Compare Versions

Track Changes with Precision—Powered by Our New XML Analysis API

Overview

The Compare Versions feature in Devin 1.2 provides developers with a powerful way to track changes in their projects. By comparing the Active Branch File with the latest saved version on the same branch, this tool highlights changes in a clear, summarized format. Detailed code diffs for Scripts and Custom Functions are currently supported, with broader change tracking in development.

Known Issue: Missing Dependency in Devin Server 1.2.0

In some cases, Devin Server 1.2.0 does not correctly install the necessary dependencies required for this feature to function. If you’re affected, you’ll see the error message “Analysis Error” in the Project Workspace Sidebar.

Until we release a fix, you can easily resolve this issue manually:

1. Download and install Git in the default location on your Development Server.

2. Ensure a Git folder appears inside Program Files after installation.

Once installed, the feature should work as expected. We appreciate your patience and are actively working on a permanent fix.

How to Compare Versions

1. Go to the Branches view and select a file

2. Click the top line, showing the latest version (the Active Branch File)

3. Run Analysis

   1. Manually: In the right sidebar, click "Run Analysis" or click the refresh icon

   2. Automatic: If automatic change tracking is enabled, the analysis will now run automatically

4. To see detailed code diffs, click a Script or Custom Function name to open the diff window above

This video shows how the Devin App can track changes made to a development file:

Track changes made to a development file

What Changes Are Tracked?

This table shows what is currently tracked and displayed

Catalogue	Level	Description
Code	Detailed	Line-by-line code changes of Scripts and Custom Functions
Database	Summary	Names of Tables, Table Occurrences and Relationships that have changes
Layouts	Summary	Name of Layouts that has changed
Security	Summary	Names of Privileges Sets and Extended Privileges that have changed
Other	Summary	Names of Value Lists, Custom Menus, Custom Menu Sets and Themes that have changed

Hardware Requirements

The Compare Versions feature is exclusive to Development Server installations and requires significant memory resources for optimal performance:

• Solo Developers: 8GB of memory.

• Teams with Concurrent Development: At least 16GB of memory.

Built-in safeguards prevent memory overload, but enabling auto-tracking for teams with heavy activity may demand higher server capacity.

Current Limitations

In Devin 1.2.0, change tracking is limited to comparing the Active Branch File to the latest saved version on the branch. This is only a matter of UI limitations in the app and will soon be expanded so that any version on any branch can be compared.

While powerful, the Compare Versions feature has the following limitations in this release:

1. File Requirements:

   1. Comparisons might fair or not work as expected if either file has zero scripts, custom functions, menu sets etc.

   2. Special, and non-english characters in scripts and custom functions might show incorrectly in the Detailed Change View (this is fixed in Devin Server 1.2.1-beta).

   3. If the System Locale settings differ between FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server, incorrect database changes might be displayed.

2. File Type Recommendations:

   1. Comparisons work best with cloned files.

   2. Full backups may display false changes, such as incorrect detection of changes in script lines with decimals.