Tool Mentor: Comparing and Merging Rational Rose Models Using Model Integrator

Tool Mentors > Rational Rose Tool Set > Rational Rose Tool Mentors > Comparing and Merging Rational Rose Models Using Model Integrator

Purpose

This tool mentor describes how to use the Model Integrator to compare and merge models.

Related Rational Unified Process information:

Overview

This tool mentor is applicable for all operating systems supported by Rational Rose.

Tool Steps

To compare and merge Rational Rose models:

Prepare the models for merging
Load and compare the models
Merge the models

1. Prepare the models for merging

Before merging models, it is a good idea to check each model with the Rational Rose Tools > Check Model menu item. If errors are reported, those errors should be corrected before performing a merge with the Model Integrator.

2. Load and compare the models

After starting Model Integrator, select the File >Contributors menu item, and then use the Contributors dialog box to load the models.

With the models loaded, Compare mode highlights the differences between two or more models. Conflicts are displayed as well, but in Compare mode, the Merge icons are not displayed. You can switch back and forth between Compare mode and Merge mode, so you can begin a work session in Compare mode and then switch to Merge mode if you decide to merge the models. In Compare mode, you cannot make any changes to the model, and the Merge menu and toolbar functions are disabled.

For more information on comparing models, see the Comparing Models topic in the Model Integrator online Help.

3. Merge the models

Merge mode incorporates all of the features of Compare mode, along with additional information to support the decisions you need to make in order to successfully merge model files. Model Integrator supports two types of merge functionality:

Automatic Merge — Model Integrator merges all changes that do not produce conflicts.
Selective Merge — Allows the user to choose the contributor for each difference found between the models to be merged.

Automatic merge takes effect when Model Integrator first enters Merge mode. It creates a recipient model and automatically merges all unchanged or trivially changed nodes into the recipient model for you. If the merged model has nodes that have conflicts, Model Integrator displays an icon at the location of the conflict in the browser window. As you make choices to resolve these conflicts, Model Integrator shows you the results of your merge.

The selective merge feature lets you change the contributor at nodes that have differences as well as conflicts. This can be useful when you do not want to accept all of the changes that a contributor is making to your model. It is also useful when you need to correct more complicated errors such as those discovered by the semantic checking functions.

Note: You must save the merged model, otherwise the results of the merge will not be available later.

For more information on merging models, see the Merging Models topic in the Model Integrator online Help.

Rational Unified Process