Comments on: File and Folder Comparison Tool Update in R2008a

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:52:24 +0000

That’s a great idea.

By: Anand

Anand — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:07:37 +0000

Is there any tool (either matlab/third party) that compares two matlab models and give graphaic view of the diffrence? I am talking about model .mdl file

By: Malcolm Wood

Malcolm Wood — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:54:52 +0000

Han,

The MAT-file differencing mechanism uses the MATLAB “==” operator, but for Simulink.Parameter objects this operator asks “are these the same object?”, which is not the right question. For example:

>> x1 = Simulink.Parameter
>> x2 = Simulink.Parameter
>> x1==x2

ans =

For these objects, it turns out that the “isContentEqual” method is the right one to use:

>> isContentEqual(x1,x2)

ans =

But that’s probably not true for other types of object. Java programmers will be familiar with this sort of problem. I’ll look into whether there’s a general solution to it here.

Malcolm

By: Han Geerligs

Han Geerligs — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:32:13 +0000

Hello Ken/Malcolm,

I found that when comparing files with itself (so binary identical) however differences are found.
The contents of that specific file are all Simulink.Parameter data objects. When using “ordinary” scalars of vectors the problem doesnt exist and the variables are marked as identical by the compare tool.

Are you aware of such an issue?

kind regards, Han

By: Georg Wiedermann

Georg Wiedermann — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:47:38 +0000

Dear Malcolm,

are there any plans in the pipeline to provide the missing Simulink model comparison tool?

Best Regards

Georg

By: Tim Davis

Tim Davis — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:44:54 +0000

p.s. In case the reader missed the allusion … “I came upon a source code dark” is an allusion to Dante’s Inferno, the first 3 lines of which are:

Midway upon the journey of our life
  I found myself within a forest dark,
  For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

Also … a low rank update to the poem above. The line

with my edits just for a lark,

would sound better as:

with edits made just for a lark,

Keep up the hard work! :-)

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:49:22 +0000

Tim,

The comparison is just a simple text diff. It would be neat if there was a syntax-aware mode. I’ll pass that along to the developer. Thanks.

By: Tim Davis

Tim Davis — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:24:40 +0000

Is there a way to ignore variations in white space? Can comments be ignored? That way, if I put a block of code inside an “if”, and indent it properly, not all of the code will be flagged as different. These would be useful options if you want to look at core code differences and ignore syntactical massaging.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:14:32 +0000

Marcelo,

Thank you for the feedback, we will take that under consideration.

Daniel,

MATLAB does provide source control integration. Take a look at the documentation page for that: Source Control Interface.

Tim,

creative poems
provide great feedback for us
we work hard for you

By: Tim Davis

Tim Davis — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:23:18 +0000

Beautiful, just beautiful. Worthy of a poetic thanks:

I came upon a source code dark,
and wondered where I left my mark,
with my edits just for a lark,
   and forgot just where
I changed it; now my mind is stark,
   and mem'ry bare.

But then in MATLAB oh-8a
the file compare has saved the day
and giv'n reason now to say
   a heartfelt thanks;
It sheds a light and brilliant ray
   on code, I thinks!