Highlight changes/differences between two open documents

slipaway1973 · Post by **slipaway1973** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:57 am

I do a lot of programming, and I use TextPad for the majority of my programming, but I need a "COMPARE" option.

So I can select the "Compare" option from the menu bar and be able to open two documents in TextPad, and TextPad will highlight the differences between both documents in YELLOW (yellow background to the text that is different between the two open documents)

This way when I come across two different revised versions of documents, I can open them both up using TextPad (using the "COMPARE" feature), and it will show me the changes/differences between the two documents.

This way I can see (with a yellow background to the text) what changes or differences there are, or what changes were made to the document in between revisions/edits.

This is extremely useful in journaling, manuscripts, and in programming.

I believe this would be the NUMBER ONE feature that would make TextPad above all else. It's a great program, and I love it, but this is a major feature that is missing that I would really like to see added to the next version/release of TextPad.

It would certainly make TextPad the killer app!

This would be an extremely useful feature for anyone that uses TextPad for minor changes, text document edits, or revisions, or even HTML page edits, or any other standard scripting languages.

Thank-you!

SteveH · Post by **SteveH** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 12:51 pm

I tried running Textpad's built in file comparison to see how this differed from what you are after. Unfortunately the application crashes each time I try to view the Tool Outputs window.

Is the Compare files... utility within the application insufficient? It might ne worth trying Beyond Compare to see if that is any use to you.

slipaway1973 · Post by **slipaway1973** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:29 pm

I tried running Textpad's built in file comparison to see how this differed from what you are after. Unfortunately the application crashes each time I try to view the Tool Outputs window.

Wow, never noticed that feature before. Well, it's a very good start. I mean I did open up two text files.

I did test it out (hoping that it would work), but no... it doesn't seem to work very well.

For example, just take a changelog.txt file for example and save it twice on your desktop (changelog-1.txt, and changelog-2.txt).

Then go in and add about 10 or 12 words randomly in weird places throughout the document (changelog-2.txt) then save it.

Then go back and open them using the "Compare Files" tool. I did 12 changes, and the compare tool only highlighted ONE LINE.

Not even the word that was different, but just highlighted the WHOLE SINGLE LINE.

Now keep in mind, I changed about 12 lines of code (by placing 12 words randomly throughout the document).

The program only caught ONE change, and all it did was highlight the whole line (which makes it hard to go back and hunt and peck for errors or changes).

For example if there is a stray comma or something (that accidentally was added) or someone makes changes to a document (during revision), there is no easy way for me to compare the two documents and see EXACTLY what words, characters were changed.

I would love to just see a yellow background (I mean DISTINCT dark/bright yellow background) highlighting all the text that is different between the two documents (kinda like when someone makes a revision on Wikipedia). When you edit a document in Wikipedia, it will highlight the changes with a yellow background, so people/editors can see the changes that were made to the text/document.

Same concept. I do a lot of revision edits (and sometimes need to see what changes others have done) and it just seems hard/impossible to do with TextPad, and I have just grown to love TextPad.

It's just so easy and simple (and powerful) to use. Plus it's thin. I just love it. The only major problem is the "compare two documents" feature.

That is a major setback/limitation for me. A feature that I really need to be improved. Hmm, never heard of Beyond Compare, but I'll go take a look.

Is this a completely different program? Have you used it? Sounds interesting, let me go take a look. Thanks for the tip!

I'd love to see TextPad's compare feature fixed/improved, but I'll take a look at "Beyond Compare".

slipaway1973 · Post by **slipaway1973** » Mon Dec 01, 2008 10:39 pm

Hmm, yeah... same problem with "Compare More" (by Beyond Compare). Same thing.

Doesn't work very well, and it highlights the whole line (in a red background). It doesn't specifically show the actual changes.

http://www.scootersoftware.com/moreinfo ... extCompare

I was looking for something more like what Wikipedia does. Where it highlights the specific words (with a yellow background) and makes it INCREDIBLY easy to see changes between two documents or revisions.

I would just love to see TextPad changed/tweaked a bit so that it will find the specific words/text that was changed (and even a character like a comma) without highlighting the whole line, just highlighting the specific changed text, and also use a yellow background (so it stands out).

That's what I really would love to see. Again, I love the TextPad product, just would love to see that one feature added/upgraded. Thanks!

SteveH · Post by **SteveH** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 1:21 pm

slipaway1973 wrote:I was looking for something more like what Wikipedia does. Where it highlights the specific words (with a yellow background) and makes it INCREDIBLY easy to see changes between two documents or revisions.

Just to clarify Beyond Compare does show changes to individual words although not with a yellow background. In my version changed words appear as red text in the highlighted line. Very easy to see the specific changes from that. The colours are also customisable.

Hope this helps.

slipaway1973 · Post by **slipaway1973** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 2:24 pm

In my version changed words appear as red text in the highlighted line. Very easy to see the specific changes from that. The colours are also customisable.

Thanks! I'll go back and give it another look. I just noticed it only highlighted lines for me, not the individual words. I'll go back and take a much closer look. Also I didn't notice the color changing options.

I'll go back and give it another closer look. Thanks again! I really do wish that TextPad could do this though. I wish it had that feature where it could compare the two documents and just highlight the changed/different words (plus have the ability to change the background color to something like yellow) for highlighting changes between two identical text documents.

It really is a great feature. Thanks for the tip mate!

SteveH · Post by **SteveH** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 5:00 pm

Here's an example showing what I mean.

slipaway1973 · Post by **slipaway1973** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 5:37 pm

ah, ok.

I was thrown off by the whole line being highlighted, that I didn't even notice that the words were actually a different color as well.

I wish it would just highlight the background of the text that changed ONLY (and not the whole line like that).

Similar to how Wikipedia does it.

I'll need to tinker around with it, and see if I can change the colors, but yes that is what I was looking for.

Would be nice if TextPad could do something like that. I would love to see that feature added to TextPad.

Are you using the registered version of that program? How do you like it? Is it worth buying? I'll tinker with it a bit more, later tonight. Thank-you for the tips! That's exactly what I was looking for.

Does the program do search and replace text as well? (Like TextPad)?

SteveH · Post by **SteveH** » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:24 pm

I would say Beyond Compare is one of the great Windows applications and pretty essential for anyone who writes code of any sort. Araxis Merge is a similar program but not as capable in my view and a lot more expensive.