Allow Visual Review Tool comment box to accept screenshots from clipboard
Problem to solve
As mentioned in #10765 (closed) regular comment boxes in GitLab currently can accept a screenshot from the clipboard, automatically uploading them and making them viewable in the comment once posted in an issue or a merge request. Currently the Visual Review Tool (VRT) comment box does not allow this.
Intended users
Further details
In my opinion this would be a good step because:
- It sets us up for #10765 (closed) and #210337 (closed)
- It would allow us to plumb in the backend of the screenshot functionality
- It would bring the VRT comment box closer to parity with the regular GitLab comment boxes
- It should be simpler as we can copy an existing feature instead of bringing something new into GitLab, which makes it a good example of Iteration
👣
Proposal
We should add the functionality into the VRT to take a screenshot with a local separate tool, and upload it to the merge request using the visual review tool by pasting it into the comment box, similar to how other comment boxes function in GitLab.
The workflow will be:
- User takes a screenshot on their device. Example - on an Apple computer pressing Shift + Command + 4 and selecting a portion of the screen.
- User selects the comment box in Visual Review Tools and pasts in the image. Example - on a mac pressing Command + v OR Finding the screen shot image on the local computer and dragging it into the visual review text box.
- The image will be uploaded and the markdown to display the image inserted into the Visual Review Tool comment box.
Because other areas of the app require a user to be logged in to access/edit and review apps do not we will require a PAT be added before a user may add a screenshot.
Permissions and Security
It may be different/more difficult to upload a screenshot to GitLab from a different domain (a review app). Some investigation would be required, including considering if there are any security concerns.
Require a PAT to add a screenshot. This is being discussed in an open MR (!29336 (merged))
Documentation
Because this flow will require a personal access token we will need to update the Visual Reviews documentation to reference how to create a PAT.
Availability & Testing
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
Acceptance Criteria
- When I'm using visual review tools, I can take a screenshot on my computer and Paste which results in a link to the image in the comment and image being uploaded Gtilab.
Success Measures
- This will drive additional usage of the Visual Review Tool and that is measured by comments. We expect this will increase comments an additional 10% after being launched 90 days.
What is the type of buyer?
This falls into GitLab Starter
Is this a cross-stage feature?
It may be relevant to discuss this with the owners of the issue and merge request comment box features.
Links / references
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