Diff / Merge Tools¶

Diff and merge tools are used for examining modifications and resolving inconsistencies.

Diff tools are useful when you want to compare changes you've made with the original, unaltered version.

Rapise Merge¶

Whenever the Save to Spira button is pressed in Rapise, the tool examines which files have been modified.

Spira Diff Merge

(1) If a file has a "Diff..." button, it indicates that the file has been altered compared to the version currently stored in Spira. Clicking this button will...

(2) If a file displays a "Resolve..." button, it signifies a conflict where the file has been modified both locally and remotely in parallel. Clicking this button will display a merge conflict resolution dialog.

Default Diff Tools¶

Rapise does not have built-in diff/merge tools, with two exceptions:

RVLMerge is used to compare and merge .xlsx files, including RVL (.rvl.xlsx) files.
sstestmerge is used for silent 3-way merging of conflicting .sstest files.

For other file types, Rapise relies on already installed merge tools. Various options are available, both free and paid, and developers often have their preferred choices.

If Rapise recognizes a specific merge tool, it utilizes it. Currently, Rapise is aware of the following tools, as defined in the MergeTools.yml configuration file:

tools:
  TortoiseGitIDiff:
    mdi: false
    autorefresh: false
    text: false
    ext: [bmp, gif, ico, jpg, jpeg, png, tif, tiff]
    diff: ' /left:"%remote%" /right:"%local%"'
    search:
    - '%PATH%TortoiseGitIDiff.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles%\TortoiseGit\bin\TortoiseGitIDiff.exe'
    - '%ProgramW6432%\TortoiseGit\bin\TortoiseGitIDiff.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles(x86)%\TortoiseGit\bin\TortoiseGitIDiff.exe'

  TortoiseGitMerge:
    text: true
    diff: '"%remote%" "%local%"'
    merge3: ' /base:"%base%" /theirs:"%remote%" /mine:"%local%" /merged:"%result%"'
    search: 
    - '%PATH%TortoiseGitMerge.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles%\TortoiseGit\bin\TortoiseGitMerge.exe'
    - '%ProgramW6432%\TortoiseGit\bin\TortoiseGitMerge.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles(x86)%\TortoiseGit\bin\TortoiseGitMerge.exe'

  BeyondCompare:
    autorefresh: true
    text: true
    diff: '/solo /leftreadonly "%remote%" "%local%"'
    merge3: '/solo "%base%" "%remote%" "%local%" "%result%"'
    ext: [pdf, bmp, gif, ico, jpg, jpeg, png, tif, tiff, rtf]
    search:
    - '%PATH%BCompare.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles%\Beyond Compare *\BCompare.exe'
    - '%ProgramW6432%\Beyond Compare *\BCompare.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Beyond Compare *\BCompare.exe'

  AraxisMerge:
    mdi: true
    autorefresh: true
    text: true
    diff: '"%remote%" "%local%"'
    merge3: '/merge "%base%" "%remote%" "%local%" "%result%"'
    ext: [bmp, dib, emf, gif, jif, j2c, j2k, jp2, jpc, jpeg, jpg, jpx, pbm, pcx, pgm, png, ppm, ras, tif, tiff, tga, wmf]
    search:
    - '%PATH%ConsoleCompare.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles%\Araxis\Araxis Merge\ConsoleCompare.exe'
    - '%ProgramW6432%\Araxis\Araxis Merge\ConsoleCompare.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Araxis\Araxis Merge\ConsoleCompare.exe'

  KDiff3:
    mdi: false
    autorefresh: false
    text: true
    diff: '"%remote%" "%local%"'
    merge3: '"%base%" "%local%" "%remote%" -o "%result%"'
    search: 
    - '%PATH%kdiff3.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles%\KDiff3\kdiff3.exe'
    - '%ProgramW6432%\KDiff3\kdiff3.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles(x86)%\KDiff3\kdiff3.exe'

