═══ 1. Disclaimer ═══ This product is supplied with no warranty, either expressed or implied. The Authors (Daniel J Neades and Jason R Shannon) will not accept responsibility for any adverse consequences that may arise from the use or misuse of PMdiff or its associated program and data files. Such adverse consequences include, but are not limited to, loss of profit, and loss of data. The Authors specifically disclaim all warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. ═══ 2. Copyright ═══ PMdiff is Copyright 1993-1996 Daniel J Neades and Jason R Shannon. PMdiff exists in evaluation and licensed versions. Evaluation copies of PMdiff are supplied for evaluation only. You may distribute them freely, but they are not to be used commercially. After 21 days of evaluation, you must cease using PMdiff unless you register it. Licensed copies of PMdiff may be used commerically, but not freely distributed. Each licensed copy may be used by only one person at any particular time. The copyright of PMdiff is held by the authors, Daniel J Neades and Jason R Shannon. ═══ 3. Licensing PMdiff ═══ PMdiff is useful to almost everyone who uses IBM OS/2 and Microsoft Windows NT. It is particularly attractive to software engineers who often wish to compare different versions of source code files. If you sell software development tools, you may wish to consider bundling PMdiff with your product to give it the competitive edge. You can ship the evaluation version of PMdiff with your products free of charge (but please contact us to obtain permission first). The licensed version of PMdiff may be shipped with your products under negotiable terms. To contact us, see Contacting the Authors. Alternatively, see How to Register if you simply wish to continue using PMdiff. ═══ 4. How to Register and receive support ═══ PMdiff version 4.0 is shareware. This means that you can use the program for a limited time (21 days) before you decide whether you want to keep it. If you want to continue using PMdiff after that time you are expected to register it. The licensed version of PMdiff (which will be sent to you when you register) allows you to save your preferences between sessions and save merged files. Otherwise, it is identical to (or better than) the evaluation version. Once you have registered, technical support is available from the authors via e-mail (see Contacting the Authors). Voice telephone support is not provided. PMdiff can be registered from BMT Micro. BMT Micro accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, money order, cashiers checks and personal checks. DM and British currency is also accepted via registered mail. See the file orderfrm.txt supplied with PMdiff for details. PMdiff 4.0 is inexpensive to register: US$30 to register a new copy US$15 to upgrade a registered copy of PMdiff 3.1 US$20 to upgrade a registered copy of PMdiff 2.7 Note PMdiff 4.0 is also available as a native 32 bit Microsoft Windows NT/Windows 95 application. ═══ 5. Contacting the Authors ═══ You may contact the authors via Internet email for technical support or to initiate licensing negotiations. Send mail to pmdiff@arac.demon.co.uk. ═══ 6. General Help ═══ PMdiff presents the differences between two files in a graphical format, allowing you to browse through the files. Lines are drawn between corresponding changes in the two files. Choose one of the following hyperlinks for help about performing specific actions in PMdiff. How to register PMdiff and receive support How to license PMdiff Loading files Scrolling files Merging files Moving the lines window Changing fonts Changing colours Using the keyboard ═══ 7. Actions ═══ Select an appropriate topic for information about how to perform a particular task. ═══ 7.1. Loading Files ═══ Files can be loaded into PMdiff in one of three ways: By specifying them on the command line when you start PMdiff. By using the File Open dialog. By using drag and drop to copy the file(s) from a Workplace Shell folder to either of the file display windows, or onto a PMdiff program object on the desktop. ═══ 7.2. Scrolling Files ═══ You can scroll files vertically and horizontally using the scroll bars. Scrolling one file may result in the other also being scrolled, depending on the settings in the Linking page of the Preferences notebook. Moving the scroll bars with mouse button 2 instead of mouse button 1 will result in any linking being delayed until button 2 is released. There are two double-arrowed buttons beneath each vertical scroll bar. These allow you to jump to the next and previous differences quickly. Note The evaluation version of PMdiff pops up a dialog box every time you move to the next or previous difference. See How to Register for details on how to register PMdiff and receive a version that does not have this annoying feature. ═══ 7.3. Merging files ═══ If you enable the file merge facility (see options) then you can select the text that you want from both files and save a file containing it. A raised vertical bar is drawn in the central lines window next to the text that will be saved. You