Search, don't scroll |
Search, as fast as you type, for the files and folders you care about in your folder
comparison window. A useful little feature, Search lets you instantly find your
way in hierarchies with hundreds and thousands of items - simply start typing and
watch the contents of the trees get automatically filtered and the results of your
search query - highlighted.
Search transparently combines with other structure comparison visibility filters
to offer elegance and ease when looking at your data from different angles.
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Fly-by merge buttons |
DeltaWalker's merge buttons are always there when you need them and not a second
longer. Clear, non-intrusive, well positioned, and versatile in functionality, they
are a powerful and ergonomic way of merging differences. With their help you can
replace, add, and delete a difference.
|
Birds-eye view |
The birds-eye view communicates
these about a difference:
- type - deletion,
addition, difference, and
conflicting difference (three-way comparison only)
- size
- frequency
- distribution
- selection, if any
True to form, it does so in an accessible, timely, subtle, and clear way. Clicking
on a marker in the birds-eye view brings the difference it represents into view
and selects it.
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QuickDiffs: seeing what has changed as you edit |
Using colors, QuickDiffs tell the story behind the changes you have made, or are
in the process of making, to the contents of a text editor. The colors indicate
additions, deletions, and
changes (inside matching blocks of text) to the editor's
content, compared to the content at the time of loading the file, or compared to
a blank document if you started with a blank document. For QuickDiffs DeltaWalker
uses the same colors, with the same meaning, as the colors for additions, deletions,
and inline changes.
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Comparison summary panels |
Sensitive to the content being compared - files, folders, XML - the comparison summary
panels located in the right corner of the status bar represent:
- The essence of the comparison summary dialog information in an
instant, unambiguous, and non-intrusive way.
- A color legend for the difference colors - the colors depicting
deletion, addition, difference, and conflicting difference.

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Difference navigation |
The convenience of difference navigation in a diff tool is of the essence. In addition
to the pairs of menu and toolbar items and shortcut keys dedicated to this, DeltaWalker
offers two more ways for navigating differences:
- Navigate differences mini-buttons located just below the common
scrollbar:

- Ctrl+Mouse Wheel
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Go to previous / next edit location |
When working with a file comparison window, Navigate > Previous Edit (Ctrl+7)
and Navigate > Next Edit (Ctrl+8) take you to your previous or next edit,
respectively. |
Key Assist |
DeltaWalker boosts a wealth of features, including ultra-powerful text editors.
Make the best of them by knowing your way around the shortcut keys. To bring up
the Key Assist window hit Ctrl+Shift+L or go to Help > Key
Assist...

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Finding a string incrementally |
Use Edit > Incremental Find Next (Ctrl+J) or Edit > Incremental Find
Previous (Ctrl+Shift+J) to enter the incremental find mode, and start typing
the string to match. Matches are found incrementally as you type. The search string
is shown in the status line. Press Ctrl+J or Ctrl+Shift+J to go to the next or previous
match. Press Enter or Esc to exit incremental find mode. |
Ctrl+E Editor List |
To switch quickly between file comparison windows use the Ctrl+E key binding - it
displays a list of all open editors. The list supports type-ahead to find the editor
as well as allows you to close editors using a popup menu or the Delete key.
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Shortcut key picks |
Here are just some of the shortcut keys you'd wish your favorite text editor also
had:
- moving lines up or down (Alt+Arrow Up and Alt+Arrow Down),
- copying lines (Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Up and Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Down),
- inserting a new line above or below the current line (Ctrl+Shift+Enter
and Shift+Enter),
- and converting to lowercase or uppercase (Ctrl+Shift+Y and
Ctrl+Shift+X).
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Structured XML view |
XML files are, by definition, text files yet they represent hierarchical data. Running
a text comparison on XML files will often suffice, however at times the results
might not be what you'd expected. For instance, two XML files with logically identical
content will be reported as different by the text comparison engine when they have
elements with differently ordered attributes, or when their formatting is different.
Designed to be human-readable, XML data are often computer-generated and many XML
generators are clueless about formatting and attribute ordering.
DeltaWalker's XML structure view brings the actual XML differences into the spotlight.
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Side-by-side folder and file comparison |
The ergonomics of the way DeltaWalker integrates folder and file comparison can
hardly be overstated. Leveraging the familiar file-system browser metaphor, DeltaWalker
encourages you to see both the forest and the trees. Browse through your folder
comparison results and when a file stops your attention - double click it and DeltaWalker
will open it for comparison just below the folder comparison window (default position).
It's that intuitive.
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Tiling file comparison windows |
You can use drag and drop to modify the layout of your editor work area i.e. the
area occupied by the file comparison windows. Grab a file comparison window tab
and drag it to the edge of the editor work area. The arrow dock icons (e.g.,
) indicate which way the
editor work area will split.
|
Minimizing and maximizing windows
|
You can maximize the folder comparison window or a file comparison window by double
clicking on their tabs. For instance, maximizing the file comparison window minimizes
the folder comparison one to an icon in a toolbar alongside the application window
(e.g. left side):.
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Character encoding |
Inherently Unicode-based, DeltaWalker is able to detect the character encoding of
many, but not all, text files. Unicode encodings are typically easy to detect, thanks
to a two-byte leading identifier, while SBCS don't lend themselves well for auto-detection.
If a character encoding is detected incorrectly many, or all, characters would appear
garbled, or unreadable.
In case DeltaWalker is unable to correctly detect the character encoding of a file,
you can easily select in from one of several places:
- The Select File dialog, when selecting the file to open.

- The Set Encoding dialog, after the file has been opened for comparison.
- The Save File dialog, in case you want to change the character encoding of a file
just before saving it.
- The Editing preference page allows you to select the default encoding
- language, or character set - for new text files created in DeltaWalker.
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Line delimiters
|
As with character encoding, DeltaWalker facilitates changing the line delimiters
of a text file in just the right moments and places:
- The Select File dialog, when selecting the file to open.
- The File > Convert Line Delimiters To... menu items.
- The Save File dialog, in case you want to change the line delimiters of a file just
before saving.
- The Editing preference page allows you to select the default line
delimiter for new text files.
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Show Help topic in external window |
Having trouble reading help topics from the Help view/tray? Use the
Show in external window button from the toolbar to view the document in the
full help window.
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Find that Help topic |
While browsing a searched topic, you can find out where that topic is in the table
of contents by using the
Show in table of contents button in the toolbar. |
Bookmarks |
You can keep your own list of bookmarks to pages in help books. Create a bookmark
with the
Bookmark Document button on the toolbar of the Help browser. The bookmarks
show up in the
Bookmarks tab. |
Infopops |
If you prefer the yellow pop-ups (infopops) used in previous releases for context-sensitive
help, you can configure Help to use these instead of the Help view/tray from the
Help preference page. |