mgdiff - Motif-based graphical file difference browser
mgdiff [-toolkitoption...] [-quit] [-file name] [-args
diffargs] [file1 file2]
These are the standard options accepted by all applications
that use the X Toolkit Intrinsics. See the OPTIONS
section in the X(1X) manual page. This option sets the
resource Mgdiff.quitIfSame to "true". This will cause the
program to exit immediately without bringing up a window
if the two files have no differences (as determined by the
diff command). This option sets the resource Mgdiff.diffArgs
to the value of the diffargs argument. These
options are passed to the diff command that actually computes
the differences between the two files. Since any
argument can be passed, it is possible to specify options
that cause the diff command to fail or to generate output
in a different format that will cause mgdiff to fail. For
most versions of diff, only three options make any sense.
The first is '-b'; this causes diff to ignore trailing
blanks (spaces and tabs) and to treat all other strings of
blanks as equivalent. The second option is '-w'; this
ignores blanks and treats strings of blanks as equivalent.
The last option is '-i'; this ignores case when comparing
letters. This command sets the resource Mgdiff.filename
to the value of the name argument. mgdiff uses this
string to display over a file read from standard input.
Mgdiff is a graphical front end to the diff command. It
permits the user to view the differences between two ASCII
files in context and, optionally, to write out a third
file which is the user-defined merging of those two files.
It is inspired by a similar program, called gdiff, which
runs only on Silicon Graphics workstations and for which
source code is not provided.
The program takes as arguments various options (described
in the next section) and the names of two files to compare.
Either filename (but not both) may be given as '-'
to use standard input instead.
The resulting display consists mostly of two panes of
text; the one on the left is the first file specified and
the one on the right is the second file specified.
Between and below the text panes are scrollbars that permit
changing the visible portions of the two files being
compared. In addition, the program implements the
Scrolled Region recommendations of Section 2.3.4 of the
OSF/Motif Style Guide (release 1.1), meaning that the
arrow and paging keys will work to scroll as well. Above
each text pane is the name of the file in that text pane
and the line number in the file which is being displayed.
The text in each of the text panes is divided into blocks
of lines which are color-coded with one of five different
colors. This indicates that the block:
differs between the two files
is identical between the two files
has been inserted in one file or the other
is for display purposes (to match an inserted block in the
other file)
has been selected by the user (for writing to a merged file)
These colors can be modified by the user via X resources;
see the RESOURCES section of this manual page. A legend
display of the colors and their meanings is available
using the Help menu.
On the right-hand side of the display is an overview area;
this shows the files in their entirety. The sliders in
the overview area track the lines being displayed in the
text panes.
At the top of the display is a Motif menu bar; those functions
are discussed in the MENUS section of this manual
page.
The menubar contains the following menu topics as CascadeButtons:
File, View, Select, Options and Help. The rest of
this section discusses each menu entry, showing it's name
and accelerator, if any.
File
This pulldown menu controls file access:
Open... Ctrl+O
Brings up the "Open Files" FileSelectionDialog to allow
the user to open two files for comparison.
Open Left... Ctrl+L
Brings up the "Open File" FileSelectionDialog to allow the
user to specify a file to open and compare with the
already opened right-hand file.
Open Right... Ctrl+R
Brings up the "Open File" FileSelectionDialog to allow the
user to specify a file to open and compare with the
already opened left-hand file.
Save As... Ctrl+S
Brings up the "Save File" FileSelectionDialog to allow the
user to specify an output file for writing the merged
file; this is an application modal dialog. The program
will allow the user to overwrite an existing file but pops
up a QuestionDialog to allow the user to cancel the operation
if desired. If there are any unselected areas of
difference between the two files the user is notified via
an ErrorDialog and the save operation is canceled.
Exit Ctrl+C
Exits the program immediately.
View
This pulldown menu contains commands for moving through
the files.
Previous Ctrl+P
Scrolls both file views so that the previous area of difference
is Mgdiff.linesOfContext lines from the top of the
application window.
Next Ctrl+N
Scrolls both file views so that the next area of difference
is Mgdiff.linesOfContext lines from the top of the
application window.
Next Unselected Ctrl+U
Scrolls both file views so that the next unselected area
of difference is Mgdiff.linesOfContext lines from the top
of the application window.
