Adding shortcuts to run reports from the Source Tree window

You can quickly run reports on files in a specific repository from the Source Tree window without opening the Reports dialog box. To run a report, right-click the repository and select a report from the shortcut menu.

Before you can run a report from the Source Tree window, you need to create a plug-in for the menu item and then add the item to the repository shortcut menu.

For example, you may use a Files Awaiting Review Assignment list report to view files in the Awaiting Review state that are not currently assigned. You can create a plug-in for this report and then add the menu item to the repository shortcut menu. When you want to run the report, right-click the repository and choose Files Awaiting Review Assignment.

Report plug-ins are supported in Surround SCM 2016 and later. They are saved in the plugins directory in the Surround SCM application directory by default and you must have permission to modify this directory to create them.

1. Choose Tools > Reports.

The Reports dialog box opens.

2. Select the report to create a shortcut menu item for. You can only create them for reports configured to run against the <current selected> branch and <current selected> repository. This information is displayed in the Reports dialog box.

If you need to create a report, click Add. See Creating reports.

3. Click Create Plug-in.

The plug-in is created and a summary is displayed. Plug-in files are named RunReport_RecordID.xml (e.g., RunReport_5.xml) and saved in the plugins directory in the Surround SCM application directory.

If a plug-in with the same name already exists in the directory, you are prompted to overwrite it. This may occur if you previously created a plug-in for the report or created a plug-in for a different report with the same record ID on another Surround SCM Server. Before overwriting a plug-in, open it in a text editor and check the server-name value. If the plug-in is associated with a server you are not currently connected to, rename the file to avoid the conflict. If you overwrite a plug-in, you must restart Surround SCM to reload it.

4. Click OK to close the plug-in summary.

5. Click Close to close the Reports dialog box.

6. Add the new report menu item to the repository shortcut menu. See Customizing shortcut menus.

The menu item name matches the report name when the plug-in is created. To customize the name and icon, edit the plug-in. See Changing report menu item names and icons.

After adding the report item to the shortcut menu, right-click a repository in the Source Tree window and choose it to run the report.

If plug-in errors occur, review information in the SCMPluginErrorLog file in the plugins directory to troubleshoot. You can also check existing plug-ins and status in the plug-in user options. See Setting plug-in options.