BC vs Araxis Merge

[neutru]

Hi there,
anyone has experience with 'Araxis Merge' and would like to say why BC would be better that it?

[Chris]

The only advantage Araxis Merge has over BC is that it supports 3-way comparison. BC2 doesn't support 3-way comparison, but it is a planned feature for BC version 3. We haven't set a release date for v3 yet, but we're hoping to have it out sometime later this year.

BC is quite a bit cheaper than Araxis Merge. A single user license for BC is $30, from Araxis' page, it is $129 for the standard and $269 for the professional version. The pro version is required for 3-way comparison support. The price difference gets even better when you look at volume licensing discounts.

A Google search for the phrases "Araxis Mege" and "Beyond Compare" will give you some blogs and forums that discuss the two.

Here are two links from the many I found using Google:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000153.html

http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/de...oel.3.71383.38

If that doesn't answer your question, downloading the evaluation version of BC to test for yourself is probably the best way to determine if it will meet your needs.

I used Araxis Merge for quite sometime before switching over to Beyond Compare. In the plus column for Araxis, I really liked the "point and click merging" (seemed more intuitive) and the "in place editing". Plus, of course, the three way merging was really nice, especially when tasked to merge changes from multiple programs into a common source). With Beyond Compare, I liked being able to identify certain changes as "unimportant", as well as the plug-in support. In my opinion, Araxis has the slight edge in functionality simply for the three-way merges, but when you take everything into consideration (including support and cost), Beyond Compare is, by far, the clear-cut winner. There is absolution no reason to pay $130 for their standard package... and 3-way isn't worth paying $270.

I have compared them half year ago, with Araxis Merge 6.5(maybe)
I translate it into English for you

support the diaplay of isolate file(text)
AM no
BC yes

bookmark
AM many
BC one

single line merge
AM no, only merge a block( ctrl+ mouse button can merge one line , but not easy to find)
BC yes

merge method
AM via float button, cannot through mouse's right button
BC via tool button , and right mouse button


syntax support
AM no
BC yes , via rules

edit
AM support directly edit
BC not support directly edit, can be edit through press F2(in bottom of editor)


exclude special file
AM yes
BC yes(support recursive exclude)

file filter
AM no
BC yes

plug in
AM ftp 、vss、perforce
BC buildin ftp, vss can be set in the software, not support perforce
BC have many other plugin ; data viewer、hex viewer、mp3 viewer、version viwer、pixviewer，for each type of file

special file format
AM：no
BC：(via conventer)support word、excel、powerpoint, pdf、javaclass、inisort、htmltidy、cobol、html、multiedi t

content filtering(file compare)
AM three filter
BC ten filter

merge
AM support the selected item's copy
BC besides upon, alow you move and copy them to other place

snapshot
AM no
BC yes


Three way
AM support
BC no

compare many folders with many files inside them
AM compare them them one by one, at the same time expand folders, if there are thousands of file , it may be a nightmare
BC would give out a sumarize of result(see legend, via the colered folder)，and compare the contents background
;

navigation through different:
AM cannot do it
BC support navigation through different files(folder comparision)、through difference lines、difference in lines


synchronization of folder:
AM only support selected items' synchronization
BC has many mode of synchronization, you can see them in setting

conclusion:
BC is better than Araxis Merge

conclusion:
BC is better than Araxis Merge

And that wasn't even taking into consieration the HUGE price difference.

Anybody look at UltraCompare lately? It is starting to look almost exaclty like BC (superficially only).

And that wasn't even taking into consieration the HUGE price difference.

Anybody look at UltraCompare lately? It is starting to look almost exaclty like BC (superficially only).

it has a long way to go to, when you study it's detail you will find this

till now, I think the two best compare tool are AM and BC
I have compared more than 10 compare utilities and give the conclusion

For me the single most advantage of Araxis compared with BC is the editmode - you don't even have to open any file, just copy & paste some lines into Araxis to compare them. Since I used Araxis at my former employer I got used to and miss that functionality really.
If it's not already on the wish/todolist for the V3 edit modes, you may give it a chance and at least think about it.

The second one is the userinterface - the three simple and easy buttons used to merge/replace/delete the lines with a single click are really very handy, once again as soon as you get used to - no rightmouse/popup menu or even moving the eye focus up to the toolbar which really slows down the merge process for larger files.

I'm an independent developer now and because I do not have that much to merge anymore BC seems to be the tool of choice - as soon as my evalperiod ends I'll for sure register my copy (the handling of the evaluation as well as the price tag is really exceptionally fair).

This is very late but an excellent review discussing BC in addition to a number of competitors, including Araxis Merge is here:
Donationcoder Compare Tool Forum

and a forum discussing the review is here:

CompareTool Forum

Hope this is of interest.

Mike

[Craig]

For me the single most advantage of Araxis compared with BC is the editmode - you don't even have to open any file, just copy & paste some lines into Araxis to compare them.

Use the File->Open Clipboard command for this. It loads the clipboard into the active side and performs a recompare, no files are necessary. For future releases we are considering a more dynamic compare-as-you-edit mode, but there will still be the Open Clipboard command in order to support a full alignment too.

The second one is the userinterface - the three simple and easy buttons used to merge/replace/delete the lines with a single click are really very handy

We're considering something like this for a future release as well.

[ashtu]

edit
AM support directly edit
BC not support directly edit, can be edit through press F2(in bottom of editor)

I use for this "Open with.."
set for Ctrl+E to open EmEditor on current line
EmEditor.EXE /l %l "%f"