Name

dxdiff − DECwindows visual differences program

Syntax

dxdiff [ options ] [ file1 file2 ]

Arguments

fileSpecifies the two files that are to be opened at startup.  If you do not specify any file names, dxdiff lets you specify files after it has started up. 

Description

The dxdiff application does a line-by-line comparison of two files and displays the differences between them.  The contents of the two files are displayed in two text regions on either side of a central difference region.  The differences between the files are displayed as highlighted text.  The differences are connected by lines or filled polygons across the central difference region.  Line numbers are optionally displayed at each end of the difference lines, to show where the differences occur within the files.  The files must be ASCII text files. 

Options

−bd color Specifies the color of the window’s border (color displays only).  The default is black. 

−bg color Specifies the color of the window’s background (color displays only).  The default is white. 

−d dispname Specifies the display screen on which dxdiff displays its window.  If the display option is not specified, dxdiff uses the display screen specified by your DISPLAY environment variable.  The display option has the format hostname:number.  Using two colons (::) instead of one (:) indicates that DECnet is to be used for transport.  The default is :0.  For more information, see X(.).

−display dispname This option is the same as the −d option. 

−fg color Specifies the color of the text (color displays only).  The default is black. 

−fn font Specifies the font used as the output font.  The default font is times_bold12. 

−geometry Specifies the width, length, and location of the dxdiff window.  If the geometry option is not specified, dxdiff uses default values.  The geometry option has the format =[width][xlength][x][y].  For more information about the screen coordinate system, see X(.).

−sv Disables slave vertical scrolling. 

+sv Enables slave vertical scrolling. This is the default. 

−sh Disables slave horizontal scrolling

+sh Enables slave horizontal scrolling. This is the default. 

−dl Enables the display of filled polygons to connect areas of different text. 

+dl Enables the display of lines to connect areas of different text.  This is the default. 

−ln Disables the display of line numbers in the difference region.  This is the default. 

+ln Enables the display of line numbers in the difference region. 

−lnfg color Specifies the foreground color for the line numbers in the difference box.  The default is black. 

Menus

The dxdiff window contains the following menus:

Files
Options
Differences
Help

Files Menu

The dxdiff Files menu contains the following menu items:

Open Files...Calls up two Open... dialog boxes, to allow you to specify the two files that you want to compare.  The Dialog boxes are labelled leftfileselector:0 and rightfileselector:0.  You must select one file from each dialog box. 

PrintNot implemented. 

QuitExits the current dxdiff session.  If the session is the original one, all other dxdiff sessions and windows are closed. 

Options Menu

The Options menu contains the following menu items:

Linked Vertical Scrolling On/Off
The default is linked vertical scrolling. When linked vertical scrolling is on and you scroll one of the files, the other file is scrolled with it line for line. When linked vertical scrolling is off, one file can be scrolled independently of the other one.

Linked Horizontal Scrolling On/Off
The default is linked horizontal scrolling.

Render Diffs As Lines/Render Diffs As Filled Polygons
Displays either lines or filled polygons to connect the differences across the difference box. The default on startup is for lines to be displayed.

Display Diff Line Numbers/No Diff Line Numbers
Displays line numbers at each end of the lines that connect the differences. The default is off. If dxdiff cannot find a suitable font size for displaying the line numbers, this item is disabled. 

Differences Menu

The Differences menu contains the following items:

Do DifferencesDisplays the differences between the two currently selected files. 

Do Differences In NewOpens a new dxdiff window to display the differences between the two currently selected files.  The existing dxdiff window remains on the screen for reference. 

Help Menu

The Help Menu is not implemented. 

Restrictions

Printing is not supported. 

Help is not implemented. 

X Defaults

The dxdiff application reads the .Xdefaults file during startup and uses the appropriate resource specification to customize the appearance or characteristics of its displayed dxdiff window.  The format for a resource specification in the .Xdefaults file is: [name*]resource:  value

nameSpecifies the application name or the name string that restricts the resource assignment to that application or to a component of an application.  If this argument is not specified, the resource assignment is globally available to all X applications. 

resourceSpecifies the resource. 

valueSpecifies the value that is to be assigned to the resource. 

For more information, see X(.).

Because each toolkit-based application can consist of a combination of widgets (for example, push buttons and a scroll bar), you can form the name string by adding widget class and name identifiers to the string.  For further information about adding class and name identifiers, see X(.).

For dxdiff, the available class identifiers are:

MenuBar
Label
Menu
PushButton
Text
Scrollbar

For dxdiff, the available name identifiers are:

DxDiffThe application class name

dxdiffThe application name

dxdiffmaindisplayThe entire display, which includes all of the components of the window

mainmenuThe main menu bar, which includes the pull-down menus

leftfileselectorThe file selection dialog box for selecting a file to be displayed in the left text display region

rightfileselectorThe file selection dialog box for selecting a file to be displayed in the right text display region

filespulldownThe Files pull-down menu

openfilesThe Open Files button on the Files menu

printThe Print button on the Files menu

quitThe Quit button on the Files menu

optionspulldownThe Options pull-down menu

slaveverticalThe Slave Vertical Scrolling On/Off button on the Options menu

drawdiffThe Display Diffs As Lines/Filled Polygons button on the Options menu

drawlinenumbersThe Display Line Numbers button on the Options menu

differencespulldownThe Differences pull-down menu

dodifferencesThe Do Differences button on the Differences menu

dodifferencesinnewThe Do Differences In New button on the Differences menu

textregiondisplayThe text region display, which includes both the left and the right text display regions, each of which include the file name bars, the vertical scroll bars, the push button region and the text panes

diffregionThe region where the lines connecting the differences are displayed

filenamebarThe file name bars at the top of each text region

vscrollThe vertical scroll bars

textdisplayThe region where the file contents are displayed

displaymenuThe push button region at the bottom of each text display region

nextdiffThe Next Diff push button

prevdiffThe Prev Diff push button

Examples

To change the background color of the dxdiff text regions, add the following entry to your .Xdefaults file:

dxdiff*textdisplay*background:  blue

To change the background color of the push button region at the bottom of the window, add the following entry to your .Xdefaults file:

dxdiff*displaymenu*background:   red

Files

~/.Xdefaults, /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults

See Also

diff(1), dxwm(1X), X(1X), Guide to the dxdiff Visual Differences Program
 
 
 

Commands