Does anyone need Code Compare tool?

[Karlis]

Some customers have suggested that we add code compare tool that allows to compare two similar files in order to easily view and process differences.

Your comments are welcome.

[mwb1100]

Personally, I think that this feature might be best implemented by calling an external diff program.

There are many available, from commercial utilites like Beyond Compare (http://www.scootersoftware.com) to freebies like WinDiff (in the Windows Platform SDK).

If you provide some setup option so the user can describe the command line and any switches (specifying the file arguments by replaceable tokens), this would work pretty well. Most source control systems have a similar method to determine what diff utility will be invoked and how to invoke it.

[Ken Comer]

Even if I did not like your particular beautify function, I would like SOME minimum level of "standard format" code modifiers for:
* using diff
* catching unmatched braces/parens/quotes

(This contradicts what I said elsewhere. I was right when I said that I could be wrong.)

[Reuvenm]

Tracing difference in scripts/files, comparing versions (especially in modified gnu-scripts and comparing version progress) are essential feature.
I use it a lot.
I believe many will save time and effort having such tool, with the abilty to auto mark differences and even move the marked line (=difference) from one file to another, like it's done on some compare-programs and the only-mac most-popular code editor "BBedit".

[ggiunta]

As far as I am concerned, diff tools are mostly used outside the current editor, and rather inside the file manager.
Winmerge is good; the one I use the most is the one built-in into total commander.

[ecarlson66]

I have found BeyondCompare to be simply awesome. I cannot imagine that kind of specialized function being integrated with a text editor. If I were you, I would continue to focus on the editing aspects of your software and just link to an external compare tool.

[Grzegorz Wiktorowski]

Last week I start playing with WinMerge and it looks interesting. You can find it here:

http://winmerge.sourceforge.net/

[MoeBass]

I'm satisfied with TortoiseMerge, a companion program included with TortoiseSVN which can be found at http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/
-Moe

[Karlis]

Offtopic: We use TortoiseSVN in all our projects, but its diff tool seems to be rather weak.

[markd]

I agree with certain posters that full file comparison is perhaps going beyond the remit of an HTML/PHP editor (it would be a lot of work to compete with KDIFF for example).

That said, I quite often open two versions of the same page and select tile vertically to look at the two files. When working like this I'd like to be able to synchronise the scroll mechanism. I'd like the mouse-wheel or scroll-bar to move me through two (or three files at the same time.)

markd

[santocki]

I use the freeware ComponentSoftware Diff (CSDiff) and it is awesome. It compares the two folders (directories) and shows me a list of files showing what line or code was eliminated, which were added, etc. You don't have to reinvent the wheel.

[daisymorgan]

santocki, many thanks for the recommendation for CSDiff - I just downloaded and tested it and looks like it's going to be a reallyuseful tool!

[albo]

It would help if, when using e.g. split-screen horizontal with two files (old version of a css and new version of a css) I could compare the two line-by-line and have Webuilder stop on the first line that differs. This function I recall from my old mainframe days using an editor called Xedit. Is this possible in Webuilder? If so, then I'm probably just missing instructions on how to do it...

[Ingus]

I guess more important it would be to include some versioning system support, as these systems already have these tools integrated. For example we use Subversion and we use their built-in code compare tools. However, there might be situations when such tool is useful.

[livingsingle]

code compare tool would be very useful and helpful for me