Structure Compare Report

The emxStructureCompareReport.jsp can produce 5 types of reports. A complete summary or a Difference Only Summary.

The emxStructureCompare.jsp or custom JSP passes in 1, 2, or 3 matching criteria column names, and any number of comparison column names. The report sorts the structures based on these fields, and then matches and compares the child objects. The reports do not compare the root nodes for the two objects.

This section discusses the following topics:

Complete Summary Report

When the user selects Complete Summary in the default Structure Compare dialog box, or a custom JSP passes the reportType=complete_summary URL parameter, the report lists all child objects of Object 1 and Object 2 with visual indicators of the difference between the child objects.



The report lists all columns in the table except those defined with the Column Type is Icon, Image, or Separator. To explicitly omit a column from this report, define the Compare Report=false setting for that column. The column headings shown in red are the ones selected for comparison.

Matched objects (child objects of Object 1 and Object 2 have the same values for all specified Match Based On columns), display side by side on the page. If a child object of either Object 1 or Object 2 does not match any child objects of the other, it only appears on one side of the page and is highlighted in yellow. Child objects of these unique objects are not compared.

For matched objects, a column value highlighted in blue indicates a value that differs between Object 1 and Object 2.

The Diff Code column indicates how the 2 objects differ for that row. The Structure Compare feature comes with these default code vaules:


  • ADD. Indicates the object is unique to the left side of the report.
  • DEL. Indicates the object is unique to the right side of the report.

You can provide code values on columns to show in the Diff Code column when the values in those columns differ between objects 1 and 2. The syntax for this setting is:

Diff Code = <precedence:code value>

The precedence must be an integer and it defines which code value to use when the objects have multiple columns with different values. The code value can indicate the column name, or the type of data in the columns, or any needed value.

Multiple columns can have the same precedence value. As an example, the settings on 2 columns could be:

Diff Code = 1:Attribute

Diff Code = 2:Class

If both of these columns differ between the 2 objects, the Diff Code column shows Attribute, because that has a lower precedence. If the columns that differ have the same precedence, both code values show in the Diff Code column.

The Complete Summary Report includes the standard AEFStructureCompareToolbar. You can customize the page by passing the toolbar=menuname URL Parameter and use a custom toolbar. See Comparing the Structure of Objects for description of the results page and how the user can synchronize the structures to the right or to the left.

If the synchronize process adds a new row to an object, the connection is based on the relationship used in the source structure for the node. If the relationship is not valid or the user does not have connect access, the change is not made and the user is notified. To use custom logic for making this connection, you can pass the connectionProgram URL parameter that defines the custom JSP to perform this task.

Difference-Only Report

When the user selects Difference Only Summary in the default Structure Compare dialog box, or a custom JSP passes the reportType=difference_only URL parameter, the report only lists those objects that only appear in one of the Object's structures, or have different values in the columns selected for comparison. Any child objects that are the same for Object 1 and Object 2 do not show in this version of the report. In addition, the sync functions are not available for this report.



As with the Complete Summary Report, if a child object of either Object 1 or Object 2 does not match any child objects of the other, it only appears on one side of the page and is highlighted in yellow. Child objects of these unique objects are not compared.

For matched objects, a column value highlighted in blue indicates a value that differs between Object 1 and Object 2.

Unique to Left and Unique to Right Reports

When the user selects Unique to Left or Unique to Right in the default Structure Compare dialog box, or a custom JSP passes the reportType=Unique_toLeft_Report or Unique_toRight_report URL parameter, the report only lists those objects that only appear as child objects of Object 1 (Unique to Left) or Object 2 (Unique to Right) in the columns selected for comparison. Left and right are as shown on the Complete Summary Report; that is, Object 1 shows on the left and Object 2 shows on the right. Any child objects that are the same for Object 1 and Object 2 do not show in these versions of the report. The sync functions are not available for this report.



This example shows the Unique to Left Report, showing child objects that are unique to Object 1 (that shows on the left side of the complete summary report).

Common Components Report

When the user selects Common Components Report in the default Structure Compare dialog box, or a custom JSP passes the reportType=Common_Report URL parameter, the report only lists those child objects with matching values in the columns selected for comparison. The sync functions are not available for this report.



In the above example, there are no matching child objects for the selected attributes.