What is EZ-Merge?

Merging is simply putting a forked history back together again. Say you have a new branch feature based on the master branch. You now want to merge this feature branch into the master. Using the merge process in ARM will merge the specified branch feature into the current branch...we'll assume the master.

Before you begin

Before a merge, there are several preparation steps you must take to ensure the merge goes smoothly. Most of these steps must be performed by an Admin.

1. Register your Version Control Repository in ARM: Only an Admin can perform this step. Register your Version Control Repositories, such as GIT, SVN, or TFS, in ARM.

2. Register your Salesforce Organization in ARM: ARM connects to your Salesforce Org using the secure OAuth method or username/password connections. Only an Admin can perform this step.

3. Set Up a Branch: Instead of making changes directly to the code base, you can branch off from the main line and work on a specific feature in an isolated branch. Only an Admin can perform this step.

4. Mapping the users with the Version Control and Salesforce Orgs in the "My Profile" section: Set up the permissions to create a project in ARM.

5. Fetch the latest remote commits: Ensure the receiving branch and the merging branch are up-to-date with the latest remote changes.

How do I merge my changes to a branch?

The merge process is generally performed when a feature is ready for user testing in Salesforce Orgs and usually involves code review by other development team members.

Important Note: The merge process in ARM remains valid for seven days. Make sure you resolve the merge conflicts (if any) for your merge label and commit the changes to another branch within seven days or the merge expires. All merge-related reports such as Static Code Analysis reports, Deployment Validation reports, or Difference reports generated also expire after seven days.

1. Hover your mouse over the Version Control module and select Commits.

   
2. Click on the New EZ-Merge button.

   

The New EZ-Merge screen is best viewed when the zoom setting is set to 80% on your Chrome/Firefox browser.

3. You can also reach the New Merge screen directly by selecting Create New > New EZ-Merge from the top navigation bar.

4. In the New EZ-Merge screen, select the version control repository from where the metadata components will be fetched.

5. Select your source (base) branch and the target (destination) branch.

   
6. Select the Merge Type from the dropdown:

   • Entire Branch

   • Single Revision

   • Commit Label

   • Release Label

   • ALM Label

Merge Type

A. Entire Branch

This option will merge the entire change from one branch to another branch.

Different options for "Entire Branch" merge type

• Delete Source Branch: Once you have successfully merged the changes from the source branch to another, you can permanently delete the source branch. Select the Delete Source Branch checkbox to delete the source branch, which auto-populates whenever 'Entire Branch' as a merge type is selected.

  

B. Single Revision

Get Latest HEAD points out the last commit in the current checkout branch.

There could be a situation where you have entered an incorrect revision number and hit the Search button. In this case, an error message indicates that the revision number entered is incorrect.

You can also use the 'Get All Revisions' button to get all the revisions and check for your revision from the list.

C. Commit Label

Select the commit labels created while committing to the Version Control System. The commit labels created during the EZ-Commit or Merge process will be fetched in the Commit Label field.

For example, DXTES-19_EZ-Commit: here, DXTES-19 indicates the commit label name, and EZ-Commit denotes the label created during the EZ-Commit process.

Click on the View Revisions link for the list of revisions associated with the commit label. A new dialog box appears with the revisions, date/time stamp, comments, and author details. There is a provision to search for specific revisions using the Revision Search filter on the top right corner of the dialog box.

D. Release Label

You can select the release labels created using the committed revisions and the labels.

1. Select the Merge Type as Release Label.

2. The Release Labels field populates with all the available release labels in that repository/branch. If no release label is created for the above repository/ branch, an error notification states, "No Release Labels found."

3. Select your Release Label.

4. Click on the View Revisions link to view the list of revisions for the release label. A new dialog box appears with the revisions, date/time stamp, comments, and author details. There is a provision to search for specific revisions using the Revision Search filter on the top right corner of the dialog box.

E. ALM Label

This allows you to choose and promote the ALM user stories to a higher or lower branch.

1. Select the Merge Type as ALM Label.

2. 

Note: You will not have the option to enter the work item details manually, you need to select the work item from the list fetched.

3. Select one of the work items from the list fetched, and click OK.

EZ-Merge Process Stages

1. Merge Initiated: This stage marks the beginning of the merge process. It indicates that a merge operation has been triggered, and the system is preparing to consolidate or merge data.

2. Awaiting User Action: During this stage, the system is waiting for user input or action. Users may be required to review and confirm merge decisions, resolve conflicts, or provide additional information before the process proceeds.

3. Commit Generated: The commit generation stage involves creating changes or transactions that will be applied to the system once the user confirms the merge. It represents the proposed changes resulting from the merge operation.

4. Validating Salesforce XML: This stage involves checking and validating the Salesforce XML (eXtensible Markup Language) files associated with the merge. It ensures that the data conforms to the expected format and requirements, preventing issues during the merge.

