Ellié Computing's Blog

ECMerge 2.4 build 159 is there, happy new year!

elliecomputing — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:35:32 +0000

First of all, we wish you a happy new year!

Here it is, ECMerge 2.4 build 159 was released this week, it fixes a few UI bugs and FTP related bugs as well.

Have a good week,
Armel

Some bug fixes for the new year in ECMerge 2.4

elliecomputing — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:14:34 +0000

We are working on a new bug fix release for ECMerge 2.4 and we’ll release it in the first or second week of the new year.

These are mostly cosmetic bugs plus FTP related improvements.

Have a good week,
Armel

Did you know?… ECMerge compares Gnumeric files

elliecomputing — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:02:16 +0000

This week, we were queried if ECMerge can compare Gnumeric files.

Yes, ECMerge compares Gnumeric files (which are essentially GZip compressed XML files). You just need an installed version of the Gnu Zip tool (for example from the gnuwin32 project) and you need to add *.gnumeric to the list of files that the GZip converter handles and you are on.

We hope that this year was a great year for you,
Best regards
Armel

More on “Update Zip” macro…

elliecomputing — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:51:45 +0000

A few weeks ago, we prepared a macro command which is able to update the content of a Zip displayed a browser or comparison view of ECMerge, you just have to press a button and the temporarily folder content is used to update the original Zip file.

We were queried about its status on Linux, the good news is that it works as is. You just have to install 7 Zip, from source or binary. If it is installed in the PATH, no problem ECMerge will find it for you, just close and re-open it. If it is installed in a special folder (such as a user specific folder), go in the Converters panel of the Preferences and set the path to the executable in the 7 Zip converter.

It should work as well on Mac OS X and Solaris.

Regards,
Armel

“Update Zip” macro command for ECMerge 2.4

elliecomputing — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:25:26 +0000

Last week we developed a small macro which is of general interest to ECMerge users: if you’d like to update files inside ZIPs, ECMerge can now help you with this task.

ECMerge extensive scripting can indeed check if your folder merge is ‘unzipped’ and call the Zip application to update the original Zip file which expanded for the merge or comparison. You will need 7 Zip or WinRAR currently configured in the converters options of ECMerge (ECMerge should find them by itself when they are installed). WinZip command line should be possible (ask us if you’d like it).

Basically, it allows you to merge the content of Zip files but as well Docx, Pptx, Xslx (OOXML files)… not fully integrated but functional.

Here is the link in our site: http://www.soft.elliecomputing.com/soft/ecmerge/macros/update-folder.zip. Unzip the files in your user macro directory (open it with Customize/Macro/Open macro folder of/User) and press Alt-F11 or re-run ECMerge.

Have a nice week,
Armel

NB: there was a fix to the macro for Mac OS X on Januray 1st, 2012 and it was as well tested on Mac and Linux with p7zip.

ECMerge 2.4 is there, with binary comparison!

elliecomputing — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:04:18 +0000

It has been quite a long time since last post, but here it is, ECMerge with binary comparison.

Let’s start with what can be expected from the binary engine:

compares files up to the dozen of Giga bytes without too much efforts (few megabytes matched per seconds on a recent computer with a processor at 2Ghz)
comparison is done in a background thread so that user interface does not hang
synchronizing and non-synchronizing comparison is possible. Non-synchronizing compares bytes at same offsets, synchronizing tries to find a minimal difference, in order to treat files of any size, the synchronizing version of the algorithm uses heuristics (pure LCS is definitely too hard for Gigabytes of data).
2 and 3 way comparison is supported, though there is no editing and no merge capabilities
long portions of text within or between zones of interest can be collapsed (i.e. you can collapste long regions with only equal bytes, only inserted or a mix).
missing bytes in one side are compensated by corresponding “holes” (represented as a hatched region) in the other sides
binary file types are supported. You can define fields at predefined or dynamic ranges of bytes to ignore (timestamps, random filling…). We defined a MS Executable file format which defines a set of Timestamp fields (there are several places in the file format where timestamps are saved) so that you can compare executables produced at two different dates and know if they really differ.
as usual, all of that is scriptable, you can dig into comparison results, parameter new comparison, add fields

Here are a few screenshots:

In addition to binary, we added more than twenty predefined languages file formats which allow you to ignore easily lines commented out (such as C, Bash, Java, PO files…). We updated the SCC plugin for Subversion and CVS.

We improved the UI in many aspects (two sizes for icons, application icon of much better quality for large sizes, validation of fields where possible on Windows, find/replace is better).

Finally we rationalized the executable file name to have the same name on Windows and on Unixes: ecmerge (with .exe extension on Windows)

Try ECMerge with its new binary comparison.

Have a good week,
Armel

July 20th 2011: special offer!

elliecomputing — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:01:26 +0000

Tomorrow, there is a special offer for ECMerge on BitsDuJour: http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/elli-computing-merge/ don’t miss ECMerge at 51% off!

Have a good week,
Armel

Soon a new bug fix release for ECMerge 2.3

elliecomputing — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:04:55 +0000

There has been few blog activity these last weeks, we focus on ECMerge 2.4.

We fixed a few bugs in ECMerge 2.3 and we’ll release 2.3 build 124 by a few weeks. In addition, this version will slightly improve the help system: it highlights the words searched in the found pages.

Have a good week,
Armel

Binary diff in progress…

elliecomputing — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:51:15 +0000

Developments are always too long, but at least they progress in the right direction.

The binary comparison engine is progressing, here is an overview of what you will get in ECMerge 2.4.

Binary comparison in 2-way

The comparison engine supports both resynchronizing and positional comparison, you can choose maximum resynchronization distance (matches further than that distance are not found) as well as minimal match length.

And now 3-way, not yet merge but shows you where updates are overlapping:

Hexadecimal view, comparing 3 files

There is still a good deal of work to do but the comparison is already useful. If you want to test ECMerge 2.4 contact us at info@elliecomputing.com

Have a good week,
Armel

New bug fixes for ECMerge 2.3…

elliecomputing — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:11:40 +0000

We have got a few support requests these days, and found some bugs which are now fixed.

It’s time for a 2.3 build 123, we’ll release it by the end of the week. It fixes a problem with ignoring lines in text file types. In addition, we chose to improve the Xtract trial mode so that it interfers far less with comparison results.

Have a good week,
Armel