How to Compare XML and Other Files

The ability to diff and merge files is a necessity for every developer. This can be especially troublesome when trying to compare differences between files containing structured data, such as XML.

The video tutorial below provides an explanation on how to compare XML files – and more – using both XMLSpy and DiffDog. These powerful utilities perform diff and merge operations in an XML-aware manner, which reduces the number of false positives seen when comparing files.

Compare XML files with XMLSpy

The XML diff functionality in XMLSpy is especially useful for developers already using the XML editor for other XML development tasks, since they can compare two or three documents directly in the IDE.

XMLSpy and DiffDog are both capable of performing three-way diffs. This feature enables developers to easily diff and merge XML documents that have been changed by multiple developers back into a repository.

In addition to being able to compare XML data, DiffDog allows developers to compare diff any text based file. This includes, but is not limited to, JSON, Python, JavaScript, CSV, and others. DiffDog also has the ability to compare and merge database data, XML Schemas, directories, ZIP archives, and Word documents.

Both XMLSpy and DiffDog are available individually, or as part of the MissionKit suite of products. MissionKit contains numerous tools for developers and information architects aimed at working with big data. Download a free, 30-day trial of Altova MissionKit now to put XMLSpy and DiffDog to work comparing your files.