Author

Steve Peregrine BEng Hons, Senior Technical Manager

Project Merging Best Practice Guide

In order to get the best expected results when merging projects in WinCan VX, we must step away from the default merging strategy that is set in the application.

The default strategy is what is commonly known in database merging applications as a ‘Safe’ merge where table objects are not edited, and where the source table and the target table have an object with the same ID, then the merge creates a 2^nd record, rather than updating the target record.  The problem with this is that (particularly with manholes), you end up with a load of duplicate objects, which then goes on to create all sorts of problems with exports etc.

When we talk about merging, we use the terms ‘Source’ and ‘Target’ to refer to project databases.  We always merge the Source project into the Target project, and WinCan VX allows multiple Source projects to be merged into a single Target project in one step.

Good project merging requires good source project data, and too all to often when the merged result is not as expected, it is to easy to blame the merging tool, but when we investigate deeper, we find that the source data was not good before the merge took place.

To improve the merge strategy and protect the target database in case of errors after merge, follow these steps:

Step	Description
1.	Open the source project(s).
2.	Launch the Duplicates Finder (in Tools -> Misc Tools) and search for duplicate sections and nodes in the option list in the bottom-left corner:
3.	The result will show you where you have duplicated asset IDs in your project.  All duplicate instances should be considered carefully, and good engineering judgement made on how to handle each one based on the object ID’s data. Clicking the ‘Resolve all’ button will solve many of the problems by converting two instances of the same pipe ID into one pipe ID with two inspections (also for nodes), but can also introduce new problems if the two assets really are different pipes and the error is that one of the pipe IDs is incorrect.
4.	Run the WinCan VX Validation tool and resolve all errors on sections, laterals and nodes.
5.	Repeat steps 2 – 4 for all the source projects and the target project.
6.	Backup the target database files (Note – this will be automatically done in WinCan VX from version 8.0 onwards).  To do this, simply copy and paste the database files inside the project DB folder to a new location (recommended is [Project Folder] -> Misc -> Backup).  This is the save location of the auto-backup feature in v8.0 and higher. There is no need to backup the source project database files because these will not be modified during the merge process. The reason for doing this is that during the merge process, the target database will be modified, so in the unlikely event that the result is not what is expected, then it is easy to restore the target databases back to how they were before the merge.

Project Mergers

From this point onwards, you have 2 choices with regards to how you merge the projects. You can use the old merger that was original shipped with WinCan VX or the new merger which has been developed with improved business logic but also as a stand alone tool that can run without WinCan VX running which means it can be used in other places, like on WinCan Web.

Both of the mergers are launched from the Project Merger button in the Data Exchange ribbon:

New Merger

Here are the steps to follow on from the pre-preparation work that you have already done by following the guide above.

The landing page of the new merger looks like this:

In the first section you select the source and target projects for merging, followed by a choice of ‘merge to target’ or 'create new'. The first of these options will merge project A into project B, where as the second option will merge projects A and B into a new project C. The second option will take longer to complete due to having to copy many more videos and pictures into the target project folder, but has the advantage that neither project A or B will be modified during the merge process.

The first option to select is usually ‘Select Target File’, followed by ‘Add Source File’. In both cases, you should navigate to and select the main project database file from the project folder, where you select the target file first. Do not be put off by the ‘Select Target Database’ and ‘Add Source Database’ options - these are advanced options for SQL Server clients only and not used by regular WinCan VX customers.

In the ‘Add Source File’ area, it is possible if needed to select more than one WinCan VX project to be merged into the targer.

After making these selections, you may end up with something like this:

If you have selected the option to ‘Create New Project’ then you must specify the name and save location for this project in the second section.

The third ‘Options’ section will not be described in detail here, except to say that there are a number user options that can be turned on and off, but the predefined settings should give the best results and stepping away from these could be risky.

Click on ‘Merge projects’ to start the merge.

You will see a progress and status window appear with information about what is happening in the background, and if all is well then the merge process will complete successfully.

If any of the business logic validation checks specified in the options fail, then the merge will not even begin and a pop up message will appear on the screen describing what the issue is that needs to be fixed in the data before a successful merge can be completed. These validation checks are similar to the manual checks already described above but are automated and additionally go into a little more detail.

The aim of project merging always must be that good data into the merge gives good results at the end, and we must be very careful with assessing the quality of our data before attempting any kind of project merging.

Old Merger

Here are the steps to follow on from the pre-preparation work that you have already done by following the guide above.

Step	Description
1.	Open the Project Merger and go directly to the Wizard Settings from the File menu:
2.	In the Section tab, ensure the Section options are set to ‘Standard merging’:
3.	In the Node tab, ensure the Node options are set to ‘Standard merging’:
4.	In the Lateral tab, ensure the Lateral options are set to ‘Standard merging’:
5.	Click the green tick to proceed and go back to the main merging window.
6.	Select the source project or projects (you can select more than one if you need to): Note – only projects in your WinCan VX project list are available for merging.
7.	Click the ‘Next’ button.
8.	Select the target project (it only needs to be highlighted):
9.	Click the ‘Next’ button and you will be presented with a summary of the options that you have selected for review.
10.	Click the ‘Next’ button again to execute the merge process.
11.	When the merge has finished, open the target project and repeat steps 2 – 4 again.  There are likely to now be some data duplicates in your project, and these can confidently be resolved by clicking the ‘Resolve all’ button this time.
12.	There are now likely to be multiple inspections of some assets (particularly nodes), where one or more of the inspections are empty with no tangible data attached.  To clear out these unwanted inspections, select the ‘Delete empty inspections’ option (in Tools -> Misc Tools, only available in WinCan VX v9.0 and higher) and execute:

There are some cases where slightly modifying these settings can give a better result and by rolling back the required databases you can try to merge again to see how the new merged result looks:

Step	Description
2.	In the Section tab, ensure the Section options are set to ‘Differential' merging:
3.	In the Node tab, ensure the Node options are set to ‘Differential' merging:
4.	In the Lateral tab, ensure the Lateral options are set to ‘Differential' merging:

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Back to the HADDMS Project Merging Page.