In the Schema Editor, you can compare schemas, tool map schemas, and data files with other files of the same type. Comparisons are valuable for seeing changes from one version of the schema to another, for seeing changes in data files as they are generated by the integrated authoring tools, and for seeing differences between the schemas from different authoring tools.
There are five types of comparisons in the Schema Editor:
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Full Comparison
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Selective Update
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Detection of Tombstones
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Comparison Using Views
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Integrated Reference File Environment
Full Comparisons
A full comparison compares every object, relationship, and property in one file with the file you select. When you do a full comparison, you can choose whether the software displays the full results of the comparison, the comparison instructions only, or both the comparison results and instructions.
After you perform a full comparison between files, you can view the modification instructions generated by the software. These modification instructions define the changes required to go from the objects in the file you selected for comparison to the objects in the original file. For example, you can see which objects would be deleted, which ones would be updated, and which ones would be created.
Selective Update
Selective update allows you to choose which objects to add, update, or delete after you have compared schemas, tool map schemas, and data files with other files of the same type. Because any addition, update, or deletion you make changes the file you are comparing, you need to be cautious about the selections you make and aware of their impact.
Detection of Tombstones
An alternative to doing a full comparison between two files is to detect tombstones. Tombstones are objects that have been deleted in one file that exist in another file. The Schema Editor identifies items as tombstones when they do not exist in the original file you opened in the Schema Editor but do exist in the second file you selected for comparison. After you detect tombstones, you can view the tombstones that were found by reviewing the comparison instructions for the two files.
Because tombstone detection does not involve a full comparison of two files, it typically runs faster than a full comparison.
Comparison Using Views
Comparison using views allows you to compare data based on a more user-centered view. Comparisons using views are most useful for comparing data files because the data is compared in terms of what a user might see in an authoring tool instead of a comparison based on the schema.
Comparison views are delivered as part of the schema, but you can create your own.
Integrated Reference File Environment
The Integrated Reference File Environment in the Schema Editor lets you view and modify data in a set of schema and tool schema files based on the differences between those files and a set of reference files. You can copy or replace data from a reference schema file into an active schema file, and copy or replace data from a reference tool schema file into an open tool schema file.
With this environment, you can copy data from schema and tool map files from a previous project into the schema and tool map files of a new project. This functionality allows you to deploy projects in less time by reusing configurations from other projects. For example, enumerated lists can be copied into a new project without requiring them to be manually re-entered.
The Integrated Reference File Environment identifies, for each object of a particular type, whether that object exists only in the source file, only in the reference file, or in both. Objects that are included in both the source file and reference file are further compared, and if any differences are found between the objects in the source and reference file, you can then update, create, or delete the source object based on the related reference object.
For more information, see Modify Reference Files with the Integrated Reference File Environment.