5. Duplicate Access Settings: This stage involves checking and managing access settings for potential duplicates. It ensures that security and access controls are appropriately configured for the merged data.

6. Generating Delta: The delta generation involves identifying the changes or differences between the original data and the updated data resulting from the merge. This information is crucial for understanding the impact of the merge on the existing records.

7. Pending User Approval: In this stage, the system has completed the necessary preparations, and the merge changes are pending final approval from the user. Users may review and confirm or reject the proposed changes based on their assessment.

8. Green Right Mark (✓): A green right mark indicates a process or operation has been completed. It confirms that the task, such as a data merge or deployment, has been executed without errors and meets the required criteria.

9. Red Cross Mark (X): On the other hand, the appearance of a red cross mark (X) signifies that a process has encountered an issue or has failed to complete successfully. This could be due to various reasons, such as validation errors, data conflicts, or system issues. Users should investigate the details of the failure to identify and address the issue.

Pass/Fail Result Takeaway

1. Validating Credentials (✓ / X): o Description: This step involves verifying the credentials' authenticity to ensure proper access to the target systems. o Success (✓): Credentials are valid and provide the necessary access. o Failure (X): Credentials are invalid, leading to an authentication error.

2. Applying Merge (✓ / X): o Description: Merging code changes from different branches into the main branch. o Success (✓): The merge process completes without conflicts and successfully integrates changes. o Failure (X): Merge conflicts occur, requiring manual resolution.

3. Validating Salesforce XML (✓ / X): o Description: Ensuring that Salesforce XML files conform to the expected structure and standards. o Success (✓): Salesforce XML files are valid and meet the required criteria. o Failure (X): XML files have errors or deviations from the expected structure.

4. Checking Missing Meta XML (✓ / X): o Description: Verifying the presence of necessary metadata XML files. o Success (✓): All required meta XML files are present. o Failure (X): Missing meta XML files, indicating incomplete configuration.

5. Merge Prevalidation Process (✓ / X): o Description: Performing preliminary checks before the actual merge to identify potential issues. o Success (✓): Prevalidation checks pass without any major issues. o Failure (X): Prevalidation identifies issues that need resolution before merging.

6. File Diff (✓ / X): o Description: Comparing files to identify the differences between the source and target. o Success (✓): No significant differences or conflicts were detected during the file comparison. o Failure (X): Differences or conflicts require attention and resolution.

7. Static Code Analysis (✓/ X): o Description: Analyzing the code for potential issues, bugs, or security vulnerabilities. o Success (✓): Code analysis passes without critical issues. o Failure (X): Static code analysis identifies issues that need correction.

8. Validate Deploy (✓/ X): o Description: Validating the deployment package to ensure it meets deployment requirements. o Success (✓): The deployment package is valid and ready for deployment. o Failure (X): Deployment package validation fails due to issues.

9. Commit (✓/ X): o Description: Committing the merged changes to the version control system. o Success (✓): Changes are successfully committed without errors. o Failure (X): Commit fails, indicating issues with the version control system.

10. Post Merge Updates (✓/ X): o Description: Performing necessary updates and checks after the merge process. o Success (✓): Post-merge updates are completed without issues. o Failure (X): Issues arise during post-merge activities, requiring attention.

Conflict Resolution

1. Conflict Resolution Strategy: This field allows you to select how to resolve the conflicts. If you and another user change the same file in different sandboxes or on different branches, a conflict arises when you try to commit your modified files. When the conflict occurs, ARM will use the below resolve method:

   1. Manually resolve conflicts: Resolve the conflicts manually.

   2. Choose the file from the source: Replaces the copy of the file in your workspace with the version in the repo, discarding your changes.

   3. Choose the file from the destination: Accept the file in your workspace, overwriting the version in the repo when you submit the file.

2. Enter the Merge Label name and comment (if any).

3. Enter the Email ID(s) to send an email notification of the merge reports.

4. Create Commit Label: To create a commit label for the merge operation, select this checkbox. Choose the Salesforce or Vlocity commit label type from the drop-down menu.

   
5. Create a GIT Tag: GIT tags are a simple and effective way to ensure you can keep track of the different versions of your code and the critical quality of Git's version control. GIT Tag operation allows meaningful names to a specific version in the repository.

6. Skip Layout/Profile/Perm. Set Access-Setting Duplicity Check: If you do not want ARM to list all duplicate entries for your layout/profile/permission sets, please select this checkbox. (Learn More)

7. Review Artifact: Select this checkbox to see the list of the changed files staged for commit (during merge conflicts). This allows you to preview the changes, review them or edit the files before pushing them into your version control. (Learn More)

Prevalidate Merge

In this section, you can assign certain pre-validation merge operations (such as deployment validation with another Salesforce Org, choosing the Apex test class to run, selecting the static code analysis tool, generating difference reports, etc.) before merging to your target branch.

