A–C
D–H
I–Z
Developer services
Project centers
Community resources
- Adobe Cookbooks (share code)
- CSS Advisor (browser bug fixes)
- Exchanges (share components)
- Adobe Labs
- Adobe Open Source
- Forums
- RSS feeds
- Bug base
- User groups
- Adobe Community Experts (ACE)
- Developer events
Integration
Product documentation
Downloads
Samples
Training and books
- Online training
- Classroom training
- Certification
- Adobe Developer Library
- Adobe Press
- Safari Books Online
Newsletters
Blogs
Archives
ADC program
Additional resources
Rob Christensen
Adobe
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Overview of the New File Compare Feature in Dreamweaver 8
- Installing WinMerge on Windows
- Windows: Configuring Dreamweaver 8 to Recognize Your Diff/Merge Utility
- Installing FileMerge on OS X
- Mac: Configuring Dreamweaver 8 to Recognize Your Diff/Merge Utility
- Performing Your First File Compare
Configuring Third-Party File Compare
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 introduces a powerful new productivity feature that allows web developers and designers to quickly compare changes between files. To take advantage of this feature, however, you will need to download a third-party merge or "diff" utility and configure Dreamweaver to integrate with this program.
Once you have configured Dreamweaver 8, with just a few simple clicks, you will be able to compare files visually and understand the differences between two versions of a file. For any of you that have nervously uploaded or checked out files on a remote server, uncertain which changes might have been made previously, the file compare feature in Dreamweaver 8 may quickly become one of your favorite new features. In this article, I explain how to integrate a third-party file compare utility on both the Mac and Windows.
Requirements
To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:
Dreamweaver 8
Tutorials and sample files:
- configure_utilities.zip (ZIP, 1K)
A third-party merge or "diff" utility such as FileMerge on Macintosh or WinMerge on Windows:
- Download WinMerge for Windows. Select the "WinMerge" link under the "Downloads" section in the left navigation area. Then, click the "Download WinMerge-2.2.4-Setup.exe" link to download the Windows Installer. I will show you how to install and configure WinMerge later in this article.
- Download XCode 2.1 that contains FileMerge for Mac OS X. I will show you how to install and configure FileMerge later in this article.
Note: FileMerge is distributed by Apple as part of the Xcode development tools which you can download for free from the Apple developer site by registering with the Apple Developer Connection (ADC). However, the latest version of Xcode requires Tiger, the latest major revision of the OSX known as Tiger (10.4).
About the author
Rob Christensen is a senior product manager on Adobe AIR. Prior to his current role, he managed a new product development framework used by many teams at Adobe and Macromedia including Dreamweaver and Flash. He also spent six years as an engineer on Dreamweaver starting with version 2. Rob's interests include web technologies, astronomy, film, travel, and exploring a variety of topics on personal blog.
