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1. How do I start ExamDiff Pro from Windows Explorer?
Version 3.2c includes full Shell integration that allows to select two
files or directories in Windows Explorer, right-click on them and select
Compare from the menu. Alternatively you can select one file or directory and
choose it as the first item to compare, then select another file or directory
and compare it with the fist item.
For versions 3.1 or earlier you need to add a shortcut to ExamDiff Pro to
your Send To folder. Now you can simply select two files or directories,
right-click and send to ExamDiff Pro. Version 2.6h and above has an option to
add this shortcut during the installation.
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2. How do I start ExamDiff Pro from Total (formerly Windows) Commander?
To compare files with IDENTICAL names in two panes:
Add a new button from the menu: Configuration > Button bar...
A new button setting will be added to the default.bar file:
button11=E:\ExamDiff\ExamDiff.exe
cmd11=E:\ExamDiff\ExamDiff.exe
param11=%p%n %t%n
path11=E:\ExamDiff\
menu11=Compare Files
Submitted by Daniel Liu
To compare files with DIFFERENT names in two panes:
Same as the above except for the following:
param11=%p%n %t%m
Submitted by Anders Borup
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3. Why doesn't UltraEdit work as an external editor for ExamDiff Pro?
According to many users, you need to use $UNQUOTEDFILE instead of $FILE for the
editor command argument.
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4. Why can't I edit files, and Delete Block and Copy Block menu items are disabled?
- Your evaluation license has expired
- View filter is used
- Word Wrap mode is on
- "Enable editing within ExamDiff Pro" option is off (you can turn it on in Options | File Editing)
- Destination file is read-only
- Block in source file is not a part of a file but rather an empty space inserted by ExamDiff to synchronize file views
- Files were manually modified prior to the attempt to copy block (re-compare and try again).
- Binary files in Hex comparison mode are not editable
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5. What comparison algorithm does ExamDiff Pro use?
The diff algorithm I use is based on Eugene Myers' algorithm that uses
"longest common subsequences" to figure out the shortest diff script
(see Myers' paper in
PDF or
PostScript format).
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6. Why doesn't ExamDiff Pro mark lines as "moved"?
Myers' algorithm only supports "added", "deleted", and
"changed" lines. In addition, the usual argument is that there could
be 2 or more occurrences of a line in file #2. Which one would the program pick
to mark as "moved"?
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7. Are there limits to the sizes of input files?
There is no limit imposed by the software. The limits are set by your memory
and CPU speed. (For example, I was able to compare two registry dumps 25 MBytes each.)
However, it may take a long time to compare huge files, especially if they are
very different.
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8. When I copy a directory (with a file), it still does not refresh like it does when I copy just a file. Why?
Here's a problem: ExamDiff Pro uses Windows Explorer Shell API to do file
operations such as copy. Unfortunately, there is no reliable way to figure out
if a file operation was successful, especially when multiple items are copied
(i.e. ExamDiff Pro doesn't know if the user pressed "No" or even
"Cancel" on one of the Explorer warning dialogs). For files ExamDiff Pro
just checks if a certain file was really copied, i.e. that a target file's size and
time match the ones of a source file. For directories this approach doesn't generally
work. (It works if there are no selected subdirectories in the target directory,
but it doesn't work if both source and target subdirectories existed before the copying).
If the option "Compare subdirectories only to determine their status" is
selected, the program can only advise a user to re-compare (changing the re-compare
toolbar button) -- and again, it can only be a guess, since ExamDiff Pro doesn't know
whether the subdirectories were really copied.
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9. Timestamps of copied files are 1-2 seconds ahead of their sources. Why?
It seems to be a known problem that when you copy files to Win95/98/Me system
(especially from WinNT/2000/XP): the new files may be 1-2 seconds ahead since
Win95/98/Me has a file time granularity of 2 seconds whereas NT/2000/XP with FAT
has a granularity of 1 second, and NT/2000/XP with NTFS has a granularity of 100
nanoseconds. By the way, since all file operations in ExamDiff Pro are done by
delegating them to the Windows Explorer Shell, you'll get the same results by using
Windows Explorer to copy files.
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10. Can I compare two text fragments without files?
Version 3.3 allows to select clipboard contents instead of one or both files in
Compare dialog.
For version 3.2c or earlier open ExamDiff Pro without selecting files. Then
paste your text fragments to both of file panes, and click Re-Compare.
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11. Sometimes very long lines are not fully visible in Windows 95/98/Me. Why?
ExamDiff Pro uses a Win32 ExtTextOut API to draw lines, and Win95 and its
successors use 16-bit GDI subsystem, which is, unlike NT/2000, unable to draw
lines longer than 8192. ExamDiff Pro limits line lengths to 8192 characters,
after that it will require to use word wrap. Apparently, 8192 is sometimes too
long for ExtTextOut. I guess the limit could be lowered but that would make
NT/2000 users suffer for no reason. One user reported that reducing the font
size might make the long lines fully visible.
