ProductsXMLSpyXML UtilitiesXML Differencing

Altova XMLSpy® 2009 includes a visual XML differencing utility for visually comparing XML files and directories.

A differencing utility is an especially important tool for software developers working on projects in a team environment, because it allows them to quickly identify which parts of the code have changed, saving time and effort in editing, troubleshooting, and versioning.

XML Differencing

To meet the evolving needs of XML developers, XMLSpy® 2009 now includes a visual XML differencing utility that allows developers to easily compare and merge XML documents and directories in an intelligent, XML-aware manner. The following screenshot shows the view for comparing two XML files. The differences are shown through the use of different colors in Text View or Grid View.

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The XMLSpy® 2009 XML differencing engine is completely customizable. For example, you can specify if entities should be resolved, if namespace prefixes, whitespace, CDATA, processing instructions, comments, or the ordering of attributes/child elements should be ignored or not, and how to visualize differences. In addition, you can merge the textual and differences in XML between two files as you are comparing them.

XMLSpy® 2009 can also compare entire directories and generate an overall report detailing their differences, allowing a developer to visually ascertain which files are new, deleted, or modified. Upon clicking on a particular entry, XMLSpy® 2009 will open the two associated files and compare them visually.

The XML-aware capabilities of this differencing utility make it the best tool in many important scenarios:

• Suppose an XML developer changes the default namespace prefix in an XML instance document. This change does not materially affect the contents of the XML document, and while a conventional software differencing utility would report that virtually every line of code in the XML instance document has changed, the XMLSpy® 2009 XML differencing utility will deal with this change appropriately.
• The order of XML attributes is irrelevant because XML processors do not consider the sequence that attributes appear in a particular element. XMLSpy® 2009 accounts for this and intelligently ignores the attribute order, but a conventional differencing utility cannot and would therefore report every change in attribute ordering.
• There are differences in XML when the ordering of child elements is irrelevant; for example, if a schema defines a relationship using an "all" compositor, the ordering of child elements is immaterial. The XMLSpy® 2009 XML differencing utility can be set to overlook irrelevant differences, whereas a conventional differencing utility cannot.
• An XML processor resolves entity references at run-time, so, although an XML file may not have changed, the entity definitions could have, resulting in a different XML file. A conventional software differencing utility would not pick up on this, but XMLSpy® 2009 does.
• There are many other situations that arise during XML development that require an XML differencing utility such as that included with XMLSpy® 2009.

Learn how differencing with XMLSpy® 2009 simplifies the process of comparing and merging XML files. Download a free 30-day trial of XMLSpy.