a review.

If a review exists, click the Review Findings tab in the Reviews panel to see a list of findings.

The Review Findings tab reports the following information:

Click on an entry in the table to view the finding in the source code viewer panel (Basedlined or Changed Version panel).

Adding Reviews

If there are no reviews associated with the search parameters, you must create one before annotating the code with findings.

1. Click the link to create a review:
      
2. A review name and assignee are required. Comments, status, and severity are optional.
3. Click Apply to save the review.  

Adding Review Findings

You can attach findings to the code within the context of reviewing changes. 

1. Click in the margin of either the Baselined or Changed code panel to open the new finding dialog.
   
2. Enter your comment and an assignee. Status and priority are optional.
3. Click Apply to save the finding or Cancel to close the dialog without saving.

Existing findings are marked with a chat bubble icon. You can click on an existing finding to add additional comments or change the status, priority, or assignee.