Generating Comparison Reports

To store, publish, or distribute comparison results, you must generate a report. Compare It! supports several report formats:

The HTML report provides you with a visual representation of the comparison, similar to the original two-panes view. To minimize file size same text is given in single column.
This format includes in-line changes highlighting.
The HTML2 report is similar to HTML report, but same text is given in 2 columns, making output look identically with comparison panes.
The Unix diff - normal report is a text report, identical to the one produced by the UNIX diff utility, which is recognized as a standard for file comparison in the software development world.
This report only includes changed lines with line numbers.
The Unix diff - unified report is also a text report, but it includes several context lines along with the changes.
The Same report is a plain text file, which includes common part of compared files.
The Merged report can be customized to include same and/or changes blocks of both files in any order. With this report you can save, for example, all changes from source files, or make merged file with changes from both sides, etc. Details
The Composite report repeats the structure of Windiff's comparison report: both files are merged together, changes sections are prefixed with special marks.

You use the Comparison report dialog box to define settings and generate reports.

To generate a report:

Choose File > Report.

In the Comparison report dialog box, define your report settings using the information below.
Note: Depending on the type of report you select, some of the settings may not be available.

Field	Description
Select report file (F2)	Specify the result file here.
Report format	Lets you select the format for the report.
Include navigation	An HTML report can include navigation items in text, to allow jumping from one difference to another. Select this check box to include navigation elements in the report.
Print line numbers	Select to print line numbers on the left side of the report. This option is strongly recommended to use with the next one.
Statistics	Include information about total number of lines changed, added or deleted.
Print changes only	Allows you to print only different lines along with several context lines. You can use the context lines field to specify the number of context lines to print.
Use external CSS file	HTML Reports will use external CSS formatting file.
Open after generation	Select this check box to open the report after Compare It! has generated it.

Click Generate!

Generating report in batch mode

You can also generate comparison report without opening Compare It! window. All report options can be specified using command line switches, as well as report file to generate. See Command Line help for details.

Generating multiple report files

Compare It! supports file lists, so you can generate multiple reports with single program call. Details.

Generating PDF report

While Compare It! does not support pdf reports directly, you can still generate side-by-side pdf output by using additional tools. We have tested several such utilities and got best-looking resulting pdf files with these programs:

PDF Creator, http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator - freeware, opensource.
PDF Factory, http://www.fineprint.com/products/pdffactory - shareware, 50$

Both applications add virtual printer, you should just print to this printer to create pdf file. File name can be selected after printing is done. First is free, but second is far more easy to use.