New and Noteworthy

 

DeltaWalker '10 v1.9.1 June29, 2010

  • Detailed progress information during file synchronization operations including:
    • Time remaining.
    • Items remaining - count and size, out of total item count and size for a job.
    • Speed.
  • Ability to rename files and folders directly inside folder comparison windows.
  • Ability to delete and rename sessions directly inside the session drop-down windows.
  • Ability to ignore timestamp differences in folder comparison due to daylight savings.
  • Next/Previous Conflict actions for navigating conflicts in three-way comparison.
  • Pathname auto-suggest/content assistant now runs on a separate thread keeping UI responsive at all times.
  • Remote Resource dialog:
    • User's home folder and username are now automatically prepended to the initial path
    • Improved handling of incorrectly specified connection parameters.
  • Startup-time improvements when multiple sessions are present.
  • Folder comparison performance improvements.
  • Notable bug fixes:
    • Fixed a startup crash caused by corrupted font cache introduced by OS X 10.6.3 update.
    • Fixed infrequent crash during synchronization operations.
    • Fixed a problem with launching comparison sessions of compressed files.
    • New troubleshooting topic on fixing occasional anti-aliasing issue on OS X.

 

DeltaWalker '10 v1.9 Mar21, 2010

User Interface:

  • 100% Cocoa UI, including the signature Mac toolbar, sheets, etc.
  • New artwork - icons, welcome page, splash screen.
  • Streamlined toolbar organization - folder comparison-specific operations now located on the folder comparison local toolbar.
  • More features, yet simpler and cleaner UI.

Session Management:

  • Support for named sessions, session favorites, session search and delete etc.; new "Organize Sessions" window.
  • Session properties are now a snapshot of the preference defaults. This guarantees that next time a session is loaded it'll execute exactly the same way as it did the last time.
  • Preference-controlled ability to load the most recent file & folder comparison sessions on startup. On by default.
  • Fine level of clearing history; new "Clear History" window.
  • Ability to Export and Import sessions.
  • Ability to launch sessions from the command line by specifying their name.
  • Cleaner separation os session properties from preference defaults.

Folder Comparison:

  • "Compare To" functionality in folder comparison where you can pick and choose the files/folder for comparison from within a folder comparison window.
  • "Re-Compare Selected" of files and folders.
  • Sorting by name, date, size.
  • Preference-controlled ability to list folders before files.
  • Preference-controlled option for the folder comparison trees at the end of comparison. Trees are now collapsed by default.
  • The folder hierarchies now remember their subnodes' expanded/collapsed state; Cocoa version only.

Filters:

  • Unified file and folder filters UI, design and implementation.

Miscellaneous:

  • Page Orientation (Printing) can now be set from within the Page setup dialog.
  • More accurate vertical sizing of the Birds-eye view in both file and folder comparison.
  • Generating folder comparison reports now respects the filters applied to the folder comparison view.

Bug fixes and enhancements:

  • Resolved a deadlock preventing launching of new sub-comparison while main folder comparison was in progress.
  • Fixed infrequent crash/hang during sync operations.
  • Resolved problems logging to remote sites using password containing certain special characters.
  • Improved performance on updates following sync operations.
  • Fixed a resource leak in file comparison that over time could make DeltaWalker's UI irresponsive.
  • Fixed inaccuracies in the time grouping of existing sessions in the session history lists.

DeltaWalker 1.9 is a free upgrade for all licensed DeltaWalker users.

Important: Snow Leopard 10.6.3 update may break DeltaWalker Cocoa - here's what to do about it.

