Setting the Merger Comparison Criteria - Intergraph Smart Instrumentation - Help

Intergraph Smart Instrumentation Help

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Intergraph Smart Instrumentation
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Smart Instrumentation Version
13.1

You can control the way the Merger Utility identifies the source data as identical to the target data during the merge process. This is important, because when the Merger Utility encounters identical source and target rows, it can overwrite the target row or leave it intact, depending on the comparison criteria settings. You can therefore control the merge results by selecting the appropriate comparison criteria.

In Smart Instrumentation, the database is organized in tables, for example: CABLE, COMPONENT, CONTROL_VALVE, and so forth. These tables contain data arranged in columns that represent various item types such as tags, cables, panels, and so forth.

For example:

The COMPONENT table contains all the tags together with the appropriate links to other tables, which utilize tags, such as: COMPONENT_MFR (Manufacturers table), CABLES (Cables table), and so forth.

You can use one or more columns in each table as the primary keys of this table. The value of the primary key of each table is unique in this table. For example, the primary key of the COMPONENTS Table is CMPNT_ID. This means that each row in the COMPONENT Table has a different value in the CMPNT_ID field.

Primary key columns are not accessible to you when you work in Smart Instrumentation. The primary keys are designed only for Smart Instrumentation internal use.

When comparing rows, the Merger Utility treats the source and target rows as identical only if both the source primary key and target primary key contain the same value. For example, if the COMPONENT table in both source and target rows contains the same values in the columns defined as primary keys, then the software considers both rows as being identical. In this case, the Merger Utility can either replace the entire target row with the source row or leave this target row intact, depending on the merge process settings.

You can select the appropriate primary key of every table in the database. This way you can create a different comparison criterion for each table.

Changing the settings in the Target Definition dialog alters the relations between the tables. We therefore recommend that you do not change these settings unless you find it necessary and only if you are familiar with the Smart Instrumentation database structure. In most cases when you merge data, you do not have to modify the Merger Utility comparison criteria. If you decide to modify the comparison criteria, make sure you enter the appropriate data, as this feature changes the contents of the target. You can type up to 40 characters in this field.