  WinMerge:
    mdi: false
    autorefresh: true
    text: true
    notes: |
      * [Command line reference](https://manual.winmerge.org/en/Command_line.html).
      * '/u' Prevents WinMerge from adding paths to the Most Recently Used (MRU) list.
      * '/wl' Opens the left side as read-only.
      * '/dl' and '/dr' Specifies file descriptions in the title bar.
      * '/e' Enables close with a single Esc key press.
    diff: '/u /wl /e "%remote%" "%local%" /dl "REMOTE" /dr "LOCAL"'
    merge3: '-s -wl -wm /ar -dl Base -dm Remote -dr Local "%base%" "%remote%" "%local%" -o "%result%"'
    ext: [bmp, cut, dds, exr, g3, gif, hdr, ico, iff, lbm, j2k, j2c, jng, jp2, jpg, jif, jpeg, jpe, jxr, wdp, hdp, koa, mng, pcd, pcx, pfm, pct, pict, pic, png, pbm, pgm, ppm, psd, ras, sgi, rgb, rgba, bw, tga, targa, tif, tiff, wap, wbmp, wbm, webp, xbm, xpm]
    search: 
    - '%PATH%WinMergeU.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles%\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe'
    - '%ProgramW6432%\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe'
    - '%ProgramFiles(x86)%\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe'
    - '%LocalAppData%\Programs\WinMerge\WinMergeU.exe'

Built-in Tools¶

RVL and Spreadsheets¶

By default, RVLMerge is automatically installed. Unless specified otherwise, it is displayed when you choose to show the diff for an RVL or a spreadsheet.

RVLMerge

Using with Git¶

You can integrate RVLMerge with your current Git diff/merge tool using its command line interface.

To perform a diff, use the following command:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Inflectra\RvlMerge\RvlMerge.exe -s <src> -d <dst>

Here, <src> represents the path to the unmodified (base or remote) version, and <dst> represents the path to the final version, which will also be the target for merge results.

For example, in TortoiseGit, the diff command looks like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Inflectra\RvlMerge\RvlMerge.exe -s %base -d %mine

Similarly, to perform a merge, use the following command:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Inflectra\RvlMerge\RvlMerge.exe -s %theirs -d %mine

Sstest¶

The merging of .sstest files is fully automatic (typically Test.sstest for a Test Case or Framework.sstest for a framework root). So once you click Merge..., no UI is shown, and the merged file is automatically generated.

To enable automatic .sstest merge with your Git client, you can use it as follows:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Inflectra\Rapise\Extensions\DiffMerge\Tools\SstestMerge.cmd -s %theirs -d %mine

Adding a Custom Diff Tool¶

You can incorporate additional known diff tools into Rapise. If your team uses multiple tools, that's perfectly fine. You can define all of them together, and Rapise selects the first one it finds. To do this, you need to create a file named MergeTools.yml in one of two locations:

In the root directory of your testing framework, such as C:\Users\UserName\Documents\My Rapise Tests\LIS\MergeTools.yml. When defined in this location, it becomes specific to the testing framework. Loading it from Spira or Git provides the associated diff definitions.

In the C:\Users\Public\Documents\Rapise\ directory. When defined here, it applies to all tests and frameworks on the given computer.

If you have a MergeTools.yml file in both locations, the one in the framework directory takes precedence.

The MergeTools.yml file follows this format:

%YAML 1.2
---
#
# Replacement variables
# %base%    - common
# %remote%  - aka 'theirs'
# %local%   - aka 'mine'
# %result%  - destination
#
# diff - show diff only
# merge - way merge for %remote% + %local% => %result%
# merge3 - 3 way merge %base% + %remote% + %local% => %result%
# - If %result% is not used, %local% is assumed to be an output

tools:

  CustomDiff1:
    mdi: false
    autorefresh: false
    text: true
    diff: '"%base%" "%local%"'
    ext: [txt,js]
    search: 
    - '%ProgramFiles%\Path\To My\DiffTool.exe'

  CustomMerge1:
    mdi: false
    autorefresh: false
    text: true
    merge3: '"%base%" "%remote%" "%local%" "%result%"'
    ext: [txt]
    search: 
    - '%ProgramFiles%\Path\To My\MergeTool.exe'

  CustomDiffMerge1:
    mdi: false
    autorefresh: false
    text: true
    diff: '"%base%" "%local%"'
    merge3: '"%base%" "%remote%" "%local%" "%result%"'
    ext: [txt]
    search: 
    - '%ProgramFiles%\Path\To My\DiffMergeTool.exe'