Comparing based on a field

[patternproject]

Hi,

I need to compare two excel files, where the rows should be compared on the basis of a special column - title ID.

Both files can have a row with ID, which the other does not have. For example:

File A
------------
ID - Data
1 - A
2 - B
4 - D


File B
------------
ID - Data
1 - A
3 - C
4 - D

What I need is that rows are compared on the basis of this column "ID" and if there is not a row with this value, it is left empty, so this is what I need at the end:


ID - Data ID - Data
--------------------------
1 - A 1 - A
--------------------------
2 - B
--------------------------
3 - C
--------------------------
4 - D 4 - D
--------------------------


Br /

[Aaron]

Hello,

Depending on how your data is formatted, you can use our Data Compare session type in BC3, and set the first column to be the key column. The key column must then match exactly for the rows to align, otherwise they will be orphan rows. You can set which column, or combination of columns, is the Key in the Session settings, or by right-clicking each column header and setting to be Key, Std, or Unimportant.

You can alternately use the Text Compare, define a grammar item to match your 'key', and then mark Everything Else as Unimportant. Then in the Alignment session settings, mark to Never Align Mismatches. This option will then never align important (only your key) mismatches.

The Data Compare is built to handle data this way, but you may need to configure it properly to put your data into each proper column using delimiters or fixed width columns. Let us know if you have any questions.