═══ 1. Disclaimer ═══ This product is supplied with no warranty, either expressed or implied. The Authors (Daniel J Neades and Jason R Shannon) do 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 1993-1994 Daniel J Neades and Jason R Shannon. PMdiff exists in evaluation and licensed versions. The product information dialog specifies the type of each copy. 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. Only one instance of each licensed copy may be used at any particular time. The copyright of PMdiff is currently held by the authors, Daniel J Neades and Jason R Shannon. ═══ 3. Licensing PMdiff ═══ PMdiff is useful to almost the entire OS/2 community. It is particularly attractive to software engineers who often wish to compare different versions of source code files. By bundling PMdiff with your software development system you could give your product the competitive edge. We invite you to license PMdiff 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 2.5 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 registered version (which you will be sent when you register) allows preferences and window position to be optionally saved, but is otherwise identical to (or better than) the evaluation version. Once you have registered, technical support is available from the authors via e-mail or snail-mail. Voice support is not provided. PMdiff can be registered by sending the registration fee to one of the authors (see Contacting the Authors). Acceptable methods of payment are listed below in order of preference (most preferred method first). Ь25 cheque (payable to D J Neades) drawn on UK bank Ь25 UK Postal Order Ь25 Eurocheque (payable to one of the D J Neades) US$40 ═══ 5. Contacting the Authors ═══ You may register a single copy of PMdiff or initiate licensing negotiations with either of the authors. You can contact them at the address below: PMdiff 27 Kennmoor Close Warmley Bristol BS15 5BD Great Britain You may also contact the authors via Internet email. 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 Moving the lines window Changing fonts Changing colours Short-cuts ═══ 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. You may use wild-cards. 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. ═══ 7.3. 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. ═══ 7.4. 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. ═══ 7.5. 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. ═══ 7.6. 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. ═══ 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 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->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. ═══ 10.3. 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. ═══ 10.4. 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: ═══ 10.5. 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 you use the default colours since PMdiff can update the display marginally more quickly with them. ═══ 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 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. Tab expansion slows down the comparison of files, and so you should only select it if you need it. Tab expansion only takes effect when Rediff, Swap or load new files. 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.