Understanding the synchronization feature

The synchronization feature compares the contents of two product or library versions and returns the objects that have changed.

Users can open the objects in a compare editor to see the differences between the two versions. They can also merge the changes so that both objects are identical.

Synchronization: From source to target

The synchronization feature works by comparing a source version with a target version and returning the changes made in the source version that can be applied to the target version.

For example, consider Version 4.1.1, which contains 3 objects: a map, Product A User Guide, and 2 topics. The User Guide is cloned in Version 4.1.2 and two new topics are added to Version 4.1.2, as shown below:

When version 4.1.1 (source) is synchronized with version 4.1.2 (target), IXIASOFT CCMS does not report any difference between the versions. This is because there are no changes in 4.1.1 that could be merged or added to 4.1.2.

The Synchronize feature allows you to:

Add maps, topics, and images from the source version to the target version
Merge the entire content and structure of objects from the source version to the target version
Selectively merge changes in maps and topics in the source version to the target version
Revert to their source version objects that were modified in the target version but not in the source version

Note: Objects that are removed from a DRM version are not shown as deleted when you synchronize that version with another. For example, if Topic2 had been removed from version 4.1.1, it would not show as a deleted topic when you synchronize 4.1.1 with 4.1.2. To identify the topics that were deleted between versions, you need to compare the maps to see the topics that were removed from the map.

When you synchronize versions, the results of the comparison are provided in the DRM Synchronization perspective. Using the example above, the CCMS would return the following results in the DRM Synchronization perspective:

As shown in the example above, the Synchronization Tree lists three changes in the source version that could be applied to the target version:

Topic 3 and Topic 4 were added to Version 4.1.2, as shown by the plus sign icon ().
The content of the User Guide map was modified, as shown by the star icon ().

Some changes, such as the ones above, are simple changes that can be easily merged automatically by the Synchronization feature. For example, new paragraphs added to a topic in the source version can easily be merged automatically to the target version.

However, sometimes the changes are not as obvious; in such cases, the object appears in the Conflict folder and the user must review the changes and manually accept or reject them, as appropriate.

For example, consider the following situation: Topic 1 in Version 4.1.1 is branched in Version 4.1.2. In Version 4.1.1, the topic is modified and its title changed to "Topic 1: New title in 4.1.1". In Version 4.1.2, the topic is modified and its title is changed to "Topic 1: New title in 4.1.2", as shown in the following diagram:

When Version 4.1.1 is synchronized with Version 4.1.2, this topic is determined to be in conflict because the Synchronization tool cannot determine how to handle this change: Which title should be used? Should the change made to the 4.1.1 title be applied to version 4.1.2, or should the 4.1.2 title remain as is? In this case, the user must open the topic in the compare editor to review the changes and determine what to do. For example, opening Topic 1 in the compare editor would appear as follows:

To synchronize versions, you use the Synchronization perspective and a compare editor.