E-MERGE: Conflicts During Merge Operations [22779]

The E-Merge application automatically checks for potential data file conflicts and presents options for dealing with any conflicts encountered. By default, the merge process will be halted when a conflict is encountered and will prompt the user for an action. The action to be taken when conflicts are encountered may also be determined prior to the merge operation using the Options command under the View menu. In all cases, the application will display any conflicts encountered and subsequent actions in the Merge Log view at the end of the merge operation. 

Possible actions depending on the type of conflict encountered:

1. Skip the file causing the conflict and continue with the merge operation
2. Continue with the merge operation to merge the file causing the conflict into the target file
3. Stop the merge operation at the point at which the conflict occurred
4. Negate the current merge operation.

If the merge operation is stopped at the point of conflict, all files merged prior to the occurrence of the conflict remain merged in the target file. If the merge operation is negated, all files merged prior to the conflict are unmerged.

Possible conflicts are described in the following sections.

Warning: If you merge this file, your target file will contain one or more sessions with the same subject number, session number, and experiment name.

E-Run assigns a unique internal identifier to each session of data. Although the user is never aware of the identifier, the E-Merge application internally uses this identifier to make sure that two different runs of an experiment were not given the same subject and session number. For example, if two subjects were mistakenly assigned the same subject and session number, the files would look as if they were duplicates, but the data would be different.

If the file causing the conflict is merged into the target file, the target file should be edited using E-DataAid so no two sessions with the same subject number, session number, and experiment name exist within the merged data file. If the file causing the conflict is not merged into the target file, either the source file or the target file may be edited using E-DataAid to modify the duplicate subject number, session number, or experiment name, and the merge operation may be performed again.

Warning: The application detects that a variable in the source file and the target file have the same name but different data types. A variable connot have two different types in the same file; therefore this file cannot be merged into this target file.

A variable may not have two different data types within the same data file. The variable name causing the conflict may be edited in either the source file or the target file using E-DataAid, and the merge operation may be performed again.

Warning: The application detects that a variable in the source file has the same name as a log-level in the target file. A variable and a log-level cannot have the same name within the same file; therefore, this file cannot be merged into this target file.

A variable and a log level may not have the same name within a data file. Either the variable name in the source file or the log level in the target file may be edited using E-DataAid to eliminate the conflict, and the merge operation may be performed again.

Warning: The application cannot read this file; therefore it cannot be merged.

This conflict may occur if the source file is currently opened in another application, or if the file is unreadable.

If the file is opened in another application (e.g., E-DataAid), simply close the other application and the merge operation may be attempted again.

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