Resolving Object Conflicts

Conflicts between objects in the primary and secondary object repositories are resolved automatically by the Object Repository Merge Tool according to the default resolution settings that you can configure before performing the merge.

However, the Object Repository Merge Tool also allows you to change the way the merge was performed for each individual object that causes a conflict.

For example, an object in the primary repository could have the same name as an object in the secondary repository, but have a different description. You may have defined in the default settings that in this case, the object with the more generic object description, meaning the object with fewer properties, should be added to the target object repository. However, when you review the conflicts after the automatic merge, you could decide to handle the specific conflict differently, for example, by keeping both objects.

Note: Changes that you make to the default conflict resolution can themselves affect the target object repository by causing new conflicts. In the above example, keeping both objects would cause a name conflict. Therefore, the target object repository is updated after each conflict resolution change and redisplayed.

You can identify objects that caused conflicts, and the conflict type, by the icon displayed to the left of the object name in the target object repository pane of the Object Repository Merge Tool and the text color. When you select a conflicting object, a full description of the conflict, including how it was automatically resolved by the Object Repository Merge Tool, is displayed in the Resolutions Options pane.

The Resolutions Options pane offers alternative resolution options. You can choose to keep the default resolution if it suits your needs, or use the alternative options to resolve the conflict in a different way.

Tip: You can also change the default resolution settings and merge the files again.

To resolve object conflicts:

1. In the target object repository, select an object that has a conflict, as indicated by the icon to the left of the object name. The conflicting objects are highlighted in the source repositories.

A description of the conflict and the resolution method used by the Object Repository Merge Tool is described in the Resolution Options pane. A radio button for each possible alternative resolution method is displayed.

2. In the Resolution Options pane, select a radio button to choose an alternative resolution method. The target object repository is updated according to your selection and redisplayed.
3. In the Resolution Options pane, click the Previous Conflict or Next Conflict buttons to jump directly to the next or previous conflict in the target object repository hierarchy.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 to modify additional conflict resolutions, as necessary.
5. Save the target object repository