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Southwest Gaming ExpoWorkshop on Network and Systems Support for Games (NetGames 2009)ICIDS 2009 Interactive StorytellingGlobal Game Jam
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Jump to: Software All product reviews |
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Introduction
Some months ago we've reviewed WinMerge, a freeware compare and merge tool. IDM's UltraCompare is another tool of the same kind, enabling the user to compare and merge files and folders. It fully integrates into IDM's other software such as UltraEdit and UEStudio.
The tested version of UltraCompare is 6.40.0.1003.
Integration and functions
While UltraCompare does not integrate into Visual Studio, it's possible to set it as the default diff-tool. Also, UltraCompare offers the possibility to integrate into the shell to quickly select up to three files which then can be compared. Additionally to the local file compare, UltraEdit enables the user to access files and folder on a remote server through FTP/SFTP WinMerge does not directly integrate into Visual Studio.
One thing that stroke me first was the fact that it's impossible to directly select a folder within the file explorer and use it as s source for file comparing. It's only possible to select single files. And even then, the way this is handled is way more complicated than it should be (see Picture 1 ) if the auto select feature is enabled through the configuration options.
Picture 1: The shell integration
Once you right click onto a file, the file is selected as one of the possible compare sources used by UltraCompare. Even if you don't actually tell UltraCompare to use it as a source, it will be set as such. Right clicking onto another file will select in automatically into the second source slot. Although you can click onto Load in the first frame, this will not start UltraCompare. It does... nothing but select the file into the first frame (even though this is already done). If by any bad luck you right clicked onto a file you don't want to use in your compare, you'll have to select the Reset all option. It is not possible to select the file into i.e. the first frame when it's already selected into the second or third one.
To actually start the compare operation, you have to right click onto the last file you want to select into your compare operation and select Run Ultracompare. It would have been a more elegant solution to actually start UltraCompare when you select Load in the first/second/third frame. If you have already started UltraCompare and select files to be loaded into frames, a second UltraCompare instance is loaded. The old one will never be used; even if the instance isn't used for anything else.
As mentioned above it isn't possible to directly select folders to be compared. Instead you have to start UltraCompare and switch it into folder compare mode. This still won't enable you to select the folders through the shell, but at least, you now can open the folders through the File -> Open First/Second menu. By the way, it isn't possible to make a three way folder compare...
Picture 2: The folder compare (click for a full-size image)
The folder compare itself is quite clear (see Picture 2 ): the icons enable the user to quickly make the difference between altered, equal and missing files. Using the toolbars it's easy to copy the selected files from one folder to another. Double clicking onto a folder will open a new folder compare in a new tab. Double clicking onto a file will open the file compare (see Picture 3 ).
Picture 3: Comparing files (click for a full-size image)
On the left the classical, graphical difference representation can be found. Clicking onto a position within that panel will directly show the corresponding lines for all files. It's also possible to quickly jump from one difference to the next one through the toolbars. The differences as clearly displayed. While Winmerge used empty lines to synchronize the display of the compared files, UltraCompare uses different scroll speeds to keep the display on sync for all files. This sometimes can create some confusion, especially if a lot of code has changed. it's possible to either copy the lines from one side to the other (through the toolbars) or to directly edit them in the respective display.
Options
UltraCompare offers a lot of options to the user (see Picture 4 ). From the colouring of the compare result to the way the compare itself is displayed, from shell to UltraEdit integration, from file handling to the application layout; almost everything is configurable. You should not have any problems to change i.e. the key mappings to the way it best fits your needs.
Picture 4: The options
Pricing
UltraCompare is not a freely available tool but a 30 to 45 days trial version is available. Once the trial has expired, you have to purchase a license to continue to use the tool. The price per seat is $39.95 with price regressions from 25 licenses on. It's possible to add a second year of upgrades at additional 40% of costs or add unlimited upgrades at 200% additional costs (making it $79.90).
Conclusion
UltraCompare is a good file and folder merge tool which has its small glitches. But those glitches shouldn't be any problem if you really like the rest of the software itself. But then the price tag is too high for the application, especially if there are a lot of good or better and free compare tools available on the net.
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