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| Below are answers to the most commonly asked questions about Altova DiffDog® 2012.
- What is DiffDog® 2012, and what does it do?
Altova DiffDog® 2012 is a differencing utility that allows you to compare files and directories side by side. DiffDog® 2012 indicates corresponding differences between your files or directories using colored highlighting and connecting lines, so that you can immediately visualize the changes between the compared versions. In addition, you can merge changes to or from either file or directory, and you can even edit compared files directly in the DiffDog® 2012 comparison window.
DiffDog can access files and folders on a local workstation, shared drives over a network, and even supports comparisons with FTP and HTTP servers.
Additionally, DiffDog includes special features for comparing XML documents and XML Schemas, and can compare the structures and contents of all popular databases.
Back to Top - Who is DiffDog® 2012 used by?
Users of all types will find DiffDog® 2012 to be an indispensable tool. In the development world, it’s a daily requirement to compare and reconcile multiple file and directory versions.
Because DiffDog® 2012 can compare any text-based files, teams of Web developers, software developers, engineers, and many others use DiffDog® 2012 to help manage multiple source code versions. In addition, power users of all kinds use the powerful directory comparison features of DiffDog® 2012 to sync up their laptop and desktop computers and even manage their collections of digital music, movies, and pictures.
XML developers use DiffDog when they need to detect subtle differences between XML documents or revisions of XML Schemas, and database power users and administrators apply DiffDog to analyze and compare relational database structures or table contents.
Regardless of your job description, the powerful and easy-to-use DiffDog® 2012 interface reduces the time and aggravation associated with differencing and versioning.
Back to Top - What types of files can I compare with DiffDog® 2012?
DiffDog® 2012 allows you to compare and merge any text-based file, with support for Unicode, ASCII, MBCS, etc. This includes programming source code files, HTML files, XML files, and more.
In addition, DiffDog® 2012 supports intelligent, XML-aware differencing, merging, and editing. These features include DTD/schema-based validation, well-formedness checking, intelligent entry helpers, and XML-specific differencing options that allow you to specify whether namespaces should be ignored, if entities should be resolved, etc. These capabilities are a must for today’s developers working with XML. Learn more on the XML differencing page.
Extending its XML-differencing functionality, DiffDog® 2012 lets you compare and merge Microsoft Office Open XML (OOXML) documents, a compressed archive file format that contains multiple XML files.
DiffDog® 2012 includes a special compare feature for Microsoft Word® documents. If Microsoft Word 2003 or later is installed on the user's computer, DiffDog can compare document files by opening two embedded Microsoft Word windows and automatically display the differences side-by-side. DiffDog® 2012 Word comparison complements OOXML diff/merge functionality and is especially useful to manage document revisions over time, particularly where change tracking was not used.
When comparing directories, you can compare based on a variety of criteria, such as file size and date, or actual file content. The DiffDog® 2012 quick compare option diffs files based solely on their size and date modified, and this allows you compare and merge directories with any types of files, from source code and documentation files to digital pictures and music. This option is very handy for syncing up directories on multiple computers, for example.
The DiffDog® 2012 directory comparison feature also allows you to compare and merge files inside compressed ZIP archives. DiffDog® 2012 even includes a synchronize feature that lets users copy large directories and all their subfolders in a single step.
Back to Top - How does DiffDog® 2012 compare XML Schemas?
DiffDog® 2012 Enterprise Edition includes a powerful visual XML Schema comparison feature that goes far beyond XML-aware comparison of the content of XSD files.
XML developers frequently need to modify and enhance XML Schemas as XML-based applications are designed. Similarly, users of industry-standard XML-based data exchange systems need to update XML file formats to remain compatible with evolving standards. When an XML Schema is enhanced, existing XML files may also need to be modified to remain valid.
DiffDog® 2012 Enterprise Edition XML Schema comparison automatically maps schema elements, with a provision for manual override.
After comparing two XML Schemas, DiffDog® 2012 users can generate an XSLT file that will transform existing XML documents for the new schema. Additionally, users can choose to generate an Altova MapForce® 2012 mapping file between the schemas. The mapping file is fully editable for further refinement in MapForce.
Back to Top - How does DiffDog® 2012 compare databases?
In addition to comparing files and directories, DiffDog® 2012 Enterprise Edition can compare and merge database schemas and the contents of database tables.
DiffDog database differencing is based on the powerful database compare and merge functionality introduced in the award-winning Altova DatabaseSpy® 2012 multi-database query, design, and database comparison tool.
DiffDog® 2012 Enterprise Edition lets users compare different versions of a table in the same database type, or even compare and merge the content of equivalent tables and entire database schemas in different database types.
These features allow users to detect changes over time between the live version of a database and a backup or development copy, or to identify differences between databases constructed in different database types.
Users may connect to databases directly within DiffDog, using the same Database Connection Wizard implemented in other Altova products. Or, all the settings for commonly-repeated database comparisons can be saved in database comparison configuration files that can be quickly reloaded.
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Give DiffDog® 2012 a try for yourself - download a free 30-day trial today!
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