dxdiff(1X) dxdiff(1X)
Name
dxdiff - DECwindows visual differences program
Syntax
dxdiff [ options ] [ file1 file2 ]
Arguments
file Specifies the two files that are to be opened at startup. If you do not specify any file names, lets you specify files
after it has started up.
Description
The application does a line-by-line comparison of two files and displays the differences between them. The contents of the two files are
displayed in two text regions on either side of a central difference region. The differences between the files are displayed as high-
lighted text. The differences are connected by lines or filled polygons across the central difference region. Line numbers are optionally
displayed at each end of the difference lines, to show where the differences occur within the files. The files must be ASCII text files.
Options
-bd color Specifies the color of the window's border (color displays only). The default is black.
-bg color Specifies the color of the window's background (color displays only). The default is white.
-d dispname Specifies the display screen on which dxdiff displays its window. If the display option is not specified, dxdiff uses
the display screen specified by your DISPLAY environment variable. The display option has the format hostname:number.
Using two colons (::) instead of one (:) indicates that DECnet is to be used for transport. The default is :0. For
more information, see
-display dispname This option is the same as the -d option.
-fg color Specifies the color of the text (color displays only). The default is black.
-fn font Specifies the font used as the output font. The default font is times_bold12.
-geometry Specifies the width, length, and location of the window. If the geometry option is not specified, uses default values.
The geometry option has the format [widthxlength][{+-}x{+-}y]. For more information about the screen coordinate sys-
tem, see
-sv Disables linked vertical scrolling.
+sv Enables linked vertical scrolling. This is the default.
-sh Disables linked horizontal scrolling
+sh Enables linked horizontal scrolling. This is the default.
-dl Enables the display of filled polygons to connect areas of different text. This is the default.
+dl Enables the display of lines to connect areas of different text.
-ln Disables the display of line numbers in the difference region.
+ln Enables the display of line numbers in the difference region. This is the default.
-lnfg color Specifies the foreground color for the line numbers in the difference box. The default is black.
Menus
The window contains the following menus:
Files
Options
Differences
Help
Files Menu
The Files menu contains the following menu items:
Open Files... Calls up two Open... dialog boxes, to allow you to specify the two files that you want to compare. The Dialog boxes
are labeled leftfileselector:0 and rightfileselector:0. You must select one file from each dialog box.
Print Not implemented.
Quit Exits the current session. If the session is the original one, all other sessions and windows are closed.
Options Menu
The Options menu contains the following menu items:
Linked Vertical Scrolling On/Off
The default is linked vertical scrolling. When linked vertical scrolling is on and you scroll one of the files, the
other file is scrolled with it line for line. When linked vertical scrolling is off, one file can be scrolled indepen-
dently of the other one.
Linked Horizontal Scrolling On/Off
The default is linked horizontal scrolling. When linked horizontal scrolling is on and you scroll one of the files,
the other file is scrolled with it. When linked horizontal scrolling is off, one file can be scrolled independently of
the other one.
Render Diffs As Lines/Render Diffs As Filled Polygons
Displays either lines or filled polygons to connect the differences across the difference box. The default on startup
is for filled polygons to be displayed.
Display Diff Line Numbers/No Diff Line Numbers
Displays line numbers at each end of the lines that connect the differences. The default is to display line numbers.
If cannot find a suitable font size for displaying the line numbers, this item is disabled.
Differences Menu
The Differences menu contains the following items:
Do Differences Displays the differences between the two currently selected files.
Do Differences In New
Opens a new window to display the differences between the two currently selected files. The existing window remains on
the screen for reference.
Help Menu
The Help Menu is not implemented.
Restrictions
Printing is not supported.
Help is not implemented.
X Defaults
The application uses the values in the .Xdefaults file when you logged in and uses the appropriate resource specification to customize the
appearance or characteristics of its displayed window. The format for a resource specification in the .Xdefaults file is:
[name*]resource: value
name Specifies the application name or the name string that restricts the resource assignment to that application or to a component of
an application. If this argument is not specified, the resource assignment is globally available to all X applications.
resource Specifies the resource.
value Specifies the value that is to be assigned to the resource.
For more information, see
Because each toolkit-based application can consist of a combination of widgets (for example, push buttons and a scroll bar), you can form
the name string by adding widget class and name identifiers to the string. For further information about adding class and name identi-
fiers, see
For the available class identifiers are:
MenuBar
Label
Menu
PushButton
Text
Scrollbar
For the available name identifiers are:
DxDiff The application class name
dxdiff The application name
dxdiffmaindisplay The entire display, which includes all of the components of the window
mainmenu The main menu bar, which includes the pull-down menus
leftfileselector The file selection dialog box for selecting a file to be displayed in the left text display region
rightfileselector The file selection dialog box for selecting a file to be displayed in the right text display region
filespulldown The Files pull-down menu
openfiles The Open Files button on the Files menu
print The Print button on the Files menu
quit The Quit button on the Files menu
optionspulldown The Options pull-down menu
slavevertical The Linked Vertical Scrolling On/Off button on the Options menu
slavehorizontal The Linked Horizontal Scrolling On/Off button on the Options menu
drawdiff The Display Diffs As Lines/Filled Polygons button on the Options menu
drawlinenumbers The Display Line Numbers button on the Options menu
differencespulldown The Differences pull-down menu
dodifferences The Do Differences button on the Differences menu
dodifferencesinnew The Do Differences In New button on the Differences menu
textregiondisplay The text region display, which includes both the left and the right text display regions, each of which include the
file name bars, the vertical scroll bars, the push button region and the text panes
diffregion The region where the lines connecting the differences are displayed
filenamebar The file name bars at the top of each text region
vscroll The vertical scroll bars
textdisplay The region where the file contents are displayed
displaymenu The push button region at the bottom of each text display region
nextdiff The Next Diff push button
prevdiff The Prev Diff push button
In addition to the general resources listed in the resources available for are:
slaveVerticalScrolling
Enable or disable linked vertical scrolling. The default is on.
slaveHorizontalScrolling
Enable or disable linked horizontal scrolling. The default is on.
displayLineNumbers Enable or disable display of line numbers in the difference region. The default is on.
drawDiffsAsLines Enable or disable use of lines to connect areas of different text. The default is off. If drawing of lines is dis-
abled, filled polygons are used.
lineNumberForeground
Specify the foreground color for line numbers in the difference box.
Examples
To change the background color of the text regions, add the following entry to your .Xdefaults file:
dxdiff*textdisplay*background: blue
To change the background color of the push button region at the bottom of the window, add the following entry to your .Xdefaults file:
dxdiff*displaymenu*background: red
Files
See Also
diff(1), dxwm(1X), X(1X),
Guide to the dxdiff Visual Differences Program
dxdiff(1X)