Important: DeltaWalker 1.9 employs a completely different preference serialization mechanism and preferences and session settings from earlier versions are not carried forward. If you are upgrading from earlier DeltaWalker installations and you encounter inconsistent behavior please delete your DW configuration settings by executing the following in Terminal:

rm -fr ~/.deltawalker

 

DeltaWalker '09 v1.8.7 Apr16, 2009

  • One-click folder synchronization operations:
    • Update First - copy newer and orphan files from Second folder to First.
    • Update Second - copy newer and orphan files from First folder to Second.
    • Update Both - copy newer and orphan files from either side to the other.
    • Mirror to First - make First folder identical to Second.
    • Mirror to Second - make Second folder identical to First.
  • File copy/move performance and usability improvements:
    • New, more accurate, algorithm for estimating amount of work of individual and combined synchronization operations.
    • Single progress meter for all synchronization operations.
    • Simplified file and folder Confirm Replace dialogs.
    • Confirmation dialogs now have context specific button labels e.g. "Save"/"Don't Save", "Replace"/"Don't Replace" instead of generic "Yes"/"No".
    • Preference-controlled ability to show Confirm Replace dialog only when Shift key is down.
  • Older Date Modified values in folder comparison are shown in dimmed color to indicate lower importance.
  • New shorcut keys in folder comparison:
    • Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Right Arrow - copy from left to right.
    • Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow - copy from right to left.
    • Esc - stop a comparison in progress.
  • Support for "-merged=<pathname>" command line parameter used by certain SCMs like Git, Mercurial and Subversion.
  • Detailed instructions incl. shell scripts for integration with Git, Mercurial, and Subversion.
  • New binary file extensions added to Content Type preferences.
  • New preference controlled notifications when file is deleted/moved on disk.
  • Linked report type selection now saved between sessions.
  • Various bug fixes, including:
    • Ability to delete files from certain NAS (Network Attached Storage) and USB devices.
    • No more out of memory exceptions when creating folder comparison HTML reports of folders containing mid and large binary files.
    • Print Preview no longer gets occasionally disabled.
    • Cursor over horizontal window divider now changes accordingly.
    • Restored Merge button tooltips.
    • Remote Resource dialog no longer freezes when given invalid URI.
    • URI's with unescaped '%' now work properly.
    • S/FTP ports bigger than 32K are now handled correctly.

 

DeltaWalker '09 (v1.8.6) Jan29, 2009

  • Support for text extraction from the following Microsoft Office, OpenOffice and Adobe PDF documents:
    • Word 97-2008 (.doc and .docx)
    • Excel 97-2008 (.xls and .xlsx)
    • PowerPoint 97-2008 (.ppt)
    • Non-encrypted PDF (.pdf)
  • Preference-controlled ability to insert line breaks when loading Office documents.
  • Significant file copy/move performance improvements.
  • Ability to cancel single file copy/move operations.
  • Preference-controlled ability to follow symbolic links or to show/edit them as files in folder and file comparison.
  • Improved Remote File/Folder Dialog:
    • Ability to test connection settings inside the dialog.
    • Escaping of special URI characters e.g. @, !, &, etc.
    • Improved accuracy and display of connection errors.
    • Display of resulting URI.
  • Ability to edit complex URIs i.e. URIs with username and password inside the file/folder comparison URI text entries.
  • Preferences tune-up, incl. new 'Show Last Modified' and 'Show Size' preferences.
  • Bug fixes.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.8.5) Nov18, 2008

  • Support for comparison sessions. A DeltaWalker session offers a quick way of launching a recent file or folder comparison. It holds all the information required to run that comparison the same way you ran it last time - the pathnames/URIs of the compared files or folders, including username and password, as well as any preferences you might have modified during that session.
  • Significantly improved memory usage for text comparisons.
  • Improved error reporting when attempting to copy/move/delete files on Mac OS X that are locked or require different permissions.
  • Other bug fixes and enhancements.
  • Nov 28, 2008: DeltaWalker 1.8.5 Refresh fixes a problem with XML Structure view, while preserving version number and installers' names. Of potential interest to Oro license holders only.

