Today I was contacted by SmartBear Software about the latest release of their code review software. Previously I had read and blogged about their book on peer code review. They offered me a sale on their software, and asked that I blog about it. Well I could not write about it unless I experienced it for myself. So I decided to download a trial copy today.It seems SmartBear has two main lines of review software - CodeReviewer and CodeCollaborator. I decided to download the light version which is CodeReviewer. Their web site required that I enter my phone number. As I don't want any sales calls just yet, I entered the SmartBear technical support phone number. Let's hope the sales guys don't call. Heheh.
There was some initial confusion over the install software. I could not find a separate executable for CodeReviewer. So I just proceeded guessing that maybe there is one installer for all their software. I don't like guessing though. The EULA for the software stated that I had to agree to public use of my name as a customer unless I inform them otherwise in writing. Dang. Now I got to write them a letter.
I set up a unique port for the code review web server to run from. Then I chose an embedded database for my reviews as this seemed the easiest. However I might reinstall to see how hard it will be to hook up to my Oracle database running on my server as well. After installation was complete, the installer launched Internet Explorer. And the page showed "The page cannot be displayed." Ouch. We are off to a bad start here. More details on my experience will come in future blog posts.
