HTML Compare Help

Contents

Overview
Requirements
Installation
Comparing Files
Interpreting the Composite File
Comparing Directories
Command Line Interface

Overview

HTML Compare lets you visually see the differences between two versions of an HTML file, or an entire Web site. When comparing files, HTML Compare generates a single composite file that shows deletions and additions between versions. In addition, HTML Compare can compare entire directories, and generates a report on deleted, added, and modified files.  A composite file for each modified HTML file is created, too.

Requirements

HTML Compare runs on any Windows PC, and requires less than 50K of disk space.

Installation

Simply run HCSetup.exe, and follow the instructions.

Comparing Files

The files you want to compare must reside on your PC or Network.

To compare two HTML files:

1. Open HTML Compare.
2. Select File, Compare from the menu
   The following screen appears:
   
   
   
   
3. Click Compare Files.
4. Click Select Old.
   The Open File dialog appears.
   
   
   
   Choose the Old File to compare, and click Open when finished.
5. Click Select New.
   Choose the second file to compare, and click Open when finished.
6. Click Compare.
   HTML Compare takes a few seconds to perform the comparison.  When finished, a browser window opens a composite file showing the results of your comparison.

Interpreting the Composite File

The composite file shows several types of changes between versions:

• Added text in the new file.
• Deleted text from the old file.
• Added images in the new file.
• Deleted images from the old file.
• Modified images. (The same image is included in both the old and new files, but the referenced image file has been modified.)

Here's an example of a composite file:

This text is the same between versions.  This is added text, highlighted in green.  This is deleted text, striked-out in red. This is a deleted graphic, bordered in red: This is an added graphic, bordered in green: This is a modified graphic, bordered in blue:

Note on graphics: HTML Compare draws markup borders to the height defined in the image tag. If no height is defined in the image tag, then a height of 32 pixels is used.

Comparing Directories

The directories you want to compare must reside on your PC or Network.

To compare directories:

1. Open HTML Compare.
2. Select File, Compare from the menu
   The following screen appears:
   
   
   
   
3. Click Compare Directories.
4. Click Select Old.
   Choose the first directory from a dialog like the one below:
   
   
   
   
5. Click Select New.
   Choose the second directory to compare.
6. Click Compare.
   HTML Compare performs the comparison.  This may take several minutes, depending upon the size of the job. When finished, a browser window opens a report file showing the results.

Here's an example of a directory compare report:

Old Files are those found in the Old Directory tree, but not in the New Directory tree.  New Files are those found in the New Directory tree, but not in the Old Directory tree. Changed Files exist in both trees, but have been modified between versions.  For changed files, HTML Compare creates links to the old and new versions, as well as a link to the composite file that illustrates the changes.

Command Line Interface

HTML Compare can also be executed using a command line interface to compare a series of files in batch.

Here's how to call HTML Compare with a command line:

htmlcompare.exe "d:\file1.html" "d:\file2.html" "d:\composite_file.html"

Where file1.html and file2.html are the files to be compared, and composite_file.html is the generated "diff" of file1 and file2.

Make sure to use complete pathnames with the command line interface, and enclose each path in quotes.

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