Reuse Data Compare Session Settings?

[kwphipps]

I have an excel file that I want to establish a set of rules for (Keys and column mappings)

I will be comparing these types of files every day.

Is there someway I can reuse these data compare rules for the daily files?

Thanks,
Ken Phipps

[Aaron]

Yes.

You can set a global default from the Home screen in the Session defaults folder. Select the Data Compare session and set the default session settings there.

If you are launching the Data Compare sessions from a specific Folder Compare, you can save the Data Compare sessions as part of that parent Folder Compare (rather than global). To do this, launch the Folder Compare session, then double click on one of your files. Then go to the Session menu -> Session Settings, and alter your settings. In the lower left, change the dropdown box from Use for this View Only to Use for all files in Parent Session. Then go back and resave the parent Folder Compare session.

[spaceman]

Is there any way to apply any session setting to any Data Compare session? I compare a number of different csv file sets that have different column names, keying, etc, but they are not all in a handy parent directory!

Thanks

[Aaron]

Hello,

Does setting the default session settings work for you?

Also, you can save a Data Compare session without files (or a specific pair of files). Then mark it as Locked. You can then open the session first and drag your files onto either side of the pane for comparison.

[spaceman]

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for your response. The fact that it is different "flavours" of CSV makes if difficult to use the default session. If I compare A.csv with B.csv I want to use set of column name "AB", but when I compare 1.csv with 2.csv I need to use column names "12". Today I have tried your alternative suggestion, which does what I wanted to do (Thanks again). However, I primarily work using the explorer context menu and think it would be nice to be able to apply the session detail once I have loaded the files up..... perhaps an enhancement you could consider for another release ?

Regards...

P.S. Another enhancement idea !! - It would be nice to tie in a list of enumerated values associated with a column in the data compare... That way wierd numbers could be converted to more useful explanatory text !!! .... just a thought !!

[Michael Bulgrien]

The fact that it is different "flavours" of CSV makes if difficult to use the default session...it would be nice to be able to apply the session detail once I have loaded the files up...

I agree. This is a point I've made numerous times since beta days. It would be nice to be able to manage named "templates" of session settings then apply the templates as needed.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the suggestion, spaceman and Michael. I had already added it the wishlist and forgot to mention that in my reply.

Could you go into more detail for your enumerated numbers idea? Is a specific example of this use an Excel column that has different numbers in it, but each number corresponds to a Key/Legend of values? So 4 = "Employee", 6 = "Manager", etc, and you want to display the known equivalent instead of the actual data present in the Excel document? Or are you looking for equivalence where one document has "4" and the other document has "Employee" and they should both be marked as equal?

[spaceman]

What I had in mind was the Key/Legend idea... If these were included in the session information, when I compare 2 files I could say "arh ! There is a difference here... file A shows a 'lemon', while file B shows 'Orange'" instead of having to scan through some document to find 318 = lemon and 275 = Orange !! Perhaps use a different colour on the text to represent the fact that it is an enumerated value .....
I'd find it useful anyway.....

Thanks again..

[Aaron]

Would an external conversion work for you?

If you create a custom File Format for your files, you can call an External Conversion from the command line each time you open your files. The conversion could replace the text in your files. This assumes you know how to write an application that does this, or already know of one that exists that could do this for you.

[spaceman]

You are right... an external conversion is a better approach. BC is very good at what is does and it is so easy and tempting to add in specialised functionality and stray away from the core function of the tool. Too many times I have seen good applications try to be anything to everyone and they end up becoming heavyweight and unstable.....

Thanks for the consideration though, and keep up the good work !!!

[Aaron]

Thanks!

If you decide on an external conversion, let us know how you tackled this with an email or post your solution here. With your permission, it may become a KB article or hosted example file

[ojcitt]

Aaron,

It still feels like there's a conceptual mismatch between the concepts of formats and sessions. For example, why are column names, tolerances, and field types in a Data compare session not considered elements of a file's "grammar" or "format"? I have several delimited text data formats that I want to be able to compare quickly (with custom tolerances, header names, delimiters, etc). Defining separate sessions for all of them and having to drag each file into each place would be a major disadvantage. However, all the formats I'm concerned with have a separate file name mask and well-defined schema. Since this use case comes up so often in verification of simulation outputs, I'm surprised it's so awkward to handle in BC3, especially considering how much design effort has gone into the Data Compare options.

-ojc

[Aaron]

Hello,

Thanks for writing. We're definitely interested in collecting real world examples of how our customers are using our Data Compare session type. Do you have sets of files you could email us at [email protected] ? Please include a link back to this forum post for reference.

Which columns and settings were you hoping to have set as file specific? Are you using custom extensions to differentiate between your files or are they different delimited formats?

I've added your general suggestions to our Customer Wishlist.