Different Prevalidate Merge Criteria:

1. Generate Diff Report: Select this option to auto-generate a code difference report on completion of the commit.

2. Run Static code Analysis: Select this option if you want to run a static code analysis tool to identify potential software quality issues before the code moves to production. Similar to "Generate Diff Report," this option will also be auto-selected by default if the criteria are set globally (under the My Account > Commit Validation - Approval Settings section).

   • For ApexPMD, Checkmarx, CodeScan, and SonarQube: ARM allows you to set the criteria for running the SCA tool, whether to run on all supported metadata types from the full source or to run on the newly added components.

     

Validate Deployment

1. Validate Deployment: Choose a Salesforce org to validate a future deployment. Further, there are different options to choose from:

   1. Rollback on error: This checkbox is selected by default to avoid major deployments. However, you can deselect the checkbox to skip the rollback on error under the validate deploy section in merge pre-validation so that it ignores any errors and deploys the remaining components. This is captured in the Failed Components tab of the Deployment Validation section on the commit's details page. The deployment status will be captured as Partially Succeeded. Note: This checkbox should be selected for Production org deployments.

   2. Run Destructive Changes: Here, you can specify whether to run pre or post-destructive changes while carrying out the merge process.

   3. Ignore Missing Visibility: With this option, differences in visibility settings between the source and destination branches will not cause the merge to fail. ARM will compare the source and destination branches and keep only the common settings between both branches. Important NoteStandard fields are not supported for Ignore Missing Visible Settings.

   4. Ignore installed components: When selected, ARM will scan for the components that are deployed, and if there are any managed package components located in the destination branch, these components will be excluded from the metadata.zip files while the remaining components are deployed.

   5. Apex Test Level: Choose your Apex Test Level to validate your merge.

      

Points to Remember:

1. Prevalidate Merge section will only be visible if the Admin has enabled the 'Merge Setting' checkbox under the My Account section.

2. Users with the 'Merge Review Overridable' role have special permission to check or uncheck the pre-validate option. However, each time they try to commit to the branch, a notification alert mail gets triggered to the email ID as specified in My Account > Merge Settings.

3. Prevalidate Merge section will not be displayed for Version control repositories registered in the 'SFDX' structure.

4. Suppose the meta-XML file does not exist in the Destination Branch and is available in the Source Branch. The meta-XML file is copied from the source to the destination branch before committing to the remote repository. The newly added meta-XML file will be added to the files list, committed to the remote repository, and added to the Validate Deployment package.

5. Based on the permission assigned by your Admin, you will see the options in the active state. Suppose your Admin has assigned you permission to run a static code analysis tool only to review your code before merging them. In that case, the Run Static Code Analysis option will remain inactive, while other options will remain disabled or won't be seen.

6. Based on the Approval Reviewer level set in 'Merge Settings' (under the My Account section), you need to specify the email address of the reviewers for a given proposed code change and to approve merge requests.

ALM Integration

You can update the status of the ALM work item through the ALM Integration section (below the Pre-validate Merge section), and the same gets reflected in your ALM system.

1. Select the ALM label.

2. Select the Project and the sprint for which the commit is planned.

3. Select the Work Item, and the Current Status for the work item gets auto-populated. This allows you to update the ALM for the Merge operation with or without changing the current work item status. Click on the + icon to add another work item and update its status.

   

Click on either Dry Run or Validate & Merge.

• A notification appears that the merge request has been submitted for Entire Branch and Single Revision merge types. Click OK, and you will be auto-redirected to the Commits screen, where you can find the status of the initiated merge.
• A confirmation dialog box will ask you to approve the requested operation for Release Label, Commit Label, and ALM Label merge types. Click OK, and you will be auto-redirected to the Commits screen, where you can find the status of the initiated merge.

Troubleshooting

For merge labels that are either in progress or have some conflicts, in such a scenario, you will find a popup that will appear as shown below when you press the Validate & Merge button. These merge conflict statuses will only be shown for the merges created within seven days.

Resolution: To prevent this, first, resolve current merge conflicts or allow the in-progress merge status to move to the completed state and then restart the merge process again.

Common Issues with EZ-Merge

While performing an EZ-Merge, inaccurate file changes are being merged into the destination branch.

Issue references in stackoverflow link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63365836/git-is-showing-a-file-as-moved-on-bitbucket-i-want-it-as-a-new-file-for-pull-r

What do I need to do outside of ARM?

1. Checkout to the target branch.

2. Merge the branch by executing the command shown in the ‘applying merge’ log.

3. Check the results for the modified files.

4. If the result matches the ARM file changes, then this is a Git behavior.