Select
The two files being compared can be optionally merged into
one file. To do this, the user must select for each area
of difference between the two files which version should
be written to the merged file. The menu entries in this
pulldown menu allow the user to select or unselect differences
in groups rather than individually.
Left All
For all areas of difference between the two files select
the left-hand file version.
Right All
For all areas of difference between the two files select
the right-hand file version.
Unselect All
Unselects all areas of difference in both files.
Options
This pulldown menu controls miscellaneous appearance
and/or behavior options.
Overview Ctrl+W
This menu entry toggles the presence of the overview area
on the right-hand side of the application window. The
default value for this toggle is controlled by a resource,
Mgdiff.overview, which is described in the RESOURCES section.
Horizontal Scrollbar Ctrl+H
This menu entry toggles the presence of the horizontal
scrollbar at the bottom of the application window. The
default value for this toggle is controlled by a resource,
Mgdiff.horzScrollbar, which is described in the RESOURCES
section.
Drag Scroll Ctrl+D
This menu entry toggles the behaviour of the scrollbars in
the application window. When set, dragging the slider of
a scrollbar results in a immediate change in the view of
the text being compared. When unset, the view is only
changed at the end of a slider drag (when the mouse button
is released.) This setting might be preferred on a slower
X server. The default value for this toggle is controlled
by a resource, Mgdiff.dragScroll, which is described in
the RESOURCES section.
Help
This pulldown menu displays commands for obtaining help on
or information about mgdiff.
Version... Ctrl+V
Brings up an InformationDialog with author and version
information.
Manual Page... Ctrl+M
Brings up a DialogShell with a ScrolledText widget containing
this manual page. The command for generating this
is customizable via a resource, Mgdiff.manCommand, which
is described in the RESOURCES section.
Color Legend... Ctrl+G
Brings up a DialogShell which summarizes the use of color
in encoding the types of differences between the two files
being compared.
OTHER DISPLAYS/CONTROLS
You can move directly to a particular spot in the two
files by using BDrag in the overview area.
The program uses what the OSF/Motif Style Guide calls
"multiple selection" to select individual blocks for writing
to a merged file. Clicking BSelect on an unselected
block adds it to the list of selected blocks. Clicking
BSelect on a selected block removes it from the list of
selected blocks. In addition, Clicking BSelect on an unselected
block which is opposite a selected block (in the
other text panes) removes the selected block from the list
of selected blocks.
The numbers in the small boxes next to the file names are
the line numbers of the lines at the top of the text
panes.
What follows is the hierarchy of Motif widgets, as generated
by editres(1X). The hierarchical structure of the
widget tree is reflected in the indentation. Each line
consists of the widget class name followed by the widget
instance name. This information might be useful if you
wish to customize the appearance of the program via
resource settings.
Mgdiff mgdiff
XmMainWindow mainw
XmSeparatorGadget MainWinSep1
XmSeparatorGadget MainWinSep2
XmSeparatorGadget MainWinSep3
XmRowColumn menubar
XmCascadeButtonGadget button_0
XmCascadeButtonGadget button_1
XmCascadeButtonGadget button_2
XmCascadeButtonGadget button_3
XmCascadeButtonGadget button_4
XmMenuShell popup_file_menu
XmRowColumn select_menu
XmPushButtonGadget
button_0
XmPushButtonGadget
button_1
XmSeparatorGadget separator_0
XmPushButtonGadget
button_2
XmRowColumn file_menu
XmPushButtonGadget
button_0
XmPushButtonGadget
button_1
XmPushButtonGadget
button_2
XmPushButtonGadget
button_3
XmSeparatorGadget separator_0
XmPushButtonGadget
button_4
XmRowColumn options_menu
XmToggleButtonGadget
button_0
XmToggleButtonGadget
button_1
XmToggleButtonGadget
button_2
XmRowColumn help_menu