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12. How do I make file comparison faster?
Try these methods to speed up comparison of large files:
- Use view filter (/d command line option) to minimize the view.
- Do not use Ignore settings in Compare Options (or use View | Ignore the ignores).
- Set Detail level... to Lines in Compare Options.
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13. How can I compare files on the Internet?
Alternatively,
If you have version 3.4 or later, you can use the "Fetch Remote File" plug-in.
For earlier versions, you can use Web Folders. Web Folders support HTTP
(through WebDAV) and FTP protocols, and will work with any Windows
version as long as you have Internet Explorer 5 or higher installed. Check Windows
Help on Web Folders.
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14. How can I integrate ExamDiff Pro with WinCVS?
Go to Admin | Preferences | WinCVS Tab, enable 'External diff program'
option, and browse to your copy of ExamDiff Pro executable. When you use Diff
command from WinCVS, don't forget to check 'Use the external diff' option' in
Diff settings tab.
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15. Is there a way to integrate ExamDiff Pro with SourceSafe?
SourceSafe 6.0 does not allow users to replace the diff utility they use
-- it seems to be a part of the SourceSafe executable ssexp.exe.
SourceSafe 2005 permits replacing its diff tool: go to Tools | Options |
Custom Editors, then select the File Difference operation for the .*
File Extension and specify the path to ExamDiff Pro followed by %1 %2 in
the Command Line field, then click Add and OK.
One other useful tool is this convenient
SourceSafe shell extension by
David Y. Zhao. All you need to do is install and configure it, and then use
ExamDiff Pro's Explorer Menu on right click in comparison panes.
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16. How do "Ignore blank lines" and "Ignore lines matching regular expression" options work?
Starting with version 3.3, if "Ignore blank lines" and
"Ignore lines matching regular expression" options are
used, ExamDiff Pro does not include such lines in comparison
(pretending that they don't exist). As a result, such ignored lines
are always marked as old (unchanged).
Prior to version 3.3, these options caused ExamDiff Pro to ignore changes
whose lines were all blank or matched a specified regular expression.
In other words, ExamDiff Pro ignored modified blocks only if ALL lines in
a block (which may be a block of added, deleted or changed lines) were
blank or matched the regular expression.
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17. Is there a way to turn on address columns in binary comparison panes?
No. And the reason is padding -- in order for the files to be aligned, empty
spaces are added. So there cannot be consistent byte numbering for both files.
But if you click anywhere in a binary pane, the status bar will show current
offset.
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18. Why is there no "Up one level" button on the File Comparison Toolbar?
There is no "Up one level" button on the File Comparison Toolbar by default. It can be
added by customizing File Comparison Toolbar (right click on the toolbar or go to
View | Toolbar | Customize while in file comparison). Another way to quickly go back to
directory comparison from file comparison is to use "Run new instance of the program when
comparing FILES from directory panes" under Options | Dir Comparison. Setting it will
make ExamDiff Pro start new instances of itself every time file comparison is invoked
from directory comparison. Going bak to directory comparison will be as easy as
closing file comparison instance of the program.
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19. Why are almost identical files shown as completely different?
ExamDiff Pro can only synchronize identical lines. It does not perform weighted comparison
where, for example, 90% identical lines can be considered identical, and be synchronized. A
common result of this is that files that are nearly the same are displayed as almost completely
different. Sometimes the problem can be resolved by turning on Ignore options,
Ignore all white space in lines being the top candidate.
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20. Why does ExamDiff Pro show the evaluation dialog box after I copied my password file?
This is usually due to the one (or both) of the following reasons:
- Your password file was generated for a different version of ExamDiff Pro.
- You used the right file but put it in a wrong directory. Please
make sure that your ExamDiff Pro shortcut points to the same
directory where password.bin file is located.
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21. Why are some of the features disabled even after I register the software?
When the 30-day evaluation period ends, certain advanced features of ExamDiff Pro
become disabled, and for some of these features it is done by resetting the program options. After the
registration these options do not become automatically enabled (after all, they
may be disabled by a user for any reason). This is why, if you want to get all
of the advanced features restored after the registration, you need to go to
ExamDiff Pro Options and enable the following:
- Set detail mode to words or characters (Options | Compare)
- Ignore lines matching regular expression (Options | Compare)
- Ignore parts of each line (Options | Compare)
- Ignore comments (Options | Ignore comments | Ignore comments)
- Use word wrap (Options | Word Wrap)
- Perform recursive directory comparison (Options | Dir Comparison)
- Edit files within ExamDiff Pro (Options | File Editing)
- Use plug-ins (Options | Plug-ins)
- Use Windows Explorer (Shell) integration (Options | Global | General)
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22. Why does ExamDiff Pro's menu have white boxes around text?
This happens in Windows XP after customizing a theme. Note that many Windows
applications exhibit this behavior, including Notepad, Calculator, Paint, etc.
For information on how to fix the
menu white box problem please refer to this article.
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Features
