Creating a patch file

Creating a plaintext patch file starts with comparing the FMSaveAsXML files of two versions of your app. Based on the differences, you create a plaintext patch file (with the root element FMUpgradeToolPatch) that implements the changes to apply to the earlier version of your app. The upgrade tool doesn't provide an automated way to create a patch file.

Prerequisites:

  • Before you distribute v1 of your app, run the upgrade tool with the --generateGUIDs subcommand to ensure all objects in the file are assigned GUIDs.

To create a patch file:

  1. With v2 of your app as the source file, run the upgrade tool with the --generateGUIDs subcommand.

  2. In FileMaker Pro, open v1 and v2 of your app and create an FMSaveAsXML file from each.

    Either choose Tools menu > Save a Copy as XML or use the Save a Copy as XML script step.

  3. Use your preferred file comparison tool to locate the differences in the two FMSaveAsXML files.

  4. Create a plaintext patch file with the top-level structure shown in About the patch file.

  5. For each relevant change to a catalog or object that you found in step 3, add an *Action element to the patch file as described above.

Use an iterative approach of making changes in the source file, saving a copy as XML, learning what XML you need to include in your patch file, applying the patch, validating the changes in the destination file, and repeating until you get the desired result.