Collaborator has a variety of clients for creating reviews and uploading files for review. While the Collaborator web server user interface provides the capability for uploading documents and, for some SCM integrations, the capability for creating reviews from committed changes, a client simplifies and expedites this process. Also, importantly, a client allows reviews to be created from local modifications to SCM files that are not accessible on the SCM server (that is, Collaborator clients allow for pre-commit reviews).
Client/Server Version Compatibility
As a general rule, older clients will work with a newer version of the server, but clients will not work with servers that are older than the client. However, it is always recommend to use the same client version as the server if at all possible.
SCM Integration
All Collaborator clients integrate with SCM systems, for identifying files under source control and ease of selecting modified files to be uploaded to the Collaborator server for a review. Files are uploaded as changelists. For SCM systems that do not implicitly support changelists, the clients have mechanisms for selecting a group of files to be uploaded to a review.
The SCM integration understands adds, changes and deletes but does not currently track or detect file renames or moves.
Creating Reviews and Uploading Files For Review
Each client also provides a means for creating a review, and for attaching a changelist to an existing review.
Other Features
Additional features are available depending on the client. The client right for your development environment may be determined by your SCM system, or just a matter of personal choice.