diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 51aa8cf0a3c8c2409b032c2f6f0ed7be299d9631..0b9f7a0c0c0da499fb60547ee058156c4959999b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
th above `empty_diff` function). Formerly this would have caused a merge
conflict if the referenced record(s) were identical, but stored in different
Python objects.
+* `apiutils.merge_entities` now has an optional `force` argument (defaults to
+ `False`, i.e., the old behavior) which determines whether in case of merge
+ conflicts errors will be raised or the properties and attributes of entity A
+ will be overwritten by entity B.
### Deprecated ###
diff --git a/src/caosdb/apiutils.py b/src/caosdb/apiutils.py
index 9d2f3c4cc343305eaff986031dfe3adc8f45dbc2..0651e4930072242524dc955c6ae69ca70b5f877a 100644
--- a/src/caosdb/apiutils.py
+++ b/src/caosdb/apiutils.py
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ def empty_diff(old_entity: Entity, new_entity: Entity, compare_referenced_record
return True
-def merge_entities(entity_a: Entity, entity_b: Entity, merge_references_with_empty_diffs=True):
+def merge_entities(entity_a: Entity, entity_b: Entity, merge_references_with_empty_diffs=True, force=False):
"""
Merge entity_b into entity_a such that they have the same parents and properties.
@@ -385,6 +385,10 @@ def merge_entities(entity_a: Entity, entity_b: Entity, merge_references_with_emp
record(s) that may be different Python objects but have empty diffs. If
set to `False` a merge conflict will be raised in this case
instead. Default is True.
+ force : bool, optional
+ If True, in case `entity_a` and `entity_b` have the same properties, the
+ values of `entity_a` are replaced by those of `entity_b` in the merge.
+ If `False`, a RuntimeError is raised instead. Default is False.
Returns
-------
@@ -421,6 +425,9 @@ def merge_entities(entity_a: Entity, entity_b: Entity, merge_references_with_emp
if (diff_r1["properties"][key][attribute] is None):
setattr(entity_a.get_property(key), attribute,
diff_r2["properties"][key][attribute])
+ elif force:
+ setattr(entity_a.get_property(key), attribute,
+ diff_r2["properties"][key][attribute])
else:
raise RuntimeError(
f"Merge conflict:\nEntity a ({entity_a.id}, {entity_a.name}) "
@@ -448,6 +455,9 @@ def merge_entities(entity_a: Entity, entity_b: Entity, merge_references_with_emp
if sa_a != sa_b:
if sa_a is None:
setattr(entity_a, special_attribute, sa_b)
+ elif force:
+ # force overwrite
+ setattr(entity_a, special_attribute, sa_b)
else:
raise RuntimeError("Merge conflict.")
return entity_a
diff --git a/unittests/test_apiutils.py b/unittests/test_apiutils.py
index 89be9b86ae840e39271cc1b2aca7f0e0a82100cc..7b22d9956931fff4bded7f4eab813e9b91181997 100644
--- a/unittests/test_apiutils.py
+++ b/unittests/test_apiutils.py
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-# -*- encoding: utf-8 -*-
#
# This file is a part of the CaosDB Project.
#
-# Copyright (C) 2018 Research Group Biomedical Physics,
-# Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Göttingen
# Copyright (C) 2020 Timm Fitschen <t.fitschen@indiscale.com>
+# Copyright (C) 2022 Florian Spreckelsen <f.spreckelsen@indiscale.com>
# Copyright (C) 2020-2022 IndiScale GmbH <info@indiscale.com>
+# Copyright (C) 2018 Research Group Biomedical Physics,
+# Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization Göttingen
#
# This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
# You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
# along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
#
-# ** end header
#
# Test apiutils
# A. Schlemmer, 02/2018
@@ -466,3 +465,90 @@ def test_empty_diff():
"RefType"), value=[ref_rec_b, ref_rec_b])
assert not empty_diff(rec_a, rec_b)
assert empty_diff(rec_a, rec_b, compare_referenced_records=True)
+
+
+def test_force_merge():
+ """Test whether a forced merge overwrites existing properties correctly."""
+
+ # name overwrite
+ recA = db.Record(name="A")
+ recB = db.Record(name="B")
+
+ with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as re:
+ merge_entities(recA, recB)
+ assert "Merge conflict" in str(re.value)
+
+ merge_entities(recA, recB, force=True)
+ assert "B" == recA.name
+ # unchanged
+ assert "B" == recB.name
+
+ # description overwrite
+ recA = db.Record()
+ recA.description = "something"
+ recB = db.Record()
+ recB.description = "something else"
+
+ with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as re:
+ merge_entities(recA, recB)
+ assert "Merge conflict" in str(re.value)
+
+ merge_entities(recA, recB, force=True)
+ assert recA.description == "something else"
+ # unchanged
+ assert recB.description == "something else"
+
+ # property overwrite
+ recA = db.Record()
+ recA.add_property(name="propA", value="something")
+ recB = db.Record()
+ recB.add_property(name="propA", value="something else")
+
+ with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as re:
+ merge_entities(recA, recB)
+ assert "Merge conflict" in str(re.value)
+
+ merge_entities(recA, recB, force=True)
+ assert recA.get_property("propA").value == "something else"
+ # unchanged
+ assert recB.get_property("propA").value == "something else"
+
+ # don't remove a property that's not in recB
+ recA = db.Record()
+ recA.add_property(name="propA", value="something")
+ recA.add_property(name="propB", value=5.0)
+ recB = db.Record()
+ recB.add_property(name="propA", value="something else")
+
+ merge_entities(recA, recB, force=True)
+ assert recA.get_property("propA").value == "something else"
+ assert recA.get_property("propB").value == 5.0
+
+ # also overwrite datatypes ...
+ rtA = db.RecordType()
+ rtA.add_property(name="propA", datatype=db.INTEGER)
+ rtB = db.RecordType()
+ rtB.add_property(name="propA", datatype=db.TEXT)
+
+ with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as re:
+ merge_entities(rtA, rtB)
+ assert "Merge conflict" in str(re.value)
+
+ merge_entities(rtA, rtB, force=True)
+ assert rtA.get_property("propA").datatype == db.TEXT
+ # unchanged
+ assert rtB.get_property("propA").datatype == db.TEXT
+
+ # ... and units
+ recA = db.Record()
+ recA.add_property(name="propA", value=5, unit="m")
+ recB = db.Record()
+ recB.add_property(name="propA", value=5, unit="cm")
+
+ with pytest.raises(RuntimeError) as re:
+ merge_entities(recA, recB)
+ assert "Merge conflict" in str(re.value)
+ merge_entities(recA, recB, force=True)
+ assert recA.get_property("propA").unit == "cm"
+ # unchanged
+ assert recB.get_property("propA").unit == "cm"