Using branch merging

You can merge branches together.

About this task

When you merge branches, you decide what to do with each project element that is different between the two branches:

  • Replace the version in the target branch

  • Update the source branch with the version found in the target branch

  • Take no action at all

After you specify the two branches you want to merge, Decision Center looks at both branches and displays a table containing all the differences. This table contains the name and folder of project elements that are different between the branches, and their state in both branches. This table also contains an Actions column, containing a proposed action to take. You can click inside the cells of this column and change individual actions as you see fit.

Table containing merge differences

Click Diff and Merge view icon next to the Action column when there are several changes to the rule and you want to specify which of these changes to merge (see Using Diff and Merge). This option is only available with action rules or decision tables.

The elements taken into account during a merge operation are:
  • Rule Artifacts (BAL rules, technical rules, decision tables, decision trees, functions)
  • Simulation artifacts (metrics, KPIs, simulation models, input data, simulations)
  • Testing artifacts (test suites, test cases)
  • Decision operations
  • Deployment configurations
  • Ruleflows
  • Queries
  • Variable sets
  • BOM
  • Vocabulary
  • B2X
  • Resources
  • Folders
  • DVS artifacts (scenario suites for testing and simulation)
  • Templates
Note:

Changes to ruleset parameters, extractors, project dependencies, categories and dynamic XOM (schemas), cannot be merged. You must change these manually in the other branch.

To help Decision Center propose the correct action to take, you can specify your preferred direction for merging from the following options:

Bidirectionally

This is the default option. The proposed action is based on the assumption that you want to reflect changes made in either branch as follows:

  • If a new rule exists in one branch, you want to add it to the other branch.

  • If a rule has been deleted in one branch, you want to delete it from the other branch.

  • If a rule has been modified in one branch but not in the other, you want to update the unmodified one.

  • If a rule has been modified in both branches, no action is proposed, and you must specify what action to take.

Only to target branch

When you want all changes you made in the working branch to be pushed to the target branch, but none of the changes made in the target branch to be reflected in your working branch.

Only to source branch

When you want all changes made in the target branch to be reflected in your working branch, but none of the changes made in your working branch to be pushed to the target branch.

Procedure

To merge a branch:

  1. From one of the branches to merge, go to the Project tab and click Merge Branches.
  2. Select the target branch to merge with and click Next.
  3. Change the direction in which to merge changes if different from Bidirectionnally.
  4. Specify the actions to take and click Apply Merge.

Results

Decision Center shows the details of the merge. You can access an Excel version of the report from the Analyze tab.