Enhancements: • Merge no longer interpolates pixels when zooming-in on images in an image comparison. This makes it possible to see precise, individual pixel changes when zoomed-in. I12112
• It is possible to zoom-out of images in an image comparison, as well as zoom-in. I14314
• Folder, text, and binary comparison Previous Change and Next Change toolbar buttons are enabled and disabled as appropriate, depending on whether there are next or previous changes. I14631I14632I14650
• Text comparisons display line-wrapping indicators at the end of wrapped lines. I14544
• A Show whitespace characters item has been added to the Preferences toolbar menu. I14545
• A new File▸Save▸Save All menu item has been added. I14390
• In text comparisons, the Cmd+S keyboard shortcut works to save a file even when the file path entry-field has input focus. I14291
• The effect of the binary comparison Search size field has been scaled by a factor of 100 – a value of 500 now is equivalent to a value of 5 in the previous release. This means that binary comparisons complete faster by default, at the expense of result quality. The search size value may be increased to restore the previous, default accuracy. I14646
• Merge now opens a folder comparison when a folder path is entered into the path field of a text, image or binary comparison. I14401
• For three-way text comparisons, the Add Synchronization Link… sheet has an option to choose the pair of files to which the link is added. (The most convenient way of adding a synchronization link is still to right-click a linking-lines panel and choose Add Synchronization Link Here.) I14534
• The Remove All Synchronization Links commands in the text comparison context menu, toolbar item menu, and application menu now work in the same way as they do in Merge for Windows. In particular, when this command is invoked for a three-way comparison from a linking-lines panel context menu, only the links between the two linked panels will be removed. Choosing Remove All Synchronization Links from the Synchronization Links toolbar menu, or from the application menu, will remove all syncronization links between any of the three comparison panes. I14535
• The message that appears when an invalid value is entered into the binary comparison Search size field has been updated to include the permitted range. I14447
• The presentation of the This file has been modified outside of Merge by another application. message has been modernized. I14492
• The Understanding automatic merge results documentation has been re-written for both file and folder comparisons. I14495
• Indenting with the Tab key (when enabled) now works in the same way as in Merge for Windows. I14518
• Instructions for integrating Merge with Path Finder 7 have been added. I14316
• The File▸Open▸Open Saved Options… and File▸Save As▸Save Options As… menu items have been renamed to Open Saved Preferences… and Save Preferences As…, respectively. I14500
Defects fixed: • In text comparisons, the positions of synchronization links are appropriately adjusted when lines are inserted/removed. I14651
• The instructions have been reworded and corrected on the warning sheet that appears when conflicts are detected in an automatic merge of a three-way file comparison. I14623
• The mouse pointer always displays as an arrow when hovering over merging buttons. Previously, it could show as a caret in certain circumstances. I14554
• Re-comparisons triggered by a preference change (e.g. in whitespace handling) or panel-swapping now correctly update change-block highlighting when the Don’t show changes within lines option is enabled. I14543
• In-panel informational messages no longer flicker when comparison highlighting is refreshed. I14399
• Users are no longer inappropriately prompted to save binary comparisons in certain situations where the comparison would be closed or reloaded. I14524
• The Cmd+S keyboard shortcut has been disabled for empty image and binary comparisons. I14686
• When the display of timestamps is turned on for a folder comparison, the rightmost column of the comparison no longer has an unnecessary vertical divider. I14639
• It is no longer possible for text to be inserted at a different location from the cursor when whitespace is visible and line-wrapping is configured to break lines at word boundaries. I14659
• For binary comparisons, commands to mark lines as resolved have been removed. I14503
• Selecting items in the Preferences ▸ Whitespace toolbar menu appropriately update the related items in the Preferences dialog, and vice versa. I14627
• Icons in the folder comparison copy-progress sheet are vertically aligned correctly. I14638
• Icons in the folder comparison proposed actions sheet (shown when performing an automatic merge) are vertically aligned correctly. I14664
• Merge no longer crashes in certain circumstances when performing a binary comparison. I14640
