• Compare Data User's Guide
    • Introduction to Compare Data
    • How to ...
      • Open a Dictionary or Specifications File
      • Choose Items to Compare
      • Run a Compare
      • Save a Compare Specification File
      • Run Production Compares
      • Get Help
    • Summaries

Run a Compare

  1. Click run button on the toolbar; press Ctrl + R; or from the File menu, select Run.
  2. Enter or select the name of the input data source.
  3. Enter or select the name of the reference data against which comparisons are made.
  4. Enter or change the name of the listing file where results are written.
  5. Select the comparison method.
  6. Select the comparison order.
Tips
  • Use the Browse Buttons to find files.
  • The output listing shows either dictionary names or labels, depending on which are shown on the selection tree. To toggle between names and labels, press Ctrl + T before you run compare.
Comparison Method
  • Compare Input to Reference (only): The input data is inspected case by case in the selected comparison order. The reference data is inspected for a corresponding case. Any cases, levels, or records which are present in the input data but missing from the reference data are listed. Any item values which are different between the two data sources are listed. If there are any extra cases, levels, or records in the reference data they are NOT listed.
  • Compare Input to Reference and Reference to Input: Same as Compare Input to Reference (only) above, but if there are any extra cases, levels, or records in the reference data they ARE listed.
Comparison Order
  • Indexed order (by case key): Cases in the input data are compared in sorted order by case key (ID values), regardless of where the cases are located in the data files.
  • Sequential order: Cases in the input data are compared in the physical order that they occur in a data file or as provided by a data source.
Duplicate Case Handling
Some data sources allow duplicate cases. These are cases share the same case key (ID values). These data sources generally use a UUID to uniquely identify each of the cases. When running a comparison in indexed order, the Compare Data will:
  1. Match cases first by case key.
  2. When there are cases sharing the same case key, the cases will be matched based on UUID.
  3. When there is no UUID match, an input duplicate case will be compared against a reference case that has a case key and UUID combination that does not match any case in the input data. If there is no such match, the case will be listed as missing.