Status and Result Messages
For file and directory comparisons, status and result messages for comparisons appear in the Comparison Window Status Bar, which is located at the bottom of each Comparison Window.
In database data comparisons, the status as well as the result of a comparison is indicated by comparison result icons in the Database Data Comparison window.
Status messages
Status messages indicate the status of that particular comparison, essentially whether files/directories have been selected; whether a comparison has been carried out; and what kind of comparison was carried out (that is, which Comparison Mode was used).
Result messages
If differences are found, a summary of the comparison results is provided by result messages in the Status Bar. If no differences are found, this is also reported in the Status Bar. The result message lists number and type of differences in the form:
Result: n differences n in left pane only n in right pane only
In File Comparison windows, Text Comparison counts differences in terms of blocks of contiguous differences, even if the Show Differences within Lines option is selected. So if there are six differences in four lines, four differences are reported. If two or more lines with differences appear consecutively, without being interrupted by a line that is equal in both files, only one difference is counted in the result message. In XML comparisons, differences are counted in terms of nodes. Note that a difference is counted when the node exists in both documents but is different. If the node does not exist in one document, such a node is listed as being either present in Left Only or in Right Only. In Binary Comparisons, it is only stated whether or not the file pair is different; no details concerning the number or location of differences are available.
Comparison result icons
As long as no comparison has been started yet, no icons are displayed in the database data comparison window. For each compared table, however, an icon indicating whether or not the two tables are equal is displayed. By clicking such a comparison result icon, you can display the detailed differences of a comparison in an extra result window.