Comparing a file with its server copy in FTP by Zaweba
Compare with Server Copy in FTP by Zaweba shows exactly which lines differ between your file and the live one, with next and previous change keys.
Before you upload over a file, or download over one, it helps to know what is actually different. Times and sizes only hint at it. FTP by Zaweba can show you the exact lines that differ, side by side, between the copy on your PC and the copy on the server.
Opening a comparison
Right-click a file and choose Compare with Server Copy or Compare with Local Copy, depending on which pane you are in. A diff window opens with the two versions next to each other and the differences picked out: changed lines, lines only on the left, and lines only on the right.
Nothing is transferred or changed by comparing. It is purely a look, so you can use it as often as you like.
Getting around the differences
In a long file, the differences may be far apart. Next change (F7) and Previous change (Shift+F7) jump between them, so you can step through a stylesheet of a thousand lines and only stop where something differs.
Two options help you focus. Ignore whitespace hides changes that are only spaces, tabs or similar, which is useful when an editor has re-indented a file and the real change is buried in the noise. Only changed lines hides the parts that match, leaving just the differences on screen.
When to use it
The obvious time is before an upload you are unsure about. If you are about to put a page live and something tells you a colleague may have edited it, compare first. If the only differences are yours, upload with confidence. If there are lines you did not write, you know to talk to them or merge their change in before sending yours.
It is just as useful after a warning. FTP by Zaweba warns before a single-file Put or Get when the server copy changed since you last fetched it, or when the copy being overwritten is newer. When it says the server has newer files and explains the likely reason, comparing a sample file tells you whether it is a real edit or only a time difference between clocks.
Get Recent from Server and the site activity log tell you that something changed and, with the log, who changed it. Comparing tells you what changed. Used together, they give you the full picture of a shared site in a minute or two.
Comparing with older versions
The local version history has its own Compare with current, which works the same way but against a version kept on your PC before an overwrite. That is the tool when the question is not what is on the server