Report comparison between 5 and 6

Has anyone ever done this before? I need to compare two sets of identical reports. One from 5.1.3 and other from 6.1B. It is acutally a migration that we are testing. We need to write a code to check formating between .rep files (page margins, Header and Footer Locations, centered page numbers, header and footer margins etc) and the Data (cell by cell).

The data check can be done via a VB code, but does anyone have any idea how to compare full client report foramting and output results in a file?


BO_User (BOB member since 2002-10-02)

You’re going to be disappointed. The object model simply doesn’t expose much at all in the way of report formatting.


Dwayne Hoffpauir :us: (BOB member since 2002-09-19)

I was thinking of maybe taking a sanpshot of the report and do a pixel by pixel comparision. Any ideas anyone?


BO_User (BOB member since 2002-10-02)

  1. You should check first, before the appearance and the layout of the report, if the results are same (number of rows, sum, etc) and they are a few difference between 5.1.8 and 6.1.b (filters, for example, don’t have exactly the same behaviour)

  2. for the appearance of reports (your question), you can for example make screenshot of 51x and 61x reports, converts it in two colors and compare it in photoshop using two layers configured with transparency…

  3. I didn’t think i could one day speak about photoshop in BOB :wink:


bernard timbal :fr: (BOB member since 2003-05-26)

True, but this can be checked with some vb coding.

They are looking to develop a tool which they can reuse for further upgrades (BO 11 and 12) as far as formatting is concerned.


BO_User (BOB member since 2002-10-02)

What if I convert both the reports to HTML and compare the source code? Any html experts here?


BO_User (BOB member since 2002-10-02)

The problem there is that you’re comparing an extract from a report, not the report itself. The HTML generation is probably different in V5 and V6, so you can’t really compare.

The typical concern is the numbers. As long as you get the same totals / sub-totals and so on, the rest is moot. Does it really matter if V6 moves a cell two pixels to the left or right? Not that it should, but that seems to be a bit overly restrictive to me.


Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

Yes it does. Last year, when the company upgraded, they had to spend 2 man months comparing the layout. Since the reports go out to the senior management and external vendors/customer, keping the format or any change transparent is very important.


BO_User (BOB member since 2002-10-02)

Then you’re going to be unhappy. As the products keep evolving and improving, all things change.

I agree with Dave. A pixel change here and there should not be a problem.


Steve Krandel :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-25)

Run each version of the report.
Print a sampling of pages from each report.
Place the matching pages one over the other and hold up to the light.
If the two reports are identical you will see an exact overlap.

:slight_smile:

That’s about as good as you’re going to get.


Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

And if you don’t see an exact overlap, the second sheet of paper could have feed in slightly to the left. Ho hum.
As long as it is close enough visually and the numbers match, I’d get sign off.
Do you have acceptance criteria negotiated and documented?

I aslo got same problem in BO6.1b
even data also changed.( only few data)

Regds,
sukumarmoorthi


BONEW (BOB member since 2004-09-03)

When you say data has changed, what data?
Do you mean the data generated by the query or the report’s representation of that data.

Depnding on which it is, could you post the SQL generated in v5 and v6 or the formulae of the variables used in each.

Cheers,
Mark