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Resolved Comparision of DataWindow Objects

  1. How-to
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  1. Naveen M R
    Naveen M R
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. Sunday, 22 September 2019 07:17 AM UTC

Hello Everyone,

I am finding a lot of difficulty while comparing the datawindow objects. Though I make a small change like changing the taborder of the column, I see lot many differences. So which tool is better to compare the datawindow objects ?

Apprciate your help on this.

Looking for PB 12.1 setup
Theme's aren't working in PB2019
Responses (4)
Michael Kramer
Michael Kramer Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Sunday, 22 September 2019 08:14 AM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 1

Hi, This is well-known side effect of the DataWindow painter. Whenever you touch a visual object it has tendency to move to the front in so called Z-order. Z-order is governed by order of source code lines. Hence many changes.

I actually spend time in Edit Source mode while I do diff before check-in. I will reorder where relevant to leave behind only changes I really needed.

Re: Version control and Diff tool

  • Version control is git
  • SourceTree - visual git tool, has its own internal diff
  • WinMerge - diff tool
  • VS Code - text editor of choice, has nice built-in git support incl. diff

HTH /Michael

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mike S
mike S Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Sunday, 22 September 2019 14:29 PM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 2

IMO, ProDiff (PBdelta) is the gold standard for pb diff 

http://www.pbdr.com/prodiff/index.htm

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Michael Kramer
  1. Michael Kramer
  2. Monday, 23 September 2019 14:15 PM UTC
WinMerge is open source and still maintained. Most recent update was about a month ago.

So are the other tools I noted in reply #2.
  1. Helpful
Roland Smith
  1. Roland Smith
  2. Friday, 4 October 2019 17:06 PM UTC
ProDiff and Visual Expert are the only PowerBuilder specific compare tools.



ProDiff is available for as low as US $54.95. It hasn't been updated since 2015 so I wouldn't pay for the Annual Maintenance. I don't think the author is a developer anymore, I believe he has moved into management.
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John Niespodzianski
  1. John Niespodzianski
  2. Monday, 7 October 2019 20:18 PM UTC
ProDiff has a free 30 day trial.



We purchased the site license, but Ken's a hard guy to track down. He eventually got back to us with the info we needed to purchase - but now we're waiting again for our site license reg key.



It's a great product and inexpensive, but be prepared to wait if you order it.
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Christophe Dufourmantelle
Christophe Dufourmantelle Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Friday, 4 October 2019 10:50 AM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 3

Naveem,

You can compare PowerBuilder code with visual expert. For datawindows, comparing source code won’t help, due to the DW painter behavior that Michael mentioned earlier. But you can see DW changes under a different angle:

At component level, you can view modified DW items (red = removed, green = added, blue = changed).

 comparing the items changed in 2 powerbuilder datawindows

If the retrieve SQL has changed, it will show up like this:

Comparing the retrieve SQL of 2 powerbuilder datawindows

Christophe

 

 
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Miguel Leeuwe
Miguel Leeuwe Accepted Answer Pending Moderation
  1. Friday, 4 October 2019 14:22 PM UTC
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. # 4

What I use is Araxis Merge (not free) but there's "Meld", "WinDiff", etc. https://alternativeto.net/software/windiff/

The best is to try manipulate the dw by editing the source code, like Michael said, but that's not always possible and the changes have not always been done by yourself. 

What I then use to do, when I have to compare dw's changes, is to have the newest version on the right and manually find the corresponding line in the older version on the left and cut and paste that line to the same height (in the left panel) as in the right panel. So on until all rows are corresponding and now only show the real differences.

It's a bit of work, but it can be done.

Quite some time ago, I requested Appeon to make dw's have a fixed order in the exported code. The ordering could be done by fieldname or the internal id etc. Doesn't seem like they're in a hurry with that change though, which is understandable with all the other stuff going on.

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Brad Mettee
  1. Brad Mettee
  2. Saturday, 5 October 2019 13:30 PM UTC
The field ordering (also includes graphical objects) is the Z-Order in order from bottom to top (last object in the list is on top). Unless they include a Z-Order property, the objects will always need to be saved this way.
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Miguel Leeuwe
  1. Miguel Leeuwe
  2. Sunday, 6 October 2019 01:12 AM UTC
What I see is that after having saved and then editing a datawindow. Let's say delete column 2 and put it back on the dw in the same position, any initial logic in order is totally gone.



Not too sure what you mean with Z-order though. Are you referring to "bring to front, send to back- order"? Still not a very visible thing for a developer, unless objects overlap each other, but maybe I'm totally misunderstanding you here, so sorry if that's the case.
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