Project Difference Dialog Box (Explorer and Plug-in)
Compares two versions of a project and specifies the display for the comparison results. You can use this dialog box to compare two projects, a local Windows folder and another local Windows folder, or a local Windows folder and a project.
Results of the comparison are displayed as side-by-side panes listing files and subprojects alphabetically. The left pane represents the project version in the Visual SourceSafe database, while the right pane represents the working folder version.
Note
To view a file in the comparison results, you can double-click it. Double-clicking a folder does nothing.
Dialog Box Access
In Visual SourceSafe Explorer, select a project and then, on the Tools menu, click Show Differences.
In Visual Studio, select a project in Solution Explorer. On the File menu, click Source Control, then click Compare.
You can specify whether the Project Difference dialog box is displayed by using the Command Dialogs tab in the SourceSafe Options dialog box. You can change the default colors that are used by setting the options on the Difference tab in the SourceSafe Options dialog box.
- Add Files
Results display. Allows you to add files to a project.
- Check In Files/Project
Results display. Allows you to check in the selected files or project.
- Check Out Files/Project
Results display. Allows you to check out the selected files or project.
- Compare
Specifies the project you want to compare. Use the Browse button if necessary to find the project.
- Delete Files/Project
Results display. Allows you to delete the selected files or project.
- File/Project Difference
Results display. Displays the Difference Options dialog box so that you can examine differences.
- Get Latest Version
Results display. Allows you to retrieve the latest version of a file or project to your working folder.
- Ignore OS Differences
Instructs Visual SourceSafe to ignore operating system line break character differences in the comparison. This option is useful if you are comparing files across a network where one computer is a Macintosh, for example, and the other is using Microsoft Windows NT.
- Only show this dialog when the Shift key is down
Specifies that this dialog box is not displayed unless you hold down the SHIFT key when you select the command to show differences.
- Reconcile All
Displays a Reconcile all differences for <name> dialog box to allow you to reconcile all differences that have been found.
- Recursive
Includes the specified projects and the files that they contain and subprojects at all levels, along with their contained files.
- Refresh File List
Uses standard Windows methods to refresh the selected file list.
- Report
Shows a <your report title> dialog box to allow you to send a comparison report to a printer, a file, or the Clipboard.
- Show Context Lines
Specifies the number of context lines to display. These lines surround the line identified as different by the comparison. For example, setting Show Context Lines to 3 indicates that you will see three context lines above and three context lines below the difference line. This option will be ignored if you have chosen Visual as the display format in the Difference Options dialog box.
- Show files that are different in both places
Includes all files that are in both projects but are different. For such a file, you usually need to perform a get operation to update the file version in your working folder. This option is selected by default.
- Show files that are only in the compare location
Includes files that are specified in the Compare option, but not those specified in the To option. This option is selected by default.
- Show files that are only in the to location
Includes files that are specified in the To option, but not those specified in the Compare option. This option is selected by default.
- Show files that are the same in both places
Includes files that the same in both projects. This option is selected by default.
- To
Specifies the project you want to compare to the first project. You can also use the Browse button to find the project to compare.
- Undo Check out
Results display. Allows you to undo a checkout.
- View File
Results display. Allows you to view the selected file.
Remarks
There are up to four types of files that can be listed in the results for this dialog box:
Files that are in both projects. There is no action you need to take for these files.
Files that are in the first project but not in the second (most commonly, files that are in the Visual SourceSafe project but not in your working folder). If these files have been added to the project by another user, you might want to get the files. If the files have been deleted from your working folder, you might want to delete the files from the project in the Visual SourceSafe database.
Files that are in the second project but not in the first (most commonly, files that are in your working folder but not in the corresponding project). If these are files that you have created locally, you might want to add them to the Visual SourceSafe database. If they are files that another user deleted from the project, you might want to delete your local copies.
Files that are in both projects but have different content. If these are files that you have checked out, you might want to check them in. If they are files that another user has checked in, you might want to get them to your working folder.
This is a complete list of the types of files that can be shown, but not a complete list of the possibilities. For example, if another user renames a file in the Visual SourceSafe database, you will see a file you do not actually have in the file list for that project in Visual SourceSafe Explorer. In your working folder for the project, there will be a file that is not present in the Visual SourceSafe database. You will want to get the file from the Visual SourceSafe database and delete your local file to reconcile the difference.
The file list symbols from Visual SourceSafe Explorer are used in the file lists in this dialog box:
In the left pane, the symbols represent the same things they do in the main Visual SourceSafe Explorer window. For example, a check mark on a file indicates that the file is checked out.
In the right pane, the symbols represent conditions specific to you. For example, a check mark on a file indicates that the file is checked out to you.
See Also
Reference
<your report title> Dialog Box
Difference Options Dialog Box (Explorer and Plug-in)
SourceSafe Options Dialog Box, Command Dialogs Tab (Explorer)
SourceSafe Options Dialog Box, Command Dialogs Tab (Explorer)