XmPushButtonGadget
button_0
XmPushButtonGadget
button_1
XmPushButtonGadget
button_2
XmRowColumn view_menu
XmPushButtonGadget
button_0
XmPushButtonGadget
button_1
XmPushButtonGadget
button_2
XmForm form1
XmFrame frame1
XmForm form3
XmScrollBar sbl
XmDrawingArea dam
XmScrollBar sbr
XmFrame frame2
XmForm form4
XmForm form2
XmScrollBar sb
XmForm form21
XmFrame
frame3
XmLabel
fnamel
XmFrame
frame31
XmTextField
linenuml
XmForm form22
XmFrame
frame4
XmLabel
fnamer
XmFrame
frame41
XmTextField
linenumr
XmDrawingArea
textl
XmDrawingArea
textr
XmScrollBar sbh
XmDialogShell version_popup
XmMessageBox version
XmLabelGadget symbol
XmLabelGadget
XmSeparatorGadget separator
XmPushButtonGadget OK
XmPushButtonGadget Cancel
XmPushButtonGadget Help
XmDialogShell manualpage_popup
XmForm manualpage
XmPanedWindow pane
XmScrolledWindow help_textSW
XmScrollBar vbar
XmText help_text
XmForm form2a
XmPushButton OK
XmSash sash
XmSeparatorGadget separator
XmSash sash
XmSeparatorGadget separator
XmDialogShell legend_popup
XmForm legend
XmPanedWindow pane
XmRowColumn rc
XmLabel label1
XmLabel label2
XmLabel label3
XmLabel label4
XmLabel label5
XmForm form2a
XmPushButton OK
XmSash sash
XmSeparatorGadget separator
XmSash sash
XmSeparatorGadget separator
XmDialogShell werror_popup
XmMessageBox werror
XmLabelGadget symbol
XmLabelGadget
XmSeparatorGadget separator
XmPushButtonGadget OK
XmPushButtonGadget Cancel
XmPushButtonGadget Help
Mgdiff.diffForeground: black Mgdiff.diffBackground:
yellow
These colors are for blocks which differ between files.
Mgdiff.sameForeground: black Mgdiff.sameBackground:
grey
These colors are for blocks which are identical between
files.
Mgdiff.insertForeground: black Mgdiff.insertBackground:
orange
These colors are for blocks which have been inserted in
one file.
Mgdiff.blankForeground: black Mgdiff.blankBackground:
grey66
These colors are for blocks which are for display purposes.
Mgdiff.selectForeground: black Mgdiff.selectBackground:
light slate blue
These colors are for blocks which have been selected by
the user.
Mgdiff.font: 7x13bold
Font for displaying text blocks.
Mgdiff.dragScroll: true
Set to true if scrollbar dragging should cause immediate
changes in the viewed text, and false if the view should
only change after the scrollbar has been moved.
Mgdiff.overview: true
Set to true if the file overview section should appear.
Mgdiff.horzScrollbar: true
Set to true if the horizontal scrollbar should appear.
Mgdiff.linesOfContext: 3
Number of lines that should appear above a difference
block gotten to using the Previous or Next commands.
Should be greater or equal to zero.
Mgdiff.manCommand: (man mgdiff | col -b) 2>&1
The command (or pipeline) used to produce a formatted manual
page without escape codes.
Mgdiff.diffCommand: diff
The diff(1) compatible command to use for calculating differences
between text files.
Mgdiff.diffArgs: ""
The arguments to be provided to the diff command. This
resource can also be set via the -args command line
option.
Mgdiff.quitIfSame: false
If the two files have no differences (as determined by the
diff command) then exit immediately without bringing up a
window. This resource can also be set to "true" via the
-quit command line option.
Mgdiff.filename: (stdin)
mgdiff uses this string to display over a file read from
standard input. This resource can also be set via the
-file command line option.
Returns the exit status generated by the diff command.
This is usually 0 for no differences, 1 for some differences
and 2 for errors.
Using BDrag in the overview area doesn't work well when
drag scrolling is turned off.
Doesn't support monochrome displays.
Input lines longer than BUFSIZ (see /usr/include/stdio.h)
are silently truncated.
The code for parsing and passing arguments to the diff
command assumes arguments are delimited by white space and
does not do any quote processing.
Copyright (c) 1994, Daniel Williams
See X(1X) for a full statement of rights and permissions.
diff(1), X(1X)
Daniel Williams ([email protected])
To Andrew C. Myers for writing gdiff.
mgdiff(1X)
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