TIP 208:Finding File Differences

Whether you're troubleshooting an obscure coding problem, experimenting with different solutions to a CSS problem, or just looking for text changes, the ability to compare the source code of two files side by side can be very helpful. GoLive has a file-differencing command that is activated by selecting Edit > Find > Find Differences. Use the Point and Shoot tools in the Find Differences dialog to select the two files to compare and click OK (Figure 208a).

Figure 208a. Select Edit > Find > Find Differences and choose two files to compare.

Hiding Identical Lines

If the differences between two files are very slight, you should turn on the Hide Identical Lines option. Now you see just the differences instead of wading through all the common lines of code.

Find Differences in Text Only

The Find Differences command only works on markup files such as HTML and CSS, which are really text files. It doesn't work on binary files such as GIFs, JPEGs, or PDFs.

The next dialog shows a side-by-side code view of the two files and highlights any differences for you (Figure 208b). To make sure the two files scroll together, leave the Synchronize Scrolling option enabled. All the differences between the two files are listed at the bottom of the dialog where you can click on an entry to jump to the correct line of the pages.

Figure 208b. The Find Differences dialog lets you navigate and compare and code differences between two files.