Use the Compare/Merge Providers preferences to create an
external, 3rd-party, Compare/Merge Provider.
Procedure
- To create a new, external Compare/Merge Provider, select
the Window > Preferences > Team > IBM Rational ClearTeam
Explorer > Integration > Compare/Merge > Manage Providers option.
- On the Compare/Merge Providers preferences
page, click New.
- Enter the specified information about the new Compare/Merge
Provider in the Add Provider dialog box as follows:
- In the Provider Name field, specify
a name to identify the external Compare/Merge Provider.
- In the Path field, enter the
directory path to the external Compare/Merge Provider in this text
box. You can click the Browse button to invoke
the Select Provider Application dialog box which
you can use to locate and specify the Compare/Merge Provider you want
to use.
- Click Supports Compare Operations if
the currently selected Compare/Merge Provider can show the differences
between two files.
- If you have selected Supports Compare Operations,
enter the arguments that you want the Compare/Merge Provider to use
during the compare operation in the Arguments field.
Use this field to specify the command line syntax required by the
new Compare Provider. For example, the new Compare Provider could
require a syntax of the following form: %contribs% -L %filename1%
-L %filename2% where %contribs% represents the pathnames that will
hold the contributor content so that kdiff3 can read the files and
display the differences. In this example, the Compare Provider kdiff3
supports the -L option to display a user-friendly file name at the
top of the window for each contributor. The macros %filename1% and
%filename2% are substituted by the ClearTeam Explorer for version-extended
pathnames. Click the option list to the right of the Insert Macro
button to view a list of arguments that are provided for you. Click
the Insert Macro button to add the currently
selected argument in the Insert Macro option
list to the compare Arguments field.
- Click Supports Merge Operations if
the new provider application supports 2-way or 3-way file Merge operations.
- If you have selected Supports Merge Operations,
enter the arguments that you want the Compare/Merge Provider to use
during a merge operation in the Arguments field.
Use this field to specify the command line syntax required by the
new Merge Provider. For example, the currently selected Merge Provider
could require syntax of the following form: -b %base% %contribs% -o
%merge_out% -L %filename0% -L %filename1% -L %filename2% where %base%
is the file pathname that holds the content of the base contributor,
%filename0% is the user-friendly display name for the base contributor,
and %contribs% represents the pathnames that will hold the rest of
the contributors' content. Click the option list to the right of the
Insert Macro button to view a list of arguments that are provided
for you. Click the Insert Macro button to add
the currently selected argument in the Insert Macro option
list to the merge Arguments field. You can
also click Merge Output File to add a %merge_out%
argument to the mergeArguments field, where
%merge_out% is the output file.
- Click Supports Preprocessing if
the new Compare/Merge Provider application can preprocess a given
input file before it can be presented to a compare or a merge operation.
- If you have selected Supports Preprocessing,
enter the arguments that you want the Compare/Merge Provider to use
during a preprocessing operation. Use this field to specify the command
line syntax required by the currently selected Compare/Merge Provider
to call a preprocessor. By default, the text box contains the following
argument: %input% %output% Note that ClearTeam Explorer supplies one
argument for one invocation of the Compare/Merge Provider tool.
- When you click OK, anew Compare/Merge
Provider appears in the Providers list in the Compare/Merge
Providers preferences page.