Is it normal to have the conflict column having value while merging from a branch to trunk...and how to see where is the conflict..For example I have a tabbed report with different sections in each tab.. how do i know where is the conflict ?

Similarly while looking into checkin history, how do i know which part of the report has been modified.. !!

Does anyone have similar question..

Hi Kalyani,

I'm not sure of the answer to your question but asking @Shelby Ohyama as she might know the answer or be able to point us to someone who does.

Shelby, can you help answer Kalyani's question about merge conflicts?

Thank you @Debbie Hagenfor redirecting my question to the right forum..

No problem Kalyani!

Hi @Kalyani Patra,

For merging, when you see a merge conflict, that means the document/file has changed both in your branch as well as trunk. This is Apptio's way of warning you that there are changes in both places, and you are in a scenario where completing the merge from your branch will over-write changes made in trunk.

For your question about a report and its mulitple tabs, the report as a whole (ie all its tabs) is considered a single object/document. Therefore if you merge your version from the branch to trunk, it will overwrite the entire report, not just a single tab where edits are made.

• Note: Apptio merging does not combine the changes between the branch and trunk - even if work is done on separate tabs - it will overwrite the whole report with the version on the branch.

As a best practice when expecting to merge a branch back into trunk, preemptively tell your users not to check out / in (ie change) any of the metrics, tables, reports etc that you plan to change in the branch. This will help you proactively stop merge conflicts from happening.

Hope that helps, and let me know if you have any other questions!

Shelby

Thanks Shelby!

No problem @Debbie Hagen

Thank you @Shelby Ohyama...that explains clearly my query. 

However is there a way to see where is the conflixt, I mean which part of the code.

Or is there a plan to improve the merge process.

As multiple people in my project might work on different part of the same report to speed up the developments.. it would be great to merge actually instead of overwriting. I am sure others might have similar need now or in future..

Thank you for you response.

Kind Regards

Hi @Kalyani Patra,

I'm sorry to say that we do not have an ability to see the specific conflict at a more granular level than the object / report. I agree that an improvement to the merge process where a user can combine work vs overwriting would be significant for speeding up development. I can write up an RFE for you.

Thank you!

Shelby

Thank you @Shelby Ohyama  for the response. I am sorry to ask what is RFE !!

Regards,

Kalyani

Hey @Kalyani Patra, its a request for enhancement sorry for my acronym use!

No problem, I was assuming however wanted to confirm as it is APPTIO world.

If the enhancement would be feasible , it would be great for all developers I guess including me.

Kind Regards,

Kalyani

Hi Shelby,

one possible feature that can help might be: 

https://tbmcouncil.jiveon.com/docs/DOC-10859

Can we perhaps get it on a greater granular level? = RFE

Also, I am looking at a column which shows no changes/customizations in the trunk or the branch. All items have been checked in - Its in a sandbox environment. Are there any other reasons why this could be happening?

Hi @Apurva Joshi, yes I agree it would be helpful to get the customized detail at a more granular level. The component only surfaces the per report/document vs more granularity. When you refer to the column which shows no changes/customizations are you seeing via in the Customized Entities component? If so, I do see a note that there are possible "false positives" which could explain what you are seeing 

Yes, Shelby - was Advised by Paul Ryan to ignore merge conflicts which were appearing even though there were no actual conflicts. I was not seeing conflicts via the customized entities component - report in this case but was seeing conflicts while merging...from branch to trunk. The issue was that these conflicts were not actually conflicts but appeared as conflicts in the pop up applet.