Of the whole suite of Teamstudio developer tools, it might be easiest to guess what Teamstudio Delta does based on its name alone. Delta is a differencing tool for HCL Notes/Domino - it recognizes differences in all the various types of design element, and presents them to you in context. Just as important, it includes smart filters that hide some differences that just happen naturally in Notes. And, it works on data documents, too.
Like all our products, there are certain tech support questions that come up on a regular basis. And so, if you’re a regular user of Delta (there are many, all over the world!) you may find it useful to browse through the most commonly asked questions and their answers. Who knows, you might just find something that you didn’t know was possible, or the answer to some little issue that’s been niggling you for years.
And so, courtesy of our legendary tech support gurus, here are the top six most asked questions about Delta. (And their answers!)
1. Can I compare a function in an agent to a function in a script library?
Yes! You can select an element on the left side of the display (such as a function in an agent), and a different element on the right (such as a function in a script library). Then, right click, selecting Compare to compare the selected elements/functions/items etc.
2. Can I compare more than two databases?
Delta can only compare two databases against each other at the same time. However, there is a LotusScript batch mode for calling Delta in which you can queue up further databases for Delta to compare against each other. Using this method, you can compare three databases by comparing multiple pairs of databases (A v B, A v C, B v C).
We supply a sample agent for calling Delta in the template tmslogs.ntf that ships with the product. You can read more about calling Delta from LotusScript in this blog post about it.
3. Can I compare documents but only looking for differences in specific fields?
Yes! Compare the data based on a common view as normal, double click on a document to see the document level differences, then expand the Document category to expose the fields. For each field you wish to ignore, right click on it and choose “Add to Smart Filter”.
Once you've done this for all fields except the ones where you are looking for differences, enabling/disabling the Smart Filter will now include the fields you added.
4. Can I have more than one Smart Filter?
Yes! The Smart Filter contents are controlled by the file diffilter.ini in the Notes Data directory. Taking a copy of the file and renaming it will preserve the Smart Filter in that state so multiple Smart Filters can be stored in different copies of the diffilter.ini for different situations.
The current Smart Filter used by Delta will always be the one defined in the file named diffilter.ini, so giving the desired Smart Filter ini file this name will set it to be the current Smart Filter.
5. Why is the Merge option grayed out in Delta?
Actions performed with any of the Teamstudio tools respect the Notes/Domino security model based on the Notes ID of the user. Merging requires Designer access to the target database and may be restricted further by Author fields. So the most likely reason for the option being grayed out is because you don’t have sufficient access rights.
In addition, some items cannot be merged because Notes does not allow it in the API. For example, table cells and columns fall into this category. Individual lines of code cannot be merged, but whole subs/functions can.
Delta does not allow merging when comparing data; a delta of two documents does not allow merging. However, keep in mind that the Delta window contents can be highlighted and copied to the clipboard so values that can't be merged within Delta can be copied and then pasted in Domino Designer or the Notes client.
6. Will Delta work correctly with Teamstudio CIAO?
Yes! Delta fully supports comparisons on CIAO! controlled databases. Most of Delta functionality is read only, but if you are using the merge feature, then CIAO! will interrupt and prompt for a check out if the element is not already under your control.
Once the merge is complete then the element remains checked out to you and you would need to check it back in as you normally would after making changes.
Those are the most commonly asked questions about Teamstudio Delta. If you have other questions, or you’re just curious to learn more about Teamstudio Delta or any of our development tools for HCL Notes/Domino, please do contact us. We love to chat!