Project-Diff

Compare two Ampla projects by extracting key components.

Often when projects migrating from Development to Production it can be very difficult to understand what is different.

There are a number of good diff tools such as http://winmerge.org/, but the challenge is the standard Project Export and Authstore files are too complex.

What is does.

Project-Diff will run a set of scripts over an AmplaProject and Authstore file to extract the configuration into a standard text format that can be easily compared.

When the project is analysed, a set of templates are used to match particular items and output the configuration in either an xml or text format. A JSON like format can be useful for comparing the structure of the project.

File Structure

• Development directory
  • Where the Development AmplaProject.xml file is placed
• Production directory
  • Where the Production AmplaProject.xml file is placed
• Output directory
  • Development directory
    • Development output files are placed here
  • Production directory
    • Production output files are placed here
• Working directory
  • Where the intermediate files are placed
• src directory
  • Source files
• lib directory
  • libraries that are used

Output templates

• List of all items by type
• Reporting Points
  • Downtime
  • Production
  • Quality
  • Metrics
  • Maintenance
  • Planning
• Classes
  • Equipment
  • Material
  • Personnel
• Common Items
  • Users
  • Data Repository
  • Code items
  • Action items

Example output

List of items of each type

Type : Citect.Ampla.General.Server.Classification
Count: 6 items
System Configuration.Lookup Lists.Classifications.No Scheduled Production
System Configuration.Lookup Lists.Classifications.Operating Delay
System Configuration.Lookup Lists.Classifications.Operating Standby
System Configuration.Lookup Lists.Classifications.Scheduled Loss
System Configuration.Lookup Lists.Classifications.Unscheduled Loss Failure
System Configuration.Lookup Lists.Classifications.Unscheduled Loss Other

JSON format (fragment)

{
    "Item": {
        "fullName": "Enterprise.Site.Area.Production",
        "id": "19a09b93-58c4-493f-a982-7eed15e11d1e",
        "name": "Consumables",
        "type": "Citect.Ampla.Production.Server.ProductionReportingPoint",
        "Property": {
            "DisplayOrder": "50008"
        },
        "Item": [
            {
                "Item": {
                    "fullName": "Enterprise.Site.Area.Production.Conditions",
                    "id": "4b00cc08-d973-41d4-abcb-0c1fd8acbd31",
                    "name": "Conditions",
                    "type": "Citect.Ampla.General.Server.ConditionsFolder",
                    "Property": {
                        "DisplayOrder": "50008"
                    }
                }
            },
            {
                "Item": {
                    "fullName": "Enterprise.Site.Area.Production.Fields",
                    "id": "25e7cf8c-e6af-4213-b337-457dcc289ebf",
                    "name": "Fields",
                    "type": "Citect.Ampla.Production.Server.ProductionFieldsFolder",
                    "Property": {
                        "DisplayOrder": "50000"
                    },
                    "Item": [
                        {
                            "Item": {
                                "fullName": "Enterprise.Site.Area.Production.Fields.Crew ID",
                                "id": "fd0a9725-a3bd-4f01-862e-a5c48c51bfd6",
                                "name": "Crew ID",
                                "type": "Citect.Ampla.Production.Server.ProductionFieldDefinition",
                                "Property": {
                                    "AllowedValuesLookupList": "System Configuration.Lookup Lists.Crews IDs",
                                    "AllowedValuesType": "LookupList",
                                    "DataType": "String",
                                    "DisplayOrder": "50220",
                                    "FieldType": "ID",
                                    "Filterable": "True",
                                    "HistoricalFieldExpression": {
                                        "HistoricalExpressionConfig": {
                                            "ExpressionConfig": {
                                                "format": "#ItemReference0#.Samples[time]",
                                                "compileAction": "Compile",
                                                "filterValues": "False",
                                                "text": "Project.[System Configuration].DataSources.HDA.Variables.Crew.Samples[time]"
                                            },
                                            "ItemLinkCollection": {
                                                "ItemLink": {
                                                    "relativePath": "Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent.System Configuration.DataSources.HDA.Variables.Crew",
                                                    "absolutePath": "System Configuration.DataSources.HDA.Variables.Crew",
                                                    "targetID": "045aa05d-a9b8-4e47-a75b-2c17c3f38ae0",
                                                    "resolveMode": "Smart"
                                                }
                                            }
                                        },
                                        "DependencyCollection": {
                                            "Dependency": {
                                                "dependencyType": "TriggerOperand",
                                                "ItemPropertyLink": {
                                                    "propertyName": "Samples",
                                                    "ItemLink": {
                                                        "relativePath": "Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent.Parent.System Configuration.DataSources.HDA.Variables.Crew",
                                                        "absolutePath": "System Configuration.DataSources.HDA.Variables.Crew",
                                                        "targetID": "045aa05d-a9b8-4e47-a75b-2c17c3f38ae0",
                                                        "resolveMode": "Smart"
                                                    }
                                                }
                                            }
                                        }
                                    },
                                    "PasteInGrid": "True",
                                    "ShowInDetails": "True"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            }
        ]
    }
}

Screenshots

The screenshots show the WinMerge output when there is a difference in one of the code items.