Merge files

I already read the guides trying to find what is exactly to merge, doing also some testing but couldn't find it. I know that is when 2 different persons are modifying the same file so when one of them save it, and then the second one save it also is when appears both of them in the screen to select the right one. But exactly how can I merge a file, by submitting the file? or that screen appears as soon as the second person is saving the modified file??

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tvaughan

Hi Amalia,

Here's how merging works:

1) Adam edits a file in his WORKAREA and -- by default -- gets a lock on that file.

2) Bob tries to edit the file and gets a warning saying "Adam has a lock on this! Are you sure you want to edit?" Bob clicks 'Yes' and assumes de facto responsibility for merging whatever he does with Adam's eventual submission.

3) Sometime later, Adam checks his file in to STAGING and goes home.

4) Bob then tries to submit his version of the file and TeamSite alerts him via the Submit Workflow that he needs to merge his file.

5) Bob selects the 'Merge' button from the conflict resolution popup window and gets a 4-paned window (three vertical, one horizontal pane at the bottom) that lets him loop over all the differences between his version and STAGING/Adam's version. He selects to keep either his edits or Adam's edits, or neither and "builds" a new file.

6) When there are no differences left, Bob selects "File-->Save" from the merging window. When Bob closes the Window, the submit operation proceeds normally and the new, merged file gets submitted to STAGING.

Hope that helps,
Tom

amyk1

I also have a question on the merging tool. I will explain a bit about what I am trying to do and then more about my merging question.

I have set up a branch that has a sub-branch within it. The sub-branch contains versions of software from another company that we use as part of one of our websites. So this code needs to be versioned and kept track of on it's own. The main branch contains that software from the other company plus all of our add ons and customizations. So each time a new release of that software comes out we need to merge their updates into our customized version. So basically what I am trying to do is do a "copy to area" from the sub-branch to one of the workareas of the main branch. This kicks off the merge tool if there are differences between the files. Some of the time the merge tool works just fine, other times it's not so great.

In some cases, I get notification for certain files that there are conflicts that need to be resolved. I click the merge button to take care of this and the merge utility tells me there are no differences. I click the "details" button and the files appear to have the same last modified date and time as well. So basically it's asking me to merge a whole bunch of files that don't need it.

The other strange thing I noticed was that sometimes the merge utility highlights code in grey and tells me to resolve the conflict. Well the code looks exactly the same to me and I don't see what it thinks is different. Other legitimate conflicts are highlighted in red.

Any more insight on how the merge tool works in cases like this would be appreciated.