XYplorer Beta Club

Hello, guys.
Is there any tool that provides a simple side-by-side scrolling so I can visually, directly compare two text files?
-word-wrap toggle? (MS Word can do this but without the option to toggle off the wrapping);
-which can scroll horizontally, too?;
-three documents?;

Each and every one I'm testing only have full comparison feature, which splits the source files in blocks thus not allowing direct comparison on <source> text against <translated>.

Did you take a look at:
Beyond Compare (http://www.scootersoftware.com/) or
Merge for Windows (http://www.araxis.com/merge/)

Beyond Compare just like everything else does a comparison and skips large blank blocks in the middle and I cannot find a way to toggle this off.

Araxis tool asks for a TRIAL KEY. Wow... (that seems to be the standard among major players like Altova and another one I can't recall)

SkyFrontier wrote:Beyond Compare just like everything else does a comparison and skips large blank blocks in the middle and I cannot find a way to toggle this off.

I am not sure I understand, but: have you tried experimenting with the buttons I marked green in the following image?

eyond Compare just like everything else does a comparison and skips large blank blocks in the middle and I cannot find a way to toggle this off.

Really? Never saw this and I use it on a daily basis.

You were right, guys. I played a bit more with BC and it's definitely the way to go.
Borut: what's the 3rd green-highlighted button caption, please? My version is a 2.x so buttons are a bit different. What's that version of yours, BTW?
-does it have word wrap? I can't find it *anywhere*, on mine...

SkyFrontier wrote:Borut: what's the 3rd green-highlighted button caption, please? My version is a 2.x so buttons are a bit different. What's that version of yours, BTW?
-does it have word wrap? I can't find it *anywhere*, on mine...

3rd green-highlighted button caption: Show context... For a lonely line being different, while the mode "show only differences" activated, also a few neighbouring upper and lower lines are shown.

My BC version is 3.3.5 Pro.

Word wrapping possibility is not known to me and I believe it does not exist. If it does, please somebody tell this to me too.

BTW, I believe you asked before about the merging possibility. It exists, but I have not used it. Help says: "A Text Merge session contains two or three non-editable source panes and an editable output pane. The left and right panes hold two versions of a file. Beyond Compare helps you combine changes from both versions into the output pane. The optional center pane holds an older version of the file, a common ancestor of the left and right versions." (Quoted from Beyond Compare on line Help)

EDIT: BTW, what I find nice on BC is the fact that it is fully portable!

The one reason why I have a copy of Araxis Merge on my system is that it supports 3-way comparison. Is there any alternative which does that?

Worth looking:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison ... ison_tools

Devart's CodeCompare is said to support 3-way merge, but I won't touch any .net dependent tool.
I'm almost sure I've seen a free one anywhere but can't recall which one as of now, sorry.

Looks interesting, thanks; but as it's not free, the advantage to Araxis Merge is rather small, right?

tux. wrote:Looks interesting, thanks; but as it's not free, the advantage to Araxis Merge is rather small, right?

As you hadn't mentioned 'free' as a requisite, I thought it would worth mentioning as you perhaps didn't liked Araxis' for any reason...

Well, yep; it is expensive and a bit sluggish at times, also the "ribbon" interface makes me puke every time ...
.net is not really known for responsiveness, so the only real advantage here seems to be the slightly better UI?

It is not "required" to be free, but it would make my decision easier.

Let me know if/when you find such a thing, please. I've searched everywhere but haven't come across a good 3-docs support one yet.

Tried Araxis?

Oh, no.
I wouldn't trust a company which requires you to fill a form just to get a 30 day trial key as an unconditional prerequisite.