ECMerge 2.2 beta launched

This Monday we launched the beta for 2.2

You can have a look here: http://www.elliecomputing.com/community/beta.asp

ECMerge 2.2 contains a major re-organization of the options which helps to reuse options more easily. ECMerge has lots of options which describe how to compare and view documents.

Of course, identifying to which object (file, comparison, application…) the options actually apply is not that easy! Comparing documents is not dealing with clients or adresses in a database! When it comes to comparing, most options can be put here and there, it all depends on when you’d like to change such or such options.
There is no absolute reasoning here, what will please some users will simply get on nerve of others.

For this version, we choose to change many things:

• we introduced file types. They associate a type of document to a file patterns (such as *.cpp or *.pas), for text files, more options are available. In this case, editions options are available, XML formatting also (those were moved out from options sets). We also added new Lines to ignore there. A new option “Lines covered by multi-line expression” was introduced, it helps with the problem of multi-line comments, particularly with those generated by SCC tools.
• comparison options (options set) keep their previous meaning. The change is elsewhere: they are now named and shared, any document or comparison keeps a copy of the options set and get synchronized when the document is viewed in the application. The application stores the master copy. Why this way? basically the advantage is that you never loose your options: latest options are kept for new documents. Second advantage you can easily reuse options in another document: just select that options set. Brawback, you may not want the changes made by other comparisons: you are offered a single click action for that called “Disconnect” (either through the Options Set dialog box, or when proposed in the Keep/Replace question).
• file types as well as converters are now shared (by default) amongst all the options sets, it is far easier to re-use them this way, activation is still per options set. Additionaly, you can decide to block the file types and/or the converters so that a given options set gets somewhat ‘frozen’. This is useful when you save a Template to produce reports and want to be sure the reports will never change.

This is enough at a time

But another point make ECMerge unique in the field: its powerfull scripting can get you where no other differ can. You can manipulate, compare, change options as you wish, you can act also (merge, copy files…) from scripts, all of that in the GUI or from command line (did I site from ActiveX as well).

Wow, it’s time to go to sleep, I’ll propose you the Inline Up / Down macro next week

Armel