Test Stand sequence merge in Git

[Aurelian.Ciobanu]

Hello,

We are using Test Stand for creating testing sequencies, and GIT for versioning.

We would like to introduce some collaborative work in our team and we want to find a way to merge the *.seq files into the branch. We also want to know if we can compare the modifications between previous versions of the sequence.

Do you know if there is a plugin, or something, to help us?

We are using now GitDesktop as application for GIT. We are also open to use other tools if necessary.

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Aurelian

[Oli_Wachno]

Yes, there is a tool which gets installed along TestStand.

Try googling  „TestStand Diff Merge Utility“

[Aurelian.Ciobanu]

Thank you Oil_Wachno for your answer.

I know about that software and it is useful, but my question was if there is a plugin related to Git (GitDesktop app) in order to merge the files during a commit or to compare with previous version.

[Oli_Wachno]

Sorry for not reading your message properly.

so I guess using the DiffMergeTool from the CLI wouldn’t be a solution….

[stephenb2]

I've done it manually. Check out the old version and name it sequence_old.seq and run the NI diff tool on it. I make notes in a text editor and then use those notes in the commit message. Sorry, not exactly seamless...

[Aurelian.Ciobanu]

Thank you all for your answers.

This part with the notes is a good point. I will take it into consideration. 

I will keep this open, maybe there are also other ideas, or there is a clear solution for this topic.

[BapiM · Accepted solution]

While integrating Git with the Sequence Editor is under consideration, there is a KB document that specifies how you can configure TestStand File Diff and Merge Utility to compare and merge changes in your sequence files when they are saved in the binary format when using any of the following Git clients

• Microsoft Visual Studio
• Atlassian Sourcetree
• Git Cola
• GitKraken
• Tortoise Git

Link to the KB document: https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA0VU0000005Nbt0AE&l=en-US 

[Aurelian.Ciobanu]

Thank you all for your replies.

I will try the last one to see how it will work.

[RGSchmidt]

We are using Git for version control and had to make a series of changes for development. 

1. We had to change all file types from binary to XML

2. We are unable to use branches and merge (sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't based on the number and complexity of the changes).

3. We created a very extensive .gitattributes and .gitignore files to handle any binary files that we couldn't (or aren't allowed to change to XML) which also inlude LabVIEW files.

4. We try to keep the changes small and isolated with frequent commits and pushes. I have broken are main sequence into a series of smaller sequences to aid in isolating changes and making the team able to work on one piece without affecting others, but this causes other issues that we have had to work around

I have talked with the NI TestStand product manager about this. It is a frequent request that they are looking into. All of the SCC tools that they support use the Microsoft SCC API, are very old and in my opinion are not very good.

Ni has had this issue of working well with SCC tools for as long as I can remember (over 30 years) and it has not gotten any better.

Reach out if you want anymore info.

Randy