 

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.8.2) Oct 5, 2008

  • Improved UI responsiveness during folder comparison. Use of throbber inside window tab, instead of progress monitor in status bar.
  • Up to 30% faster folder comparison.
  • New binary file algorithm detection.
  • Content Types preference page showing default file type assignments and allowing manual overwrite.
  • New binary file type detection improved robustness of linked folder comparison report generation.
  • Ability to set root folder in folder comparison.
  • Ability to ignore differences in timestamps smaller than a configurable threshold. Helps eliminate artificial timestamp differences introduced by file systems e.g. FAT32 with low accuracy of their timestamp setting API.
  • Search box now in dedicated area on the right of main toolbar.
  • Bug fixes.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.8.1) Jul 24, 2008

  • File and folder visualization, comparison, and synchronization over WebDAV.
  • Ability to exclude (i.e. add to the list of folder comparison filters) files and/or folders via a right click, paired with easy access to those filters from within folder comparison.
  • Hiding of username and password from display URIs.
  • Improved visibility filters UI.
  • New system tray-based software updates notification mechanism.
  • More prominent indication of the editor/tree with input focus.
  • HTML viewer for HTML files. Now one can view html files as Text as well as in Design mode, as rendered by the default system browser.
  • Visualization and comparison of compressed files within compressed files.
  • Bug fixes.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.8.0) Jun 10, 2008

  • File visualization and comparison over HTTP(S) plus saving over (S)FTP.
  • Folder comparison and synchronization over (S)FTP.
  • Visualization and comparison of BZ2, EAR, GZ, JAR, TAR, TBZ2, TGZ and ZIP compressed files.
  • Ability to open multiple folder comparison windows within a single application window.
  • Improved folder comparison performance.
  • Improved handling of external file change notifications on Windows.
  • Ability to Save As individual files remotely and locally.
  • Recommended for all users.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.6.0) Apr 21, 2008

  • Ability to set last modified date and time of files and folders in folder comparison.
  • Ability to move files.
  • Improved folder comparison performance.
  • Significantly improved folder comparison updates during synchronization.
  • Significantly improved file load time in file comparison.
  • Shortcut keys for merge operations in file comparison: Crtl+G (Replace), Ctrl+H (Add), Ctrl+Shift+H (Delete)
  • Mac OS X file and folder permissions now transferred during copy/move.
  • Copy/move operations now use a two-level progress meter. Possible errors are logged and displayed at end of operation.
  • Folder comparison Size column now shows folder size.
  • Status line and About dialog show remaining days when using Trial license.
  • Recommended for all users.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.5.9) Feb 05, 2008

  • Improved performance.
  • Improved stability - fixes a possible hang on exit when comparing files from folders with very large number of items; fixes a startup problem on certain RedHat Linux distros.
  • Ability to Copy Selected Path(s) to Clipboard in folder comparison.
  • Improved folder comparison selection visualization.
  • Recommended for all users.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.5.8) Jan 11, 2008

  • Further performance improvements to folder and XML comparisons on all platforms, particularly on Mac OS X.
  • Ability to clear History item on the History menu. History size now a preference.
  • Simplified main toolbar.
  • Mac OS X File and Folder dialogs now remember last visited location.
  • Problem launching DeltaWalker from the command line on Mac OS X fixed.

Update 1.5.8 is recommended for all, and in particular for Mac OS X, users. It is not available through the software updates mechanism.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.5.7) Dec 25, 2007

  • Significant performance improvements to folder and XML comparisons on all platforms, particularly on Mac OS X.
  • Visiblity filters related bug fixes and improvements.
  • Fixes a mouse wheel problem in text comparison on Windows Vista.
  • Mac OS X package installer (half the size of the previous DMG package).

Ver. 1.5.7 in not available as a software update. Deltopia recommends 1.5.7 to all, and in particular to Mac OS X, users.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.5.6) Dec 3, 2007

DeltaWalker '08 comes with the following new features and enhancements:

File comparison report generation.

An all-new report generation engine, capable of creating reports in both HTML and XML formats, presents:

  • A summary of the comparison results.
  • The pathnames of the files being compared.
  • All preferences and their values used by the text comparison algorithm.
  • A high-fidelity, side-by-side visual HTML rendition of the compared files. When XML files are being compared the report can optionally include a representation of both the text and the structure comparison view, painting a complete picture of the XML differences from two, complementing each other, angles.
  • XML and HTML reports are ideal means for creating electronic snapshots of the differences b/n pairs of files. Such snapshots can easily be stored and used to trace the change history of files of interest. They are also well suited for electronic exchange e.g. via email of detailed differencing information about such files of interest, without the actual files being present.
  • Consistent HTML reports rendering across browsers and operating systems.

