I have some large, multi-level data XML files with multiple nodes of the same name and many nodes at each level that I need to be able to diff. I have found the File Format grammar feature VERY helpful for ignoring changes that I am not interested in, and the ability to specify what lines to align for comparison purposes very helpful as well. On the whole, BeyondCompare 3 diff is my favorite tool for manually merging these cumbersome XML files.
One thing that would make it much easier, however, would be the ability to fold up the text by node, similar to the way that folders and zip files can be collapsed and expanded, with the whole folder (or XML node) colored according to the comparison of its contents, and the ability to copy/paste the whole folder (or XML node) to the other side of the comparison. That would greatly facilitate comparing and merging these large XML files when they have major nodes in a different order, and where there are lots of small differences within the content of the nodes.
If I had this feature, then the ability of the diff tool itself to ignore XML node order becomes much less important, as I can manually move the nodes around so that they line up, and easily see what I am moving.
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Along a different model of XML comparison, a feature that I really like in one free tool (xmlNavTree) is the ability to specify one or more "identifier" element or attribute names, which are prioritized in the matching algorithm (this tool ignores node order when it does its comparison, and does a terrific job of comparing my files and showing me the differences, but doesn't have any editing or merging capability).
Thanks,
Rebeccah
One thing that would make it much easier, however, would be the ability to fold up the text by node, similar to the way that folders and zip files can be collapsed and expanded, with the whole folder (or XML node) colored according to the comparison of its contents, and the ability to copy/paste the whole folder (or XML node) to the other side of the comparison. That would greatly facilitate comparing and merging these large XML files when they have major nodes in a different order, and where there are lots of small differences within the content of the nodes.
If I had this feature, then the ability of the diff tool itself to ignore XML node order becomes much less important, as I can manually move the nodes around so that they line up, and easily see what I am moving.
*******
Along a different model of XML comparison, a feature that I really like in one free tool (xmlNavTree) is the ability to specify one or more "identifier" element or attribute names, which are prioritized in the matching algorithm (this tool ignores node order when it does its comparison, and does a terrific job of comparing my files and showing me the differences, but doesn't have any editing or merging capability).
Thanks,
Rebeccah
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