Configuration Management

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By entering the Configuration Management section, you can:

  • Create and download versions of your configuration (e.g., backup before refactoring).

  • Compare the current configuration with another and import differences (e.g., moving from STAGING to PRODUCTION).

Versioning

The Create Version button allows you to create a copy of the entire current configuration and save it as a new version, identified by a sequential number and date.
Upi can also specify notes when creating the version, which can be used to describe the contents of the version.

If needed, you can download the ZIP archive containing all the configuration resources, including:

  • images

  • labels and texts

  • js/css  

  • model elements (JSON format)

  • templates

Compare and Import    

From the Configuration Management section, by clicking the Compare Configuration button, you can compare the configurations of two different environments.

BETA Version

The Compare and Import feature is currently available in BETA. If you do not see the button, contact your Customer Success Manager.

The Compare and Import tool allows you to compare the configuration of the current environment with another (e.g., PRODUCTION with STAGING), and select the differences to import.
A dialogue will ask you to choose the source environment to compare with and from which to import changes. If necessary, you can also select an environment from another project that you have access to.

Please note that the target environment, where changes will be imported, is always the one currently open.

By selecting the source environment, the console compares the two configurations. This procedure will take a few seconds (or a bit more, depending on the complexity of your configuration). When completed, the list of differences organized in an expandable tree will be presented on the page.

The nodes highlighted in bold can be expanded by clicking on them; a second click will close the node.
On the right side, you can see the number of differences detected on each node.
Clicking on a leaf node (not in bold) displays a panel reporting all the differences detected between the two elements.

Comparison logic

To compare two objects, the compare tool uses the type (e.g. Metric, Property, Template), parent thing definition (if any), and name of the objects.
For example, a thing definition metric is identified by the name of the thing definition and metric itself.
Please, note that if you change the name of an object, the compare tool will show a new object, not a change.

Tree elements can be marked with different labels:

  • CHANGED: The element is present in both environments, but there are some differences (e.g., an option, a text, a property).

  • ADDED: The element is present in the source environment only (e.g., a new metric configured into STAGING).

Any element that is present only in the target environment or is equal in both environments is excluded from the comparison tree.
The comparison between the two environments is additive in relation to the target one.

To see the differences, you can click on CHANGED elements.

In the Changes bottom panel, you can see the differences between the source and target elements.

In the above image, we can see that the Address property has two changes:

  • Group is empty and has been changed to Contact

  • Label is Address and has been changed to Main Address

If the differences are within a resource (e.g., a template, an image), you can view the differences in a dedicated comparison view.

Pressing See differences opens a comparison dialog that highlights the differences between the source and target resources.

Within the comparison tree, through the checkboxes, you can select the elements you want to import into the current environment (target).
When you have selected all the elements to import, by pressing the Import button, you can update the target environment.

A dialog prompts confirmation of the operation, and if any dependencies are missing, an intermediate step requests confirmation of their inclusion in the import.
For example, to import a derived metric, the input metrics must also be imported if missing.


By pressing Proceed, the target environment is updated. This procedure may take time to complete, and this depends on the number of changes being imported.
Once the import has completed, the comparison is performed again to highlight the remaining differences.

Update logic

The import is ADDITIVE only, so any items removed or not present in the source environment will not be removed in the target environment during the import.

It is up to you to remove any items that are no longer needed in the target environment.

Due to dependencies between various objects, it may be necessary to run the comparison a second time to complete the import, to fix any properties that could not be updated the first time.

If you are comparing the DEVELOP environment with STAGING or PRODUCTION and certain features not enabled by the Subscribed Bundle have been configured in DEVELOP, there will be some blocked nodes in the comparison tree.

Please note that all nodes with a lock cannot be imported, as well as all nodes that depend on them recursively.