Folder comparison report generation:

  • Exhibits all characteristics of file comparison reports described above.
  • Offers “Linked Reports” – the ability of the folder comparison report generator to optionally create and include links to individual file comparison reports of a) Different files B) Selected files C) All files d) No files.

Visibility filters

Offer a powerful way to quickly and easily toggle the visibility of a) Added b) Deleted c) Different and d) Same files. The Visibility and the Search filters can be easily and transparently combined offering you, the user, a uniquely-powerful way to look at your folder and XML file comparison results from different perspectives. Using Visibility and Search filters you can display and operate only on the types of differences you want or zoom in on items – XML nodes or files and folders – of interest to you. This is particularly useful in comparisons with hundreds and thousands of items.

Preferences dropdown menu button

on the main toolbar offering instant access to preferences that directly affect the work of the text comparison algorithm and the visualization of its results. These include:

  • Ignore Whitespace
  • Ignore Whitespace
  • Ignore Character case
  • Ignore Line Delimiters
  • Show Inline Differences
  • Show Whitespace

Structure toolbar

A new toolbar, part of the main application toolbar, is now the home for operations common to folder and XML comparisons. The Structure toolbar currently includes:

Visibility filters drop-down menu-button

Its menu items include the four visibility filters:

  • Show Same
  • Show Different
  • Show Added
  • Show Deleted

Its default action is to toggle the visibility state of the ‘Same’ items.

Select/Deselect Items drop-down menu-button

Its menu items include six selection-related actions:

  • Select Different
  • Select Added
  • Select Deleted
  • Select Different, Added, and Deleted
  • Invert Selection
  • Select All

Exapand/Collapse Nodes drop-down menu-button

Contains five expansion-related actions:

  • Expand Different, Added and Deleted
  • Expand All
  • Expand Different, Added, and Deleted in Selection
  • Expand All in Selection
  • Collapse All

Search field

The Search field, previously available only to Folder comparison is now available to XML file comparison as well. The state and the settings of the Search filter specific to each comparison window are saved and applied as one switches between these windows.

Redesigned folder and XML file comparison context sensitive menus

They now include all actions common to both comparisons as well as two new actions:

  • Expand Different, Added, and Deleted in Selection
  • Expand All in Selection.

These two actions offer a powerful way to work with very large structure comparisons which would otherwise impose performance issues. In combination with the built-in performance optimization preferences that do not expand nodes with differences for very large comparisons, these actions offer the ability to work selectively only with branches/hierarchies of interest.

Improved folder comparison preference pages

  • Two new preferences for finer control of the folder comparison algorithm – Compare file timestamps and Compare file size.
  • Improved options and default values for structure comparison algorithm optimization, including a new option to control the notification for local changes to the files and folders being compared.
  • Added tooltips for preferences whose meaning is not immediately clear.
  • Improved supporting text and labels to the Folder Comparison Filters preference pages.

Improved memory footprint and download size

DeltaWalker 1.5.6 memory footprint is ~7MB less than before; it's startup time is improved by ~10%; it's download size by ~6MB.

The download size of the Windows MSI installer in particular was reduced by more than 50% - from 33.8MB to 14.8MB by using more agressive compression techiniques.


New application bundle package for Mac OS X

The new application bundle is more consistent with the Mac OS X guidelines for such packages

"Compare with DeltaWalker" droplet

The new droplet, named Compare with DeltaWalker accepts files dropped onto it and opens them in DeltaWalker for comparison.


Version 1.5.5 and 1.5.6 contain infrastructure changes that make this new functionality unavailable as software updates. That is, users of previous DeltaWalker versions need to uninstall DeltaWalker and install the new version to take advantage of the new functionality.


Deltopia recommends version 1.5.6 to all users of prior DeltaWalker versions.

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