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SmartSVN is a Subversion repository client, that is available on the major OS (Windows/Mac/Linux). For my testing purposes, I installed in on my Windows machine that is running 7. The install was very simple, the website detected the proper version I required, the install was automated and only took a few quicks, and I could get the program installed and running in just a few minutes.

One nice feature about SmartSVN is that it looks very similar to most file explorers – I think  the GUI influence from Windows Explorer is apparent. However, the menu bar looks cluttered. I don’t think all the options quickly availble are necessary, and would have been better off hidden away to give a cleaner, simpler look. You can see this for yourself in the first screenshot.

SmartSVN's method of checking out. I used the simpler "Quick Checkout" method. Note the cluttered menu bar on the main screen.

Checking out a file is easy, as long as the “Quick Checkout” option is selected. This isn’t the default option, the reason for I don’t know why, because the “Quick Checkout” is simpler; I think more people will know the exact location of their repository and will thus use that method. The detailed method would have been better off hidden, available through a button or something like that.

A fresh copy of a project in SmartSVN.

After a project is checked out, Files panel is filled with, surprisingly enough, the files that exist in the project. You can drag and drop them to other files within the project, and, after clicking ‘Refresh Transactions’, review all previous commits. It will  . Some files are easy to edit, especially plain text files that will open with the default text editor, but others are more difficult. For example, I had an HTML file in my repo; SmartSVN would open Firefox to display it, and not an editor. This can be configured, but I expected a basic editor available. I could not find one within SmartSVN.

A locally modified file shown in SmartSVN.

A nice feature is that the SmartSVN will automatically refresh itself to display changes made on the local copy. There is a Refresh button that may be necessary to see if changes have been made remotely, but I thought this was a useful feature. Right clicking on any file opens a context menu that, among other generic options, includes the ability to show the changes between two files. This option will open up a new window, with the old file on the left, and the new on the right, which is similar to how most other repository viewers function. You can also choose to view an annotated file, which will display all the edits made to a single file, with the revision that they were made in color coded.

An interesting feature from SmartSVN is the ability to lock (and unlock) files. A locked file cannot be edited. However, locks can be stolen so I’m not sure how well implemented this feature is. On the other hand, I thought one of the main points of a repository was the ability to manage multiple users editing the same file? So maybe this ‘feature’ defeats the purpose of a repo.

SmartSVN's log panel.

There is also a nice log panel that will show the changes made to the project.

RapidSVN is a desktop subversion client. It’s easy to install (especially in Ubuntu, using apt-get).

It is easy to connect a repository, and checkout a new one – all through the gui.
It lists all the folders in tree view on the left, and shows all the files inside the selected folder with appropriate icons in the main view.

Upon editing a file, RapidSVN immediately notices that its been edited, and highlights the icon beside that file.
It then provides many useful options such as update, commit, revert, and resolve conflicts to this or any other file where they apply.

It doesn’t have a built in file viewer, and so does not display diffs or let you see file contents initially.
After some poking around it’s possible to configure it  by giving it a command to run a text editor which it will then open every time you want to see a file or a diff. This is slightly less convenient than being shown the files immediately and letting you see the differences between revisions side by side.

It looks clean, easy to browse through, and is fast.

I didn’t like that it didn’t show me the contents of files as soon as i clicked on them (without configuring an editor in the settings) and didn’t come with a nice way to see differences between revisions out of the box.

Here is a screenshot:

I’ve played around with Sventon, a web application written in Java. If you don’t want to learn how to run this beast on your machine, you can try the online demo and the screenshots are available here.

Thumbs up:

* BLAME button When looking at a particular file, it brings up a separate bar, which shows author’s name across lines of code,

so that you can make sure who to punch for buggy code.

* Killer feature (IMO): persistent “drag and drop” tray that appears on every page. You can drop files/folders in that tray as you skim through

the repository. Once you found all you want, you can jump to these files / folders in one click. Like bookmarks, but much better <3

* Sventon feels very solid. For instance clicking the “back” button does exactly what I want – brings me to the previous page.

* “Show recent changes button”, which shows up to 10 last commits  to the repository, is a very nice feature.

* You can search for both file/dir/author names and log messages anywhere in your source.

* Browsing archive files – nice touch.

Thumbs down:

* Would be nice to see more AJAX. I don’t like 100% AJAXified applications, but a lot of little functions (looking up revision properties, for example) would look much nicer if they are loaded via AJAX, versus the whole page reload.

* I am not a designer, so I probably should not say anything, but it looks kinda ugly.

* Can only search for files/folders/logs when you are on HEAD revision.

I thought it might be helpful to consolidate all the mockups in one place:

Either the entire PDF document, or individual pages:

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Status

• Commited Selenium Test for Dashboard
• Commited Selenium Test for Admin Database
• Commited Selenium Test for Admin Manage

Next Step

• None

Roadblocks

• None

Status

• Finished the review for ticket #273
• Finished the review for ticket #277
• Finished reviewing ticket #306
• Reviewed ticket #131

Roadblocks

• None

Next Steps

• I don’t know

Not sure if we’re still meeting tomorrow, but I did complete a few mockups this week.

Status

• Updated Milestone Details to include history
• Source: Folder Detail mockup
• Source: Search Results mockup
• Select From Media Library Dialog

Roadblocks

None.

Next Steps

• Ticket administration: file/close tickets
• Mockup consolidation/handoff documentation

Status

• Commited Selenium test for Mail;
• Worked on Selenium test for Admin Database;
• Worked on Selenium test for Admin Manage;
• Worked on Selenium test for Dashboard;
• Review Tickets Tagging.

Next Step

• Commit all my working in progress Selenium Tests;
• Start Selenium Tests for a new application.

RoadBlocks

• None

Status:

• Tickets list and Tickets Details — add/edit ticket error messages are now submitted for review.
• Reviewed Alex’s Timezone Tool.

Road Blocks:

• Need review: Review#: 736 (http://review.basieproject.org/r/736/)

Next Steps:

• Get ticket error messages committed.
• Find some more bugs to work on and do some more reviews.