Generating a Reverse Project

Introduction

A reverse project does the opposite of what its source project does. In Archiving, this will generally be intended to restore data previously archived.

Precision Bridge has a Utility to generate a reverse project from any given (source) project, but this function is particularly useful in the Archiving use case.

The Reverse Project Generation utility will create a new project using the currently loaded project. The reversed project will:

• Have reversed connections
• Have reversed form mappings (i.e the source and target forms are reversed)
• Have reversed simple mappings (i.e the source and target fields are reversed)
• Have reversed value match mappings (ie the source and target fields and source and target value pairs are reversed)
• Have reversed reference mappings (i.e the source and target fields are reversed)
• Set the same (reversed) key mappings
• Set attachment migration if required
• Optionally, have a reversed source filter (i.e the mapped target fields will replace the source fields)
• Optionally, have a reversed inclusion filter, to maintain the same parent-child relationships when migrating data.

There are some mappings and functionallity that the utility will be unable to generate the reverse operation for. These will need to be created or updated manually post generation. Some examples of this include:

• Lookup Mappings and Lookup Queries
• Assignment Mappings
• Multi step mappings involving variables
• Source and Target Deletions

If the utility is unable to reverse a particular mapping, a warning will be reported. The user can then reference this report to correct any missing mappings manually in the reverse project.

Ensure that you fully check the generated project does what you require before deploying it in a production environment.

The utility is most useful for relatively simple projects without complex mappings - such as projects generated using the Generate Targets utility for Archiving purposes.

Running the Reverse Project Generator

To open the Reverse Project Generator, open the project you wish to genreate the reverse project for and select Project -> Generate -> Generate Reverse Project from the menu.

You will be presented with the Utility dialog:

Click 'Start >>' to begin.

You will then be asked to provide the name and file location of the reversed project. Default values will be given based on the project you will be reversing (i.e the one that is open in design view currently) but these can be changed if needed.

Once these have been entered, click the 'Options >>' button.

You will now be presented with options relating to source filtering and inclusion filtering. You can choose to:

• Have the generator attempt to reverse the logic of the source filter and/or inclusion filter, so that it will retrieve the same records that would be migrated by the source project. This applies to both the source filter and any inclusion filter defined. If Precision Bridge is unable to reverse the logic, a warning will be reported during generation of the project and the source filter / inclusion filter left blank to be edited manually.
• Apply no source filtering or inclusion filters to the reversed project. These will need to be added manually post generation, if needed.

Once these have been set, click 'Generate Project >>' to begin the process of generating the reverse project.

If there is already a project in the location you specified, you will be asked if you want to overwrite it. If you do not wish to overwrite, select 'No' to return to Project location selection where you can enter a new name/location before continuing.

Project generation will now begin. This may take several seconds, or longer for large projects. The progress of the operation will be shown in the progress table. Any warnings recieved from the process will also be shown. The process can be cancelled at any time using the 'Cancel' button.

Once the project generation is complete, a dialog will confirm the location of the new project. The newly created project will also be added to the 'Recent Projects' list, so it can be easilly located post generation.

You can now open the reversed project, review it and make any manual changes needed before execution.