PxPlus provides an integrated Version Control system whereby every time a program is Saved the system will assign it a new version number and will maintain multiple versions of the program on the program file.   IT includes a number of features and functions designed specifically to work with this version control system. (See Version Control )

The Program Properties display for a program shows the current version information and provides a list box of all prior versions on the program file.

You can select one or more prior versions of a program from the list to extract.   The extraction process will take the selected version(s) of the program and place them into individual program files suffixed with the version number.   For example, in the above v0.00.0001 of program cnv2 would be extracted to cnv2.v0.00.0001.   Once extracted the program(s) can be loaded into the editor for viewing.

The compare function allows you to compare any prior version with the current version or any other version.   If only one version is selected, the compare is between that version and the current program;   If two versions are selected they will be compared.   During the compare process the programs will be extracted to temporary files that will be deleted once the compare is over.

Setting the Version

The Save Version option from the main "File" menu-bar allows the programmer to enter a specific version number for a program during a SAVE operation.   In addition the programmer can record notes about the version being saved (80 Characters max).

Program Compare

Included with IT is a program compare facility for both programs with or without line numbers.   This program compare can use either an internal program compare utility or a third-party external compare tool.

When using the internal compare the program differences will be displayed in the list box with colour highlighting used to indicate Additions, Deletions and Changes.   F8 and F7 can be used to the display the Next or Prior difference.

The external compare facility allows you to use a wide variety of external programs to compare the source of your programs.   When the External Compare tab is selected, you can enter the command required to launch the external compare.   The command line will have the value %1 and %2 replaced with the pathname to the files; %1 will be the original program and %2 the revised file.

The compare command field contains a drop down list that is pre-loaded with command lines that are compatible with a few of the more common Windows based compare utilities.   Once you select or enter the command to use, the system will remember the command and use it on subsequent comparisons.

The system will convert the programs into text files prior launching the external compare process.   The text file names as opposed to the actual program file names will be passed the compare program.   When the compare program terminates, these text files are removed from the system.

When running in a client server environment (WindX), the system creates the text files on the workstation so the compare process can access them directly.