Metadata in scxml is not source - control friendly

[beihth]

Unfortunaltely, working with the generated scxml - files in source control is very cumbersome due to the format of the metadata:

Merging changes from different branches in scxml generated from this editor is a big issue.

Would it be possible for the editor to solely rely on a format that is already implemented for exporting like the qt-creator format in order to enable better diffing and therefore collaborative work?

Thanks!

[alexzhornyak]

I understand the task but it is not easy to implement what you want in the current application approach. I will keep this issue, maybe in the future I will implement per line gui metainformation. For now I would offer to split chart into virtual pieces for collaborative work as show here: https://alexzhornyak.github.io/ScxmlEditor-Tutorial/Doc/VisualStateChartSplitting.html

[beihth]

Thank you for this suggestion; We are already using virtual states and aliases tough (and they work great). And as far as I can tell those separated states also contain the same metadata - format. Even with the scxml-file being very small, the merging does not get easier unfortunately.

• Merging changes just in the scxml - part of the file and ignoring the metadata leads to ignored States and Transitions after a re - save in the editor
• Merging changes in the scxml - part of the file and deleting the metadata leads to a complete re - layouting, which is also not ideal

Am I missing something regarding virtual states that would enable collaborative work?
Thank you!

[alexzhornyak]

This editor is primary based on visual layout, so visual metainformation is primary. Even if I do per line support for every state and for example a couple of persons will visually work with the same chart what you will do after merge if there is a visual mess?

Example of merged states

So, the only way that I see for a collaborative visual work is to split a state chart in the way when a single person would work for a single chart. If this approach is not acceptable for you then you need to completely work in a text mode with autolayouting like VSCode scxml extension. You can try it: visual-scxml-editor

[beihth]

If the per - line visual information ever becomes a thing this'll surely alleviate the above issue immensely. Thank you for the great work!

[alexzhornyak]

@beihth, I uploaded the release, you can try, but you need to read textual metadata restrictions at first: https://github.com/alexzhornyak/ScxmlEditor-Tutorial/blob/master/Doc/ExportScxmlWithMetainformation.md#textual-metadata-project-mode-only

Some extended metadata may be lost!