IT - Integrated Toolkit™

Program Compare

The *IT - Integrated Toolkit includes a Program Compare Utility for programs with or without line numbers. This utility can use either an Internal program compare utility or a third party External compare tool.

To invoke this utility, select Compare programs from the Tools menu. You can also right click inside the *IT program display and editing region, and select either Compare programs or File > Compare programs from the popup menu.

This window consists of the following:

Original Program	Enter the path and file name of the original program to be compared or click the Query button to specify the file.
Revised Program	Enter the path and file name of the revised program to be compared against the original program or click the Query button to specify the file.
Internal Compare
(List Box)	When the Compare button is selected, the list box displays the compare results and indicates any program differences with color highlighting: Additions (light green), Deletions (light red) and Changes (light blue). The detail that is displayed is determined by the Differences only check box (explained below). To go to the Next difference, click the "Find next difference" button to the right of the list box or press F8. To go to the Prior difference, click the "Find prior difference" button to the right of the list box or press F7.
Differences only	Check box option that determines the amount of detail displayed in the list box when the Compare button is selected. If not selected *(default)*, all the lines in the original and revised programs are displayed with the differences highlighted; otherwise, only the highlighted differences are displayed.
Ignore Case	Check box option that determines whether the Compare program will check for case when comparing statement labels, functions, variables, etc. If not selected *(default)*, any differences in case are highlighted; otherwise, they are ignored.
Generate Patches	Each of these two buttons generates a patch file of the differences to the Clipboard: • The right pointing arrow button generates a patch file of the differences in the original program when it is compared against the revised program. • The left pointing arrow button generates a patch file of the differences in the revised program when it is compared against the original program.
Print	Generates a PDF report of the compare results for printing.
External Compare
External Compare Command	The External compare allows you to use a 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 External 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 to launching the External Compare process. The text file names as opposed to the actual program file names will be passed to 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 that the Compare process can access them directly.

Compare formatted program	Check box option that determines whether you want to compare formatted (with indented lines) or unformatted program files.
Compare	Invokes the Compare process based on the current selections. If any of the selections are changed, the Compare button must be selected again.
Close	Exits the Program Compare Utility.

Comparing Prior Versions

The steps to compare prior versions of a program are:

Step

Description

Select File > Open to load the program file to be compared.

Select File > Properties to invoke the Program Information window, which presents a list of prior versions for the selected program.

In the History list box, select the prior version to compare against the loaded file.

At this point, you can either invoke the Compare process (see Method 1) or extract (save) a copy of the prior version to use for the Compare process (see Method 2):

Method 1:

Invoke the Compare process by clicking the Compare button to launch the Program Compare Utility. Verify your file selections and then click Compare.

Method 2:

Extract (save) a copy of the prior version by clicking the Extract button. This launches a separate window that indicates the prior version will be extracted to a separate file suffixed with the version number you selected (default).

Example:

v0.00.0001 of program cnv2would be extracted to cnv2.v0.00.0001.

Click Extract to save this file or click Cancel to return to the Program Information window. Once you have saved a copy of the prior version, the next step is to invoke the Compare process. From the Program Editor menu, select Tools > Compare Programs to launch the Program Compare Utility. Enter the Original Program and Revised Program files to compare and then click Compare.