Summary

Track structural and functional changes between component versions by comparing metadata from each build — enabling changelog generation, consistency checks, and regression detection without manual audits.

🔁 What This Feature Does

JCB stores snapshot metadata for each successful compilation of a component. This data includes:

• Build date and time
• Line count (PHP, HTML, INI, etc.)
• Field count
• View count
• Total number of files/folders generated
• ZIP package size
• Version number and semantic version tag
• Blueprint checksum (unique hash per blueprint state)

With this info, JCB can compare current vs previous builds to detect differences between two compiled versions.

🧭 Where You See It

• Inside the Compiler summary screen (metrics for current and last build)
• Optionally exported as metadata.json with each compiled ZIP package
• Available as variables in the auto-generated README
• Potential integration into external CI/CD pipelines or GitHub Actions

🔍 Use Cases

• Automatically generate changelogs based on diffs
• Detect blueprint changes (e.g. new fields, removed views, altered layouts)
• Identify regressions or unexpected growth in line count or ZIP size
• Cross-check field, file, or line counts across component versions
• Audit development trends — is your blueprint growing rapidly?

🛠 How It Works

JCB compares metadata stored in your component’s history:

• If using Git for blueprints, diffs are shown per commit
• You can use the Reset / Rebuild tools to compare output
• CLI tools or metadata exports can automate diffing across builds

📘 Pro Tip

To enable deeper comparisons:

• Keep a changelog file with each compiled version
• Export build metadata to Git
• Use JCB’s reset/fork system to store and compare blueprint variants

✅ Why It Matters

Even with 100+ features, Joomla components often change subtly across versions. With automatic comparisons, JCB helps you detect:

• Regression bugs introduced accidentally
• Views accidentally removed or renamed
• Line count or field inflation
• Missed version bumps after blueprint changes

You stay informed and in control — without needing to manually diff code or blueprint JSON exports.

📍 Conclusion

Comparison between builds is essential for quality assurance. Whether you’re releasing nightly builds, maintaining stable packages, or just checking your own work — this feature ensures that every JCB component evolves in a predictable and traceable way.