Toolbar and Contextual Menu Actions of the Compare Files Tool

The toolbar of the Compare Files tool contains operations that can be performed on the source and target files or XML fragments. Many of the actions are also available in the contextual menu.

Compare Toolbar

The following actions are available:

Algorithm

This drop-down menu allows you to select one of the following diff algorithms (depending on whether it is a two-way or three-way comparison):

• Auto - Selects the most appropriate algorithm, based on the compared content and its size (selected by default).

• Characters - Computes the differences at character level, meaning that it compares two files or fragments looking for identical characters.

• Words - Computes the differences at word level, meaning that it compares two files or fragments looking for identical words.

• Lines - Computes the differences at line level, meaning that it compares two files or fragments looking for identical lines of text.

• Syntax Aware - Computes differences for the file types or fragments known by Oxygen XML Developer, taking the syntax (the specific types of tokens) into consideration.

• XML Fast - Comparison that works well on large files or fragments, but it is less precise than XML Accurate.

• XML Accurate - Comparison that is more precise than XML Fast, at the expense of speed. It compares two XML files or fragments looking for identical XML nodes.

Diff Options

Opens the Files Comparison preferences page where you can configure various options.

Three-Way Comparison

Toggle action that allows you to perform a three-way comparison between the two files displayed in the two editing panes and a base (ancestor) file.

Perform Files Differencing

Looks for differences between the two files displayed in the left and right side panels.

Ignore Whitespaces

Enables or disables the whitespace ignoring feature. Ignoring whitespace means that before performing the comparison, the application normalizes the content and trims its leading and trailing whitespaces.

Synchronized scrolling

Enables or disables synchronized scrolling so that a selected difference can be seen on both sides of the application window. This option is enabled by default.

Format and Indent Both Files (Ctrl + Shift + P (Command + Shift + P on OS X))

Formats and indents both files before comparing them. Use this option for comparisons that contain long lines that make it difficult to spot differences.

Note

When comparing two JSON files, the Format and Indent Both Files action will automatically sort the keys in both files the same to make it easier to compare.

Copy Change from Right to Left

Copies the selected difference from the file in the right panel to the file in the left panel.

Copy All Changes from Right to Left

Copies all changes from the file in the right panel to the file in the left panel.

Next Block of Changes (Ctrl + Period (Command + Period on OS X))

Jumps to the next block of changes. This action is disabled when the cursor is positioned on the last change block or when there are no changes.

Note

A change block groups one or more consecutive lines that contain at least one change.

Previous Block of Changes (Ctrl + Comma (Command + Comma on OS X))

Jumps to the previous block of changes. This action is disabled when the cursor is positioned on the first change block or when there are no changes.

Next Change (Ctrl + Shift + Period (Command + Shift + Period on OS X))

Jumps to the next change from the current block of changes. When the last change from the current block of changes is reached, it highlights the next block of changes. This action is disabled when the cursor is positioned on the last change or when there are no changes.

Previous Change (Ctrl + Shift + Comma (Command + Shift + M on OS X))

Jumps to the previous change from the current block of changes. When the first change from the current block of changes is reached, it highlights the previous block of changes. This action is disabled when the cursor is positioned on the first change or when there are no changes.

Copy All Changes from Left to Right

Copies all changes from the file in the left panel to the file in the right panel.

Copy Change from Left to Right

Copies the selected difference from the file in the left panel to the file in the right panel.

Ignore Nodes by XPath

You can use this text field to enter an XPath expression to ignore certain nodes from the comparison. It will be processed as XPath version 2.0. You can also enter the name of the node to ignore all nodes with the specified name (for example, if you want to ignore all ID attributes from the document, you could simply enter @id). This field is only available when comparing XML documents using the XML Fast or XML Accurate algorithms.

Note

If an XPath expression is specified in the Ignore nodes by XPath option in the Diff / File Comparison preferences page, that one is used as a default when the application is started. If you then enter an expression in this field on the toolbar, this one will be used instead of the default. If you delete the expression from this field, neither will be used.

First Change (Ctrl + B (Command + B on OS X))

Jumps to the first change.

Base

Available for three-way comparisons. It is the base file that will be compared with the files opened in the left and right editors. You can specify the path to the file by using the text field, its history drop-down, or the browsing tools in the Browse drop-down menu.

Left-Side (Source) File

You can specify the path to the file to be compared on the left side (source) by using the text field, its history drop-down, or the browsing tools in the Browse drop-down menu.

Save

Saves the changes made in the source (left-side) file.

Reload

Reloads the source (left-side) file.

Close

Closes the source (left-side) file.

Right-Side (Target) File

You can specify the path to the file to be compared on the right side (target) by using the text field, its history drop-down, or the browsing tools in the Browse drop-down menu.

Save

Saves the target (right-side) file.

Reload

Reloads the target (right-side) file.

Close

Closes the target (right-side) file.