topic Re: Pros/Cons of External Fire Comparison Tools for Use with EG in SAS Enterprise Guide

Pros/Cons of External File Comparison Tools for Use with EG

TBarker — Thu, 23 May 2019 13:39:55 GMT

We're starting to look into using the File Comparison feature of EG. We are looking for recommendations as to which of the three tools included in the EG pick list (WinMerge, KDiff3, Beyond Compare 3) - or other file comparison tools not listed - is best for use with SAS or at least pros/cons of each based on SAS users' experience. I've read this 2015 thread with comments from @ChrisHemedinger in it -

Re: Pros/Cons of External Fire Comparison Tools for Use with EG

VDD — Thu, 23 May 2019 00:04:54 GMT

I my experience I use SAS tools, MS tools and the x command for comparing.

DOS fc has its advantages while proc compare also has its advantages. Together they normally assist me if finding what was changes by who, were and sometimes answers why.

Re: Pros/Cons of External Fire Comparison Tools for Use with EG

SASKiwi — Thu, 23 May 2019 02:59:58 GMT

If you are serious about tracking code changes then version control tools like GIT, MS Visual Studio / TFS are the way to go. All of these tools have great program compare utilities. I would consider it best practice to version control all business-critical or "business-important" SAS applications.

Re: Pros/Cons of External File Comparison Tools for Use with EG

ChrisHemedinger — Thu, 23 May 2019 13:43:57 GMT

For my part, I still like WinMerge as a free option. I haven't needed anything else, but my needs are simple. My tasks, in descending order of frequency:

- are these files different? (text or binary)

- what lines are different in these text files?

- I need to apply a few of the diff'd lines in one file into another file.

WinMerge does all of those well.

I have colleagues who love Beyond Compare and consider it worth the small cost.

Re: Pros/Cons of External File Comparison Tools for Use with EG

AlanC — Thu, 23 May 2019 16:39:23 GMT

I swear by BeyondCompare. Have tried others but nothing beats BC, IMO.

That said, using GIT is highly recommended as well.

Re: Pros/Cons of External File Comparison Tools for Use with EG

andreas_lds — Fri, 24 May 2019 05:53:09 GMT

Using git + sourcetree + kdiff3, kdiff3 is used by sourcetree and helps solving merge conflicts.

Re: Pros/Cons of External File Comparison Tools for Use with EG

Patrick — Fri, 24 May 2019 13:36:10 GMT

@TBarker

I'm not arguing with anyone that proper version control is done using GIT and the like. But for simple text compares and merges: I just love BeyondCompare. I've tried other tools but nothing beat it in its combination of ease of use and richness in features. It doesn't cost much and is worth supporting, ....else: the eval license actually never really expires.

One of the features most useful to me: Files don't need to be local to be accessible.

Re: Pros/Cons of External File Comparison Tools for Use with EG

TBarker — Fri, 24 May 2019 19:15:19 GMT

I love SAS Communities and SAS users! Y'all are always so helpful.