• For text and folder comparisons, the Previous Edit and Next Edit toolbar buttons (and related menu items) are disabled when there are no edits. I14665
• The main application window no longer moves after opening a saved comparison. I14668
• When opening a saved comparison, the dialog asking whether saved preference should be applied has been given a sensible caption. I14669
Enhancements:
• The previous release of Merge removed what we thought were redundant application menu items corresponding to the (still retained) keyboard shortcuts for replacing, prepending, appending and deleting changes in a text comparison. (Merging buttons may also be used to perform these actions.) However, several customers correctly observed that removing these menu items made it impossible to use OS X System Preferences to redefine the keyboard shortcuts for those commands. Rather than simply reinstate the old menu items, we took the opportunity to reconsider the actions that users may wish to perform using the keyboard, and also to adjust the terminology we use to describe those actions. This release therefore adds a new menu (Merging▸Current Change), and new commands with keyboard shortcuts. As a result, you can now efficiently perform a complete three-way merge into the common ancestor file using only the keyboard, all the while keeping the cursor in the middle pane. You no longer need to jump between the left and right panes, or resort to using the mouse and merging buttons. I14552I14560I14584
• Overview-strip marks are now drawn with more intense colours, making them easier to see. I14573
• Merging button tooltips have been reformatted to make them easier to comprehend at a glance. I14559
• XML/XHTML reformatting has been enhanced to work with files containing unquoted attributes, even though these are not strictly valid XML. The Comparing Text Files (or Typed/Pasted Text) page has also been updated to make it clear that the XML/XHTML reformatting commands are intended only for use on true XML/XHTML files. I14571
• Items in the folder comparison Merging▸Copy Selected Items application menu have been regrouped to match the Copy Selected toolbar menu. I14562
• When loading a saved text comparison, Merge will inform you if the original files on disk have been modified since the comparison was saved. This restores the behaviour of Merge 2014.4581. I14551
Defects fixed:
• Folder comparison performance has been drastically improved (up to 10×) relative to Merge 2016.4702. Performance had unacceptably deteriorated in that release, due to the switch from using the • Boost regular expression library to the Clang C++ Standard Library. The Boost library has been reinstated, and upgraded to version 1.60.0. I14575I14609
• Marks are reliably shown in the overview strip for every change in a folder comparison, even for very large comparisons. I14566
• Marks have been added to the folder comparison overview strip to indicate the position of collapsed folders containing changed, inserted or removed items. Previously, no marks were shown for collapsed folders. I14568
• Folder comparison Next/Previous Change toolbar buttons and menu commands now work properly when folder comparison filters are in effect and/or there are hidden items. I14565
• The folder comparison Next/Previous Change toolbar buttons and menu commands jump to changed folders, as well as files. This brings the behaviour into line with Merge for Windows. I14594
• The action of the folder comparison Preferences▸Recurse into Sub-Folders toolbar-button drop-down menu item is no longer reversed. I14613
• The folder comparison Select Rows▸Select Inserted/Removed commands select inserted and removed folders, as well as files. This brings the behaviour into line with Merge for Windows. I14619
• The folder comparison context menu item for copying selected items has been renamed to Copy Selected Items…, and the sub-menu items adjusted accordingly. I14603
• In a three-way folder comparison, the Select Rows▸Select Removed command will only select rows where the file/folder is removed in both the left and right panes. I14620
• The vertical alignment of text in some tables of the preferences window has been corrected. I14539
• The full vertical space available for the overview strip is now used. I14598
• Folders containing changes are automatically expanded when a saved folder comparison is opened. I14567
• Double-clicking on a row in a folder comparison launches a file comparison only for that single row, even if multiple previous rows were previously selected. This brings the behaviour into line with Merge for Windows. (Comparisons may still be launched for multiple rows using the context menu, or with the Launch Comparisons toolbar button.) I14564
• Folder comparison HTML reports may now be created, even when folder or file names contain characters (e.g. LF) that would be illegal in XML attributes. I14626
• This release fixes a rendering problem on macOS v10.12 Sierra, and also addresses a few other minor issues.
