Comparing Definitions by Project

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.

Note:

These are the only situations where a project comparison repopulates a project.