COLLABORATIVE CODE CONFLICT DETECTION, NOTIFICATION AND RESOLUTION

• US 20070283321A1
• Filed: 06/02/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hegde, Rajesh, Dewan, Prasun
• Granted Patent: US 8,407,670 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

A computer code conflict notification and resolution technique that provides a collaborative programming environment for conflicts management is presented. The technique detects potential conflicts and provides facilities that allow programmers to work collaboratively to resolve the conflicts as they occur. This includes the ability to conduct a code session in which conflicting code elements are compared and changed as needed to resolve conflicts. In addition, in-place audio/video, text chat and application sharing is provided. This allows communication sessions to be conducted within the programming environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented network-based process for conflict detection and notification, comprising using a computer to perform the following process actions:

maintaining a list of edited project elements associated with a development project that have been previously edited by a first developer;

inputting an edit message identifying a project element associated with the project that a second developer is changing;

determining if the edit message identifies one of the edited project elements, using said lists of edited project elements; and

whenever the edit message identifies one of the edited project elements, notifying the first and second developers of a potential conflict.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the conflict is between program elements of a computer code being developed in a software development project by two or more programmers and so the project elements are program elements and the developers are programmers, and wherein the process action of notifying the second programmer of the potential conflict, comprises transmitting, via the network, a conflict message to the programmer which identifies that the potential conflict exists between the first programmer'"'"'s version of a program element and the second programmer'"'"'s version of that element.

3. The process of claim 2, further comprising the process actions of:

maintaining a list of related program elements which relate to the edited program elements;

identifying if the edit message identifies a program element that is related to an edited program element, using the related program elements list and said edit message, wherein whenever a program element is being created rather than an existing one being changed by the second programmer, the edit message also identifies a program element or elements that are related to the program element being created; and

whenever the edit message identifies a program element that is related to an edited program element, notifying the first and second programmers of a potential conflict between the edited program element and the program element identified in the edit message.

4. The process of claim 3, the process action of notifying the second programmer of the potential conflict, comprises transmitting, via the network, a conflict message to the programmer which identifies that the potential conflict exists between the edited program element and the program element identified in the edit message.

5. The process of claim 3, wherein each of said program elements comprises at least one of a file, a type comprising a class or interface, and a method.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein a related program element relates to an edited program element based on its dependency and a prescribed depth of dependency from the edited program element.

7. The process of claim 3, wherein the process actions of notifying the first and second programmers of a potential conflict is delayed until after the program element identified in the edit message is finished being created or the change being made thereto is complete.

8. A computer-implemented network-based process for conflict detection and notification, comprising using a computer to perform the following process actions:

monitoring a first developer and determining if the first developer is creating or changing a project element associated with a development project;

whenever it is determined that the first developer is creating or changing a project element, transmitting, via the network, an edit message identifying the project element that is being created or changed; and

inputting a conflict message which indicates that a potential conflict exists between the project element identified in the edit message and a project element associated with the development project that was previously edited by a second developer.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein the project element that was previously edited by the second developer is the same project element as that identified in the edit message.

10. The process of claim 8, wherein the project element that was previously edited by the second developer is related to the project element that was identified in the edit message.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein a related project element relates to an edited project element based on its dependency and a prescribed depth of dependency from the edited project element.

12. The process of claim 8, wherein the conflict is between program elements of a computer code being developed in a software development project by two or more programmers and so the project elements are program elements, and wherein each of the program elements comprises one of a file, a type comprising a class or interface, and a method.

13. In a computer system having a graphical user interface including a display, a computer network-based process for collaborative computer code conflict resolution, comprising process actions for:

displaying program elements of the computer code that have been deemed to be in a potential conflict with each other on the display of a first programmer;

inputting changes received from the first programmer, who is responsible for one of the displayed program elements, or received from another programmer, who is responsible for another one of the displayed program elements, or received from both programmers, wherein said changes resolve any conflict between the displayed program elements; and

updating the displayed elements to reflect the inputted changes.

14. The process of claim 13, wherein the process action of displaying program elements of the computer code that have been deemed to be in a potential conflict with each other, comprises the actions of:

displaying a last-updated version of the potentially conflicting program element that the other programmer is responsible for, as received via the network in a message from the other programmer; and

displaying the latest version of the same program element available from the computing system of the first programmer.

15. The process of claim 14, wherein the process action of displaying the last-updated version of the potentially conflicting program element that the other programmer is responsible for, as received via the network in a message from the other programmer, comprises the actions of:

sending a request message to the other programmer requesting a copy of the latest version of the program element to be displayed that the other programmer has available;

inputting a reply message which includes a copy of the requested program element;

displaying the copy of the requested program element along with the latest version of that element available from the requesting programmer'"'"'s computing system.

16. The process of claim 13, wherein the process action of displaying program elements of the computer code that have been deemed to be in a potential conflict with each other, comprises the actions of:

displaying the latest version of the potentially conflicting program element that the first programmer is responsible for, as available from the computing system of that programmer;

displaying a last-updated version of the same program element that the other programmer is responsible for, as received via the network in a message from the other programmer.

17. The process of claim 16, wherein the process action of displaying the last-updated version of the same program element that the other programmer is responsible for, as received via the network in a message from the other programmer, comprises the actions of:

sending a request message to the other programmer requesting a copy of the latest version of the program element to be displayed that the other programmer has available;

inputting a reply message which includes a copy of the requested program element;

displaying the copy of the requested program element along with the latest version of that element available from the requesting programmer'"'"'s computing system.

18. The process of claim 13, wherein the process action of updating the displayed elements to reflect the inputted changes, comprises the actions of:

whenever inputted changes from the other programmer modify the conflicting program element that the other programmer is responsible for and the latest version of the program element stored in the computing system of the first programmer is identical to the other programmer'"'"'s version of the element without the inputted changes, replacing the latest version of the same program element stored in the computing system of the first programmer with a version incorporating the inputted changes; and

whenever inputted changes from the other programmer modify the conflicting program element that the other programmer is responsible for and the latest version of the program element stored in the computing system of the first programmer has changes not reflected in the other programmer'"'"'s version of the element, merging the changes from the other programmer into the latest version of the program element stored in the computing system of the first programmer.

19. The process of claim 13, further comprising a process action of highlighting the differences between the program elements displayed on the display in a visually perceivable manner.

20. The process of claim 13, wherein the process action of displaying program elements of the computer code that have been deemed to be in a potential conflict with each other cannot be performed until the changes being made by one of the programmers, which caused the potential conflict to be deemed to exist, are completed, and wherein the process further comprises performing, prior to displaying the program elements deemed to be in a potential conflict with each other, the actions of:

after receiving a notification of the potential conflict caused by a change being made by the other programmer, but which is not yet complete, sending a watch message to the other programmer requesting to be informed when said change is complete;

waiting for a reply to the watch message to be received from the other programmer granting the request;

whenever a reply message is received, waiting for a change complete message to be received from the other programmer indicating that said change is complete; and

whenever the change complete message is received, designating that program elements deemed to be in a potential conflict with each other can be displayed.