Enhancements:
• The About window indicates the operating system version (‘macOS Sierra’, ‘OS X El Capitan’, etc.) for which the running version of Merge has been built. (Please note that it is important to install the correct variant of Merge for your operating system, as described in How to Install.) I14786
• Dropping an image on to a text comparison will open it in a new image comparison. I14713
• The default font for text comparisons has been changed from Courier New to Menlo. I14771
• Defects fixed:
• Line numbers (in text and binary comparisons) and the scale (in image comparisons) no longer become corrupted on macOS Sierra when scrolling comparisons upwards. I14789
• Generated HTML file comparison reports show whitespace comparison options correctly for all combinations of whitespace settings. Note that the descriptions of some options have not yet been fully localized into Japanese.
This release features support for macOS v10.12 Sierra, along with several other enhancements and fixes.
Enhancements:
• Merge is fully supported, optimized, and tested on macOS Sierra. I14703I14728I14765I14729
• Since Merge already has built-in support for tabs, the window tabs that macOS Sierra automatically adds to multi-window applications have been turned off. This preserves the capability to have multiple, top-level Merge windows, and avoids duplicate tab strips. I14716
• The Merge documentation has been updated in accord with Apple’s renaming of ‘OS X’ to ‘macOS’. (Even though OS X Yosemite and OS X El Capitan are still supported, the documentation generally refers exclusively to ‘macOS’, rather than the clumsier ‘macOS and OS X’.) I14704
• All URLs in Merge that reference the Araxis website have been updated to use HTTPS, rather than HTTP. This improves security and avoids unnecessary redirects. I14758
• Merge services for macOS have been re-introduced as an optionally installable feature. These services add commands to the Services submenu of the Finder context menus that appear when you right-click (or Ctrl-click) selected files or folders. Keyboard shortcuts may be configured for the Merge services via macOS System Preferences (System Preferences▸Keyboard▸Shortcuts▸Services▸Files and Folders). For more information, see Integrating with Finder. I14700
• The image comparison Scale control has been renamed to Zoom, since the latter terminology is generally more widespread in other applications. I14722
• The number of markers on the image comparison Zoom slider has been reduced, to make it easier to see the centre, 100% setting. I14722
• A 100% zoom button has been added to image comparisons. This provides a quick way to reset the zoom, displaying the images at their actual size. I14722
• Images in image comparisons may now be magnified by up to 1600%, making it much easier to see pixel-level detail. I14726
• The state of the folder comparison Hide Empty Folders, Hide Unchanged Rows, Visibility Filters…, and Show Hidden Items settings are now preserved between invocations of Merge. (When multiple folder comparisons are open simultaneously with different settings, the settings of the last folder comparison that is closed will be preserved.) I14413
• Folder comparisons have a new command Actions▸Select Rows▸Select Unchanged, also available from the toolbar via Select Rows▸Select Unchanged. I14637
• In a text comparison, using the up/down arrow keys to move the cursor one line past the top or bottom of the currently displayed text now results in one line of text being scrolled into view, rather than half a screen. I14678
• The file and folder comparison report examples in the documentation have been updated, and also localized into Japanese. I14538
Defects fixed:
• The Merge extension for Finder (see Integrating with Finder) has been corrected to work with items on all mounted disk volumes, rather than just those on the root volume. I14699
• The tooltips for the Edited and Read-only indicators in text comparisons have been corrected. I14706
• Folder comparison HTML reports now leave the changes column blank for added/removed items, rather than showing >0. This is to match the folder comparison display within Merge itself. I14695
• Merge no longer becomes unresponsive when attempting to hide only the last row of a folder comparison. I14736
• In an image comparison under El Capitan, moving the Swap slider to the far right while Highlight Changed is checked no longer undoes the swap. I14709
• Tooltips shown for paths in text comparison history lists no longer end with (null). I14702
• The capitalization of the checkbox control labels on image and binary comparisons has been corrected. I14712
