Xml Difference and Side-by-side viewer

Author: Dennis Lang 2009
http://home.comcast.net/~lang.dennis/

Load Xml

You can load xml files the following ways:
  • Press Load button and select a file from the file browser.
  • Enter a filename in the file text box which supports auto-complete. Press enter to load file.
  • Drag a filename from another program like Explorer and drop it over the filename text box

    • Viewer

    The viewer is split into two parts, left and right. The divider (split bar) can be moved by right clicking and dragging it left or right.

    Each vertical panel is made up of three sections.
    1. Top - tree view of Xml nodes
    2. Middle - text view of node's inner text
    3. Bottom - nodes attribute names and values

    Like the panel splitter, each of the sub-panels can be resized by selecting their dividers and dragging them up or down.

    Keyboard and Mouse

    While the Top Tree Viewer has focus, the following key commands are supported:

    KeyDescription
    LeftClose Node
    RightOpen Node
    UpMove up a node
    DownMove down a node
     
    Control UpScroll both panels up one node
    Control DownScroll both panels down one node
     
    Alt UpScroll both panels up one node and select node causing text and attributes to be displayed
    Alt Down>Scroll both panels down one node and select node causing text and attributes to be displayed

    In addition to the key commands, the mouse also has special behavior. If you move the mouse near the top of the tree viewer, it will automatically scroll up. When you place the mouse pointer near the bottom, it will scroll down.

    Compare

    Prior to comparing Xml, you need to load a xml file in both panels and select one node in each panel. The selected node is the point where the comparison will start. You can load the same xml file in both panels and select different nodes to compare sections within the same file, such as comparing build profiles inside a Visual Studio Project file.