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The *MERGE program is a ProvideX utility program. Although it was designed with MAS 90 and MAS 200 in mind, it will work with any ProvideX source code.
After initial installation, *MERGE requires activation before it can be used. It is activated for a particular interpreter license. It is site licensed and a copy of the file that contains the activation key is
contained in a file called "_MERGE.DAT" which is stored in the directory "..\HOME\LIB" ( where *MERGE is installed for MAS 90 installations). The *MERGE
utility has been designed to assist the ProvideX programmer in upgrading older versions of standard modifications, to the new release level. As such, it uses a very sophisticated (and complex) set of decision making rules, which
depend on its having:
- The unmodified source code for the new revision level (i.e. the level you are upgrading to). This is the Upgrade File.
- Your modified source code for the older level. This is the Modified File.
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The unmodified source code for the older level. This is the Original File.
These three files can be in ASCII text form, or in tokenized BBx or ProvideX form. *MERGE will automatically convert tokenized BBx code to ProvideX! *MERGE
compares all three programs, line by line, and creates a new program representing the new revision level, but containing your old modifications. You will find that this utility works at or very close to 100% efficiency (in other words, the new program it creates is absolutely correct without any subsequent editing) when upgrading modifications to new maintenance releases of the software, such as
MAS 90 A/P Version 2.10 to 3.0x. *MERGE includes a Default Screen. This new screen allows users to tailor *MERGE to specific needs. The user may define a Standard Remark, which will be added to
all new programs created by *MERGE. This Standard Remark can be used to document the date and programmer performing the *MERGE operation, among other things. If *MERGE
finds an existing program line with the same line number as the Standard Remark, *MERGE will place the Standard Remark at the first available line number location. In other words, if the Standard Remark
has been defined as line 30, and *MERGE finds that lines 30 and 31 are already used, *MERGE will renumber the Standard Remark line to line number 32. Alternatively, the user may elect to
have *MERGE replace an existing comment line with the new one. |