VideosComparing and Merging Files in Visual Mode

Overview
Transcript

Overview

Duration: 04:26

This demonstration shows you how to use the visual Author mode in the File Comparison tool.

Transcript

00:00:09In this demonstration, I will show you the visual Author mode in the File comparison tool.

00:00:14This mode displays the files you are comparing in a visual mode similar to the Author editing

00:00:20mode in Oxygen XML Editor or Author.

00:00:25Note that the file comparison tool is usually integrated with a version control application,

00:00:30but for simplicity sake, this video will just use local files.

00:00:36Suppose I've created an xml document about Growing Flowers and I send it to a colleague for review.

00:00:44In the meantime, while my colleague is in the process of reviewing it, I make more changes to file,

00:00:51and eventually, my colleague sends the file back with some changes.

00:00:56So, I need a way to compare and merge my colleague's changes with my changes, but also in comparison

00:01:03to the original file.

00:01:05To do this, I can use the 3-way comparison mode in the Files Comparison tool

00:01:10that can be selected from Oxygen's Tools menu.

00:01:13I can activate the 3-way comparison mode with this toolbar button...

00:01:18For the base file, I'll select my original file...

00:01:24and in the left panel, I'll select my local file that contains my changes

00:01:30and in the right panel, I'll select the file that contains my colleague's changes.

00:01:36Now I'll switch to the Author mode to see the differences in a visual mode.

00:01:41Notice that the visual mode is similar to the Author editing mode in Oxygen

00:01:45and you can easily spot the differences in the two panels with colored highlights and

00:01:51adjacent changes are grouped into blocks of changes.

00:01:55The vertical stripe on the far right side also helps you to quickly identify the locations

00:02:00of the differences.

00:02:01You can also navigate through the differences using the arrow buttons on the toolbar.

00:02:07It also includes a Tag Display Mode drop-down menu that allows you to change the way the

00:02:13tags are displayed (just like you can in Oxygen's Author mode).

00:02:19This is helpful for seeing changes in the XML markup (for example, if an element or

00:02:24attribute is changed by one or the other person)

00:02:28The colors help you to determine the type of change.

00:02:32Changes highlighted in Blue indicate incoming changes ...

00:02:37so these are my colleague's changes.

00:02:40Changes highlighted in gray indicate local changes ...

00:02:44so these are my changes that I made after sending the file to my colleague.

00:02:49and changes highlighted in light red indicate a conflict ... these are blocks that contain

00:02:56changes made by both of us.

00:02:59Also, a lighter shade indicates the block that contains the changes,

00:03:04while a darker shade indicates specific changes within the blocks.

00:03:09If I click on a precise block, widgets appear that offer some options for copying or appending

00:03:16changes from one side to the other

00:03:19I've resolved one of the conflicts, but in the other case, I think my change is better,

00:03:25so I'll leave it as is.

00:03:27Since the rest of the changes don't contain conflicts, I can use the "Copy all non-conflicting

00:03:33changes from right to left" button on the toolbar.

00:03:37Now all that's left are my changes and I've successfully merged the changes made by my colleague.

00:03:45Notice that the save icon is now enabled, meaning that I need to save the changes locally.

00:03:51Note that this visual Author mode can be used by both Two-way and Three-way comparisons.

00:03:57The visual Author mode is not only available in the File Comparison tool, but also:

00:04:02- in the Compare Directories Against a Base tool

00:04:05- in the built-in merge tool that's available for Oxygen Content Fusion

00:04:10- and it's even available if you integrate the File Comparison tool in an external tool

00:04:15(such as SourceTree)

00:04:18This concludes the demonstration.

00:04:20Thanks for watching!

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VideosComparing and Merging Files in Visual Mode

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