How to view code review comments in Visual Studio 2013

Question

No idea where the code review comments can be seen, but I need to see them.

I am not the person who "requested" the code review, nor am I the person who has provided comments and completed the code review. I am the "tech lead" for the project, however, and want to review what other developers are saying about the code.

I can see in multiple places that the code reviewer "Finished (with comments)" but I can see nowhere to view the comments. I have spent most of my time looking in the "Code Review" section of Visual Studio 2013 but can see no way to find the comments.

Anyone know how to see the comments?? I don't care if it's in VS or on the TFS site, or even in the email that alerts me that the code has been reviewed... but I can't find comments anywhere.

Mcvay

The comments are supposed to show up under the "Comments" area of the Code Review tab, on a per-file basis. Do you see a "Comments" area and can it be expanded? – Photocomposition

If the Shelveset that was reviewed against has been deleted, I don't think you can see the comments (even without context). If someone has any e-mail alerts that they can forward you they will be there. – Heliotherapy

@Photocomposition I can expand the comments section, but the only "comment" I see is one that was provided by the person who submitted the request for the review (I think it came from the TFS task). I see nothing attributed to the person who "Finished (With Comments)" – Mcvay

@Heliotherapy - I have the email alert that gave me the link to open the changes... nowhere there does it provide any comments from the reviewer. Additionally the shelveset wouldn't be deleted and the changes themselves are only a day old or so – Mcvay

@Mcvay do you know if/what comments the reviewer entered, and on which file? – Photocomposition

I'd be interested to know this answer too, if the changeset reviewed is small it's not a problem to check all files, but in my case there are 400 odd files! – Mountainous

Answer 1

The reviewers can use "Add Overall Comments" option to comment. Or even in TFS web access, comments can be added inline, which should be visible to all other reviewers. Hope this helps.

Consume

Not really; so if they make inline comments I have to search through all the files looking for them? That's crazy! There must be another way. – Smythe

Answer 2

I found one solution which is still awkward, but it works in Visual Studio (using the Team Explorer sidebar) and no need to switch between VS and the TFS web frontend:

• bring up the code review request
• copy the shelveset name from the "Associated Context" field
• in Team Explorer, navigate to Pending Changes > Actions > Find Shelveset
• paste the shelveset name and start the search
• double-click the shelveset
• scroll down to the "Related Work Items" section, and double click the associated code review request
• now you get the same view that the requester would see, including overall and file comments

Prerequisite: the requester may not have chosen to delete the shelveset when they proceeded from their completed review, otherwise the comments are no longer accessible from the frontend).

For a solution outside of Visual Studio, look into this:

• TFS API
• Another TFS API

Archean