Understanding the Compare Process

PeopleSoft Application Designer performs comparisons on one definition type at a time. For each definition type that you select, the system removes any existing definitions of that type from the current project and repopulates the project based on the comparison results. For this reason, be careful when performing a database comparison on a predefined project.

For example, suppose that your project includes several record, page, and menu definitions and you perform a database comparison on pages only. All of the page definitions that were originally in the project are removed and replaced by any page definitions that were found in the Compare process. However, the record and menu definitions in the project are not affected.

Performing a database comparison overwrites custom upgrade settings with the defaults for the specified target orientation.

If you manually inserted definitions into the project and you want to see how those definitions differ from the same definitions in another database, perform a project comparison. This method compares only the definitions in the project and does not repopulate the project—except in record and field comparisons. Upgrade settings are never modified when you perform a project comparison.

When records are compared—during a database or project comparison—differences that are found in record fields are written into the project. For example, suppose that Record A in the source database contains record fields 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and Record A in the target database contains fields 2, 4, 6, and 7. Before the comparison, the project contains only Record A. After the comparison, the project contains Record A and record fields 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7.

Similarly, when field definitions are compared, differences that are found in the field labels are inserted into the project as new field definitions. For example, suppose that you are comparing the source with the target, and both databases have the same field definitions. However, the field label for one of those field definitions is different. The source field definition is labeled Employee ID, but in the target, it is labeled Staff ID. The Compare process creates a new field definition that is labeled Staff ID. After the comparison, the project contains both an Employee ID field and a Staff ID field.

The Upgrade Copy process synchronizes databases when performing an upgrade compare and copy for record definitions. During the upgrade copy (CopyProp only) of a table, subrecord, or temporary table, the system reorders the indexes (_, 0 through 9) to follow the source index order. The target order matches the source order after the copy.

For example, suppose that the source record, Z, is a table with fields B, A, C, G, H and the target record, Z, is a table with fields A, B, F, G, C, H where all of these conditions are true:

• F is a customization and a Key field.

• A and B are exactly the same except for field order, and both are keys.

• C, G, H are exactly the same except for field order, and they are nonkey fields.

In this example, the upgrade compare produces project items for this record:

* Unless the F record field is deleted, an upgrade copy and compare always shows this project item.

The result of an upgrade copy on this record changes record fields A, B, F, G, C, and H in the target database to B, F, A, G, C, and H, without moving the nonkey fields. Another upgrade compare would produce the same project items.

Likewise, during an upgrade copy of a view or dynamic view, the target order is reordered to match the source when a record field project item is copied and the source order does not match the target order.

For example, suppose that the source record, Z, is a view with fields B, A, C, and the target record, Z, is a view with fields A, B, F, C where all of these conditions are true:

• F is a customization.

• A and B are exactly the same except for field order.

In this example, the upgrade compare produces project items for these record fields:

* Unless record field F is deleted, an upgrade copy and compare always shows this project item.

The result of an upgrade copy changes A, B, F, C in the target database to B, F, A, C.

Another project compare would produce these project items:

* Unless F is deleted, an upgrade copy and compare always shows this project item.