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Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

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Take Part in a Review

After you have joined a review, you create and respond to discussion topics on the 'Review' tab of the Discuss & Review window (if it is not currently displayed, select the 'Start > Collaborate > Review > Review' ribbon option, or press Ctrl+9 and select the 'Review' tab). Initially, this only displays the name of the Review element.

You then select the element to review, or the Navigation Cell for the diagram to review, in the:

  • Review diagram
  • Reviews view
  • Browser window (and right-click on the object | Collaborate | Review)
  • Non-Review diagram (and right-click on the object | Collaborate | Review)

This makes the selected model object the focus of the Discuss & Review window 'Review' tab. Any existing review topics for the object display in the body of the window in reverse date/time order, with the most recent topic at the top of the list.

Contributing to a Review

To create a topic for review or make a response to a topic, use the guidelines provided in this table.

Operation

Action

See also

Create a Review Topic

Below the element name, but above any existing review conversation, the message Create Review Topic displays. Note that an element under review can be locked against posting any further topics or responses, according to the element's status. In this case the message This Review is now <status triggering the lock> and cannot be updated displays instead.

Double-click on the Create Review Topic message and type your topic as continuous text. The text automatically wraps at the border of the Discuss & Review window.

There is an option on the Preferences window, 'Window Behavior' page that sets whether to use either the Enter key or the Ctrl+Enter keys to submit a topic or post. Whichever you select, you can use the alternative option to break and insert a new line in your topic text.

When you have finished typing, click off the text or press the Enter key (or Ctrl+Enter keys).

  • An open expansion arrow and a Discussion icon icon display at the start of your text, and your user name, the time or date of posting and the number of replies (initially zero) display beneath your text
  • The message Create Review Topic displays above your current discussion topic, and the message Post reply displays underneath the topic

If user security is enabled and you have selected to show avatars, the discussion icon is replaced by an image representing the user who contributed that item. If the user does not have a personal avatar image, a default 'head and shoulders' silhouette displays as the avatar.

Note that your text might contain words that are automatically underlined. These are terms for which a Glossary definition has been created, and positioning the cursor over one of these words will display the definition in a pop-up message box. If you do not want to indicate glossary terms, right-click on the message and click on the 'Highlight Glossary Terms' menu option. This will clear the automatic underlines across the system. Do this again if you want to restore the underlines.

Set User Avatar Review Status Locks Page

Add a Response

You enter a reply to a Review topic by clicking on the expansion arrow next to the Review item. This changes the display to show just the selected Review topic at the top of the window and any existing responses to that topic underneath it, after a line broken by the text Open, n Posts.

You then press the Enter key to place the cursor at the start of the text entry field at the top of the tab. Either:

  • Type your response in the test entry field, or
  • Press Ctrl+Spacebar and type the text in the 'Post Reply' text box, then press the Esc key to close the text box

Click on the Post button on the right of the text entry field.

  • The response displays at the top of the list of replies
  • Your user name displays above the response, with your avatar to the left of it (and subsequently the date of posting displays on the right)
  • The time of posting displays on the left of the response
  • As more responses accumulate, the Post count increments

All new replies are added underneath the Review thread they are in response to. All responses you make before someone else posts are grouped together underneath your user name.

To return to the Review list mode, click on the large arrow to the left of the reply text box.

Edit Postings

Whilst you are typing a message, the editor automatically checks the spelling and underlines possible spelling errors in red. You can backspace or move the cursor to the errors to correct them. You can also move the cursor anywhere in the message body and add or delete text (press the Delete key).

Once you have posted a message, you can delete the whole message but you cannot edit it.

Search Reviews

Right-click on the body of the 'Review' tab (in list mode for an element) and click on the 'Search Reviews' option. The Create Review Topic text changes to Enter text to search reviews.

Double-click on that message and then type in the text you want to locate in any Review topics for the selected element. Press the Enter key.

The system runs a search for any topic that either contains that text or has a post (reply) that contains the text. The search results are listed in the tab, under the text Displaying search results for term <search term>. You can double-click on this row to type a new search term and re-run the search.

Clicking on a review item in the search list switches to the 'post reply' mode, where you can read the original topic and all responses to it. Clicking on the large arrow button returns you to the list of search results.

To return to the normal list of review items for an element, either press the Esc key, reload the tab, change context, or right-click and click on the 'Search Reviews' option again.

Copy Review Topic Text

If you want to re-use some or all of the text of a saved Review posting, you can open the text in a (read only) pop-up dialog, by pressing Ctrl+Space.  You can then select the text you want and press Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard.

The copied text can then be pasted into a new Review posting or into another document in Enterprise Architect.

Set Review Topic Status

A new review topic has the status of 'Open'. To change the status, right-click on the item and select 'Status' and:

  • Alert
  • Error
  • Accept
  • Reject, or
  • Closed

If the review topic already has one of these statuses, you can also select the 'Status | Open' option to return the topic to 'Open' status, indicated by the Review Open Status icon.

Set Review Topic Priority

As part of the review, you might want to identify the priority of a point being raised. It might be very important to act on the point, or it might be agreed that the point discusses a 'nice to have' feature that could be addressed at a later date. To set the priority, right-click on the review topic and select one of the options:

  • 'Priority | High' (Review High Priority)
  • 'Priority | Medium' (Review Medium Priority), or
  • 'Priority | Low' (Review Low Priority)

Alternatively, if you decide that an item does not need to be prioritized, select the 'Priority | <none>' option. This leaves the item icon as Review No Priority.

Set Approval Status

Only the named Approver is able to change the status or priority of their Approver item. To set the status, the Approver right-clicks on their Approver item and can select the same options as for a reviewer. However, the final option in this case is 'Approved', which indicates that the selected element has completed review and all decisions and defined changes are approved.

If the Approver selects the 'Approved' option, the indicator Review closed status then displays to the right of the item and the 0 out of <n> Approvals message is incremented to show that the element has received one of the required Approvals.

Delete a Review Topic or Reply

Right-click on the review topic or a reply, and select the 'Delete Selected' menu option. A prompt displays to confirm the deletion. Click on the Yes button.

If you delete a review topic, all replies associated with that topic will be deleted as well.