Comparing a Source and Target File in View Compare/Merge

In View Compare/Merge, both the Compare Perspective and the Merge Perspective compare the contents of views. The Compare Perspective compares and displays the contents of the source and target views, and provides a list of changes View Compare/Merge will make on commit. The Merge Perspective shows items with proposed merge actions, organizing them by folder and filter as in a regular view window. You can also view a comparison of the differences in individual file contents from the Merge Perspective. Both perspectives allow you to open StarTeam File Compare/Merge to resolve and merge the differences.

Note: When you select a file in the Merge Perspective and select the tab that compares the target file to the merged file, it is blank if there is no merged file. While the selected file is Unresolved, the tab is blank. If the user merges the file or selects a resolving action such as Overwrite, then the pane displays content comparing the target file to the content of the resolved file. In the case of the Ignore action, the target file is the resolved/merged file. In the case of the Overwrite action, the target file is the source file.

To compare the contents of two different files using View Compare/Merge, do the following:

  1. Start a View Compare/Merge session using the View Compare/Merge Wizard. By default, the View Compare/Merge window opens in the Merge Perspective. Stay in this perspective.
  2. Select a file with differences, having a merge status of either Unresolved (question mark), or Resolved (check mark).

    Note: The View Compare/Merge Wizard uses the configuration to which the view is currently set if you start the wizard from the source view.

  3. Click the File Comparison: Source, Target tab at the bottom.

You can only compare the file differences in View Compare/Merge. To merge the differences, you can open StarTeam File Compare/Merge.

Note: Color highlighting of differences in the Compare pane are explained and controlled in the File Compare/Merge Options dialog box. To change the default highlighting colors for file and folder comparison differences for both View Compare/Merge and StarTeam File Compare/Merge, modify the File Comparison and Folder Comparison Color Preferences accessed by choosing Tools > Options in the StarTeam File Compare/Merge stand-alone window.