These teams often use a source control tool or configuration management (CM) software, such as IBM Rational ClearCase®, to archive project units. However, not all files might be checked into a source control tool or configuration management system during development.
Engineers in the team need to see the differences between an archived version of a unit and another version of the same unit or a similar unit that might need to be merged. To accomplish these tasks, they need to see the graphical differences between the two versions, in addition to the differences in the code. However, source control tools do not support graphical comparisons.
Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge supports team collaboration by showing how a design has changed between Rational Rhapsody unit revisions and then merging the units as needed. It reports logical differences and graphical differences. Logical differences are model differences and source code differences. Graphical differences are differences in diagrams that do not affect the logical aspects of the Rational Rhapsody projects; for example, there might be a difference in a line color or font, or a changed position.
Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge can compare whole projects, or units along with their subunits, or single units without descendants.
A Rational Rhapsody unit is any project or portion of a project that can be saved as a separate file. Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge can compare two units or two units with a base (original) unit. The units being compared need only to be stored as separate files in directories and accessible from the computer running Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge. In addition to the comparison and merge functions, Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge provides these capabilities:
Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge establishes the integration between Rational Rhapsody and a configuration management system. Typically, in a configuration management system you can specify a comparison and merging tool for particular file types. When working with Rational Rhapsody projects under a configuration management system, specify Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge as the comparison and merge tool for all Rational Rhapsody unit types, such as a project (.rpy), a package (.sbs), a class (.cls), a component (.cmp), an object model diagram (.omd), and so on.
Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge can be started automatically (for example, by Rational Rhapsody or by your configuration management tool), or as a stand-alone application (for example, by selecting the Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge command from the Windows Programs menu, or, if available, by clicking the Rational Rhapsody DiffMerge icon on your Windows desktop).