View source for Addon:Database Differences Report

{{Third-party plugin}}

[[File:Database-differences-report-example-50.png|thumb|right|450px|Database Differences Report example output]]

The {{man label|Database Differences Report}} allows a mostly complete comparison between the currently opened database (Family Tree) and a Gramps XML file.

=== Usage ===

[[File:Database-differences-report-ReportOptions-tab-defaults-51.png|thumb|right|450px|Database Differences Report - Report Options tab example defaults]]

Open the family tree you want to compare then

Select {{man menu|Reports > Text Reports > Database Differences Report...}} from the menu.

On the ''Report Options'' tab select the ''Family Tree file:'' to be compared against.

Check or Uncheck the options you want to test for in the report eg: '''All are checked by default'''
* [x] Show items that different
* [x] Show items missing from file
* [x] Show items added in file

====Limitations====

The Database Differences Report is focused on the principal elements of the Database.

There are a number of other types of 'metadata' that are not examined during the Database Differences Report. 

* researcher
* custom types
* gender name maps
* base path for media
* surname mapping for the "Group As" surname feature
* etc.

Some of these 'metadata' are not 'regular' in the way they are stored, comparing them would be a fair amount of additional code work.
 
Also note that some of the 'metadata' would be difficult to compare because they are not stored in the backup XML files, but rather in the Gramps initialization files.

====Note regarding older backup files====
In the past Gramps allowed data to be input in ways that are no longer allowed. When you import an older backup file, many of these issues are silently corrected for you. For example, Gramps used to allow leading and trailing spaces in name fields. Gramps now removes the leading and trailing white space when the data is entered.

The Database Differences Report performs it's work by creating a temporary Database and importing the backup file that you specified. A side effect of this is that if your Gramps Database has been around for a long time, it may still contain things that are not currently allowed. But the comparison will be done against the backup file that has all of those issues fixed. Each correction has the potential of showing up as a difference, but on examination they look the same. It is quite hard to see those leading/trailing spaces.

There are 2 solutions:
* backup your database, create a new empty Database and import backup you just made, then go ahead with the report.
* run the [[Gramps_{{man version}}_Wiki_Manual_-_Tools#Clean_input_data|Clean input data]] tool on your Database, then do the report.

==See also==
* [[GEPS_009:_Import_Export_Merge#Import_Export_Merge]]
* {{bug|2623}}: Import Export Merge (GEPS 009) comment: [https://gramps-project.org/bugs/view.php?id=2623#c25242 ''...A Database Differences Report has been added to gramps35/trunk (marked as 3.5):..One can now see the raw differences between an exported file and the current DB...'']
* [https://sourceforge.net/p/gramps/mailman/message/30345408/ (Gramps-devel)Towards database syncing], From: Doug Blank - 2013-01-13 17:16:25, ''...allows a mostly complete comparison between the current database and a Gramps XML file...''

==Issues==
* help button does not come here.
* See issues and features tagged: [https://gramps-project.org/bugs/tag_view_page.php?tag_id=369 DatabaseDifferencesReport] on the bugtracker.


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