can select or deselect text by clicking on it with mouse button 1. The raised vertical bar in the central lines window adjacent to the text will appear or disappear to show whether the text is selected. When you have chose the changes that you wish to keep, select Save merged file from the File menu, or from the pop-up menus. If you select Save merged file from the pop-up menu for the left file, the save filename will default to the name of the left file. Using the right file pop-up menu will use the right filename as the default save name. Of course, you can enter a different filename if wish. Note The evaluation version of PMdiff does not allow you to save merged file changes. See How to Register for details on how to register PMdiff and receive a version with save enabled. ═══ 7.4. Moving the Lines Window ═══ You can change the relative widths of the two file display windows. To do this, move the pointer over the double-headed arrow above the lines window, click and hold down mouse button 2, and drag the window to the left or right. Release the button when you have moved the lines window to the desired place. To re-centre the lines window, double-click either mouse button on the double headed arrow. See the help for the Lines page of the Preferences notebook for information on how to change the width of the central lines window. ═══ 7.5. Colours ═══ You can change the colours used by PMdiff by dragging colours from the OS/2 Colour Palette and dropping on PMdiff. It is possible to change the foreground and background colours for each of the four different text types. Simply drop the desired colour on the type of text that you wish to change. The colour of the linking lines can also be changed by dropping a colour onto the central lines window. ═══ 7.6. Fonts ═══ You can change the font used to display files by dragging from the OS/2 Font Palette and dropping on either of the file windows. You can also change the font used in the status lines above the file windows. ═══ 7.7. Shortcuts ═══ Most menu items have short-cut keys, which are described next to the menu item which they emulate. In addition, there is a pop-up menu available by pressing mouse button 2 when the pointer is over either of the file display windows. PMdiff supports extensive use of the keyboard for moving around files. The Page Up, Page Down and the up and down arrow keys move the file display up and down. Holding down the Ctrl key with the up and down arrows moves between the next and previous differences. Note Keyboard actions affect the last file display that was clicked upon using mouse button 1. Alternatively, you can use the Tab key to switch active windows. If you have pressed Tab, then the file with input focus is shown with a dotted border. This input focus emphasis is not drawn by default (and is removed if you click on either file with the mouse) so that the display remains as uncluttered as possible. ═══ 8. Extended Lines ═══ Selecting Extend lines from the popup menu toggles extended lines on or off. The current state is indicated by the presence or absence of a checkmark next to the menu item. This option mirrors the checkbox on the Lines page of the Preferences notebook. ═══ 9. Expand Tabs ═══ Selecting Expand tabs from the popup menu toggles tab expansion on or off. The current state is indicated by the presence or absence of a checkmark next to the menu item. This option mirrors the checkbox on the Options page of the Preferences notebook. Note that selecting this menu item will changes in tab expansion to take immediate effect, unlike checking or unchecking the option on the Options notebook page. ═══ 10. File Menu ═══ The File menu allows you to load files into PMdiff, configure PMdiff preferences and perform other miscellaneous operations. The following items are available: Open left Open right Save merged files Swap Rediff Preferences Exit ═══ 10.1. File->Open left and File->Open right ═══ Selecting Open left or Open right from the File menu brings up a standard file dialog. From this you can select a file to load into either the left or right PMdiff file display windows. ═══ 10.2. File->Save merged files ═══ If file merging is enabled, selecting Saved merged files from the File menu brings up a standard file save dialog. From this you can select the name of the file which is to contain the merged changes of the two open files. ═══ 10.3. File->Swap ═══ Selecting Swap from the File menu swaps the contents of the two PMdiff file display windows. You may only select Swap if you have loaded at least one file into PMdiff and if PMdiff is not currently working out the differences between two files. ═══ 10.4. File->Rediff ═══ Selecting this menu item forces PMdiff to reload and rediff the currently displayed files. This is useful if you have modified one or other of the files since they were first loaded. Note that it is not possible to select Rediff if PMdiff is already in the process of working out the differences between two files. ═══ 10.5. File->Preferences ═══ PMdiff allows many options to be configured to suit your preferences. Selecting Preferences brings up the PMdiff Preferences notebook. This has four pages: Linking Styles Lines Options ═══ 10.6. File->Exit ═══ Selecting Exit ends your current PMdiff session. ═══ 11. Help Menu ═══ The Help menu allows you to access help about various aspects of PMdiff. The following items are available: Help index General help Using help Product information ═══ 11.1. Help->Help index ═══ Selecting the Help index menu item gives you an index of all PMdiff help topics. ═══ 11.2. Help->General help ═══ Selecting General help gives you an overview of PMdiff. ═══ 11.3. Help->Using help ═══ Select Using help if you are unfamiliar with the OS/2 on-line help system. ═══ 11.4. Help->Product information ═══ Product information brings up a dialog box containing information on PMdiff. Of particular note is the version number. Push the OK button to dismiss the dialog. ═══ 12. Preferences notebook ═══ The Preferences notebook allows you to configure PMdiff to suit your requirements. The notebook consists of four pages; simply click on a page tab in order to turn to that page. Any changes that you make using the notebook take immediate effect. For help on individual pages select a hyperlink from the list below: Linking Styles Lines Options ═══ 12.1. Preferences notebook: Linking Page ═══ This page allows you to change the way in which PMdiff links the two file display windows together. Vertical Linking By default, when you vertically scroll one file, PMdiff automatically scrolls the other so that correspondances between the two files are vertically aligned in the centre of the file display windows. This is Centre vertical linking. As an alternative to Centre linking, you can tell PMdiff to align correspondances at the top or bottom of the file display windows, depending on the direction of movement. To do this, select Top/Bottom linking. If you scroll upward (toward the top of the file) then correspondances are aligned at the top of the windows. Scrolling downward aligns correspondances at the bottom of the file display windows. Finally, you may disable vertical linking completely by selecting the Unlinked option. Note that you can temporarily achieve the same effect by using mouse button 2 to move the scroll bar instead of button 1. Linking will then not take place until you release the button. Horizontal Linking Horizontal linking can be either on or off. If it is on, then scrolling one file horizontally will result in the other also being scrolled. Otherwise, the two files are not horizontally linked. Pushing the Default button resets horizontal and vertical linking to the PMdiff defaults. ═══ 12.2. Preferences notebook: Styles Page ═══ This notebook page allows you to configure your choice of styles for the four different types of text that PMdiff displays: Unchanged, Changed, Inserted and Deleted. Unchanged text is that which is the same in both of the files being compared. Changed text is text which has been replaced in the transition from one file to another. Inserted text is that which is not present in the left file, but has been inserted into the one on the right. Deleted text is present in the left file, but not in the right. For each of the four text types you may choose any combination of Bold, Italic, Underscore and Strikeout styles. Pushing the Default button resets all character styles to the PMdiff defaults. Clicking on Reset colours will undo any changes that you have made to the PMdiff colour scheme. For slow computers, it is recommended that do not change the background colours since this slows down the display. See also Changing fonts Changing colours ═══ 12.3. Preferences notebook: Lines Page ═══ Using this notebook page you can alter the width (in pixels) of the central lines section (in which the lines showing correspondances between the left and right files are drawn). In addition, you can optionally extend the lines in the lines section over the text in the file display window. ═══ 12.4. Preferences notebook: Options Page ═══ The White space section tells PMdiff how to treat white space when comparing files. White space can be treated as significant, ignored at the start of lines or ignored totally. The Miscellaneous section allows you to: select whether CR and LF characters are explicitly shown enable or disable the display of line numbers enable the file merge feature. The Tabs section on this notebook page allows you to expand tabs to a given number of spaces. Note that this option is only really useful if you have instructed PMdiff to use a mono-spaced font. Save on exit allows you to choose whether to save your PMdiff preferences when you leave PMdiff. It also allows you to store the window size and position on exit. Note The evaluation version of PMdiff does not allow you to save either the preferences or window position. See How to Register for details on how to register PMdiff and receive a version with save enabled. ═══ 13. File Open Dialog ═══ The file dialog allows you to load a file into PMdiff. It works in exactly the same way as all other OS/2 standard file dialogs.