Saving and Loading Comparisons
The settings selected for a file or directory comparison can be saved in a .filedif or .dirdif file, respectively. The .filedif extension is used for file and MS Word comparisons. The .dirdif contains Word options only if saved from the Enterprise edition. When a .filedif or .dirdif file is opened with DiffDog, the GUI loads the two objects to be compared using the settings saved in the .filedif or .dirdif file. This feature is useful if you wish to repeat a comparison of two files or two folders at a later time with the same settings as the current settings for that comparison.
Saving .filedif and .dirdif files
To save the settings of the comparison, select the command File | Save As. Select the appropriate filetype (.filedif or .dirdif), enter the filename you want and click Save. The file is saved to the specified location. DiffDog will be the default editor of these file extensions; this will have been set by the installer at the time of installation.
Opening .filedif and .dirdif files
To open a comparison file (.filedif or .dirdif), select the command File | Open Comparison File, browse for the comparison file, and click Open. You can also drag-and-drop the file from Windows Explorer into DiffDog. Full URL support (that is, local, http, and ftp) is available.
A .dirdif file can be opened in any edition, irrespective of which edition the file was saved from. (MS Word options can only be saved in the Enterprise edition.) If you are using a Professional Edition and the .dirdif file contains Word options (which are not supported in the Professional edition), then an error message appears on opening the file.
Command line support
You can also use the command line to open one comparison file at a time, for example:
DiffDog.exe C:\test1.filedif
DiffDog.exe C:\test*.filedif
DiffDog.exe C:\test.*dif
The asterisk ( * ) wildcard is allowed when opening .filedif or .dirdif files.
Running Comparisons with DiffDog Server
If you have licensed DiffDog Server, you can run .filedif or .dirdif comparisons at the command line with DiffDog Server. To do this, supply the .filedif or .dirdif file path as argument to the import command.
Running *.filedif and *.dirdif files with DiffDog Server is supported only on Windows. For the comparison to be successful, all the file or directory paths that were valid on the desktop machine must be valid on the server machine. If you set up the comparison jobs directly in DiffDog Server (as opposed to using *.filedif or *.dirdif files), you can run them regardless of the platform. |
If you need to redirect the comparison output to a file in XML or text format, take the following steps:
1.Open an existing .dirdif or .filedif file (or create a new comparison) in DiffDog.
2.On the Tools menu, click Comparison Document Options.
3.Do one of the following:
a.To use no redirection to a file, click No Export (this is the default option).
b.To redirect the report to a text file, click Text file, and then enter the path in the adjacent text box.
c.To redirect the report to an XML file, click XML file, and then enter the path in the adjacent text box.
4.On the File menu, click Save As, and then save the comparison as .filedif (or .dirdif, if applicable).
For more information, refer to DiffDog Server documentation (https://www.altova.com/documentation).