View and manage comparison results

After you run a data comparison, the comparison results appear in the Data Comparison document.

The Data Comparison document includes the following panes:

Synchronization direction – Shows the synchronization direction: from source to target or from target to source.
Data Comparison results grid – Shows objects for synchronization.
Row Differences grid – Displays the records of the database object selected in the Data Comparison results grid.

Data Comparison document

Synchronization direction

The Synchronization direction pane displays:

The source and target data sources
The servers where the data sources reside
The number of database objects selected for synchronization
The total number of database objects in the comparison
A search box to find objects by name

Tip

You can reverse the synchronization direction to update data from the opposite source.

Data comparison results grid

The results grid displays:

All database objects selected for synchronization by default
Objects grouped by type of difference - Different and Identical
Checkboxes to include or exclude objects from the synchronization script

Note

When you run the comparison for the first time, the objects in the grid are grouped by type of difference.

The Data Comparison grid includes the following columns:

Name	Description
Checkbox	Checkbox to include the object in or exclude it from the synchronization.
Source Owner	Schema to which the object belongs in the source database.
Source Object	Name of the object in the source schema.
Only in Source	Number of records that exist only in the source database for the selected object.
Different	Number of records where the source and target differ.
Identical	Number of records that match exactly in both databases.
Only in Target	Number of records that exist only in the target database.
Target Object	Name of the object in the target database.
Target Owner	Schema to which the object belongs in the target database.

Note

The objects that haven’t been mapped or were unmapped are not displayed in the Data Comparison grid.

Tip

You can also view how individual rows differ between the source and target datasets in the Data Viewer dialog.

Refresh the comparison results

You can update the comparison results in one of these ways:

On the Comparison toolbar, click .
Right-click the grid and select Refresh.
Press F5.

Expand or collapse object groups

Click the arrow to expand or collapse the group.

Include or exclude objects for synchronization

By default, all objects are selected for synchronization.

Exclude an object

Clear the checkbox for the object you want to exclude from synchronization.

Include or exclude records that exist only in the source database

To include these records, select the checkbox in the Only in Source column header.
To exclude them, clear this checkbox.

Include or exclude records that exist only in the target database

To include these records, select the checkbox in the Only in Target column header.
To exclude them, clear this checkbox.

Include or exclude records that differ between the source and target databases

To include different records, select the checkbox in the Different column header.
To exclude them, clear this checkbox.

Include or exclude specific records

To include the selected records, right-click the grid and select Include Selected Records.
To exclude the selected records, right-click the grid and select Exclude Selected Records.

Filter object comparison results

To filter objects, do one of the following:

Right-click the grid and select Filter, then choose the filtering option.
- All – All compared objects, regardless of their state.
- With Different Rows – Objects with at least one row that differs between the source and target.
- With Identical Rows Only – Objects that are completely identical between source and target (no differences).
- Included Objects – Objects you have selected for synchronization.
- Excluded Objects – Objects you have excluded from synchronization.
On the Comparison toolbar, click and select the required option from the list.

Tip

You can select multiple options at a time.

Note

Tables with both different and identical records are always displayed, regardless of whether you select Different or Identical.

To clear filtering, on the Comparison toolbar, click and select All.

Change the comparison settings

You can change the comparison settings in one of these ways:

On the Comparison toolbar, click .
Right-click the grid and select Edit Comparison.

Then, change the settings and click Compare.

Search for objects

To search for objects, type a search query in the search box.

Search behavior:

Matching text is highlighted in yellow.
The number of matches appears in the search box.
The search is case-insensitive. For example, searching for pro matches both Pro, pro, and PRO.
If the query contains multiple words, each word is matched separately and all matches are highlighted.
To clear the search results, click in the search box.

Use keyboard shortcuts

The table displays the keyboard shortcuts you can use in the search box.

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl+A	Selects all.
Ctrl+Left Arrow (←)	Moves the caret to the beginning of the previous word.
Ctrl+Right Arrow (→)	Moves the caret to the end of the next word.
Ctrl+Shift+Left Arrow (←)	Selects text from the current caret position to the beginning of the current word, and moves the caret there.
Ctrl+Shift+Right Arrow (→)	Selects text from the current caret position to the end of the current word, and moves the caret there.
Ctrl+Backspace	Deletes the word to the left of the caret.

Right-click the Data Comparison results grid to access shortcut menu options.

Save comparison settings

You can save the comparison settings in one of these ways:

On the standard toolbar, click or .
In the top menu, select File > Save .dcomp or Save All.
Press Ctrl+S or Ctrl+Shift+S.

Note

If you save the .dcomp file before configuring the synchronization settings, it will contain the default synchronization settings.