Compare Workspaces

The Compare Workspaces tool allows you to view the differences between two workspaces and, if desired, incorporate changes from one to another. This feature is useful when multiple people are collaborating on building a workspace, with each person making their own changes and contributing their own file, or version, of the workspace.

The Compare Workspaces tool highlights any additions, modifications, and deletions that affect how the workspace behaves when it runs. It does not highlight differences that have no impact at runtime, such as the presence of bookmarks and annotations, or the positioning of objects on the canvas.

Getting Started

  1. To open the Compare Workspaces tool, do one of the following:
    • From the Start tab, select Compare Workspaces.
    • Select Tools> Compare Workspaces.
    • Click the Compare icon on the Toolbar.
  2. On the Select Workspaces dialog, specify the two workspaces you want to compare:
    • Left: This workspace will open on the left side of the tool, and is editable. This is the workspace into which you can incorporate changes from the other workspace.
    • Right: This workspace will open on the right side of the tool, and remains read-only.
  3. Click OK. The Compare Workspaces tool opens the specified workspaces.

Viewing Differences: an Overview

Both workspaces, Left and Right, show the differences between them in two ways:

  • On their respective canvases. Note that this view does not show differences between readers, writers, user parameters, Server parameters, and workspace parameters, since these elements do not display on the canvas.

  • Below the canvases, in list form. This view shows differences between all components, including those that do not display on the canvases.

Differences are color-coded, as follows:

Components that exist only in the Left workspace.
Components that exist in both workspaces, but differ from each other.
Components that exist only in the Right workspace.

Things to Consider

When viewing differences, keep in mind the following:

  • Comparisons are based on components on each side that have the exact same names, including suffix.
  • If a workspace consists of more than one tab, such as for custom transformers, the comparison corresponds to whichever tab is active.
  • You can continue to edit and perform other functions in the Left workspace. When you save any changes, or when Copying Differences to the Left Workspace. (below), the Compare Workspaces view adjusts accordingly. The Right workspace always remains read-only.

Viewing Differences on the Canvas

The canvas view of the workspaces shows differences only between components that FME Workbench displays on the canvas. It does not show differences between readers, writers, user parameters, Server parameters, and workspace parameters.

You can use the following icons in the middle toolbar (between the two workspaces) to change how you view the canvases:

  • Nav: Toggles display of the workspace Navigators.
    • Note  Differences are not indicated on the Navigators.
  • Sync: When enabled, navigational input in one canvas, such as scrolling or resizing, synchronizes with the other canvas.

Viewing Details

If a component exists in both the Left and Right workspaces (yellow), you can view the details of how they differ, including their attribute or parameter settings. To view difference details, double-click on the component in the Right workspace (or single-click its gear icon).

To view details of a component that exists only on one side, double-click on it (or single-click its gear icon) from whichever side it is on.

Viewing Differences in the Lists

Differences between the Left and Right workspaces are presented in list form beneath the canvas view of the workspaces, which also includes elements that do not display on the canvas, such as readers, writers, user parameters, Server parameters, and workspace parameters.

Filtering Differences

You can filter this list to limit your view of differences. In the middle toolbar, click Filter:

  • By Type of Component: Lists only differences that apply to selected components.
  • By Component Name: You can filter the list further by entering a character string, which acts on the name(s) of the affected components.

Viewing Details

To view a list item in more detail, double-click on the name, or single-click on its corresponding descriptor at right. If the feature is a modification (yellow), a left-right comparison window opens that shows the state of the component corresponding to the Left and Right workspaces, respectively.

Copying Differences to the Left Workspace.

You can choose which differences from the Workspace Compare and Merge window you want to incorporate into the original workspace.

  • If you merge an addition, it is added to the original workspace.
  • If you merge a modification, it is applied to the original workspace.
  • If you merge a deletion, it is removed from the original workspace.

To merge differences:

  1. Use the checkboxes beside each difference to select the changes you want to merge.
  2. Click Merge.
  3. On the Merge Confirmation dialog, click Yes.

Tip: Merges are recorded in the History Window. You can undo and redo them as with other changes. Or, use the Undo and Redo tools from the Edit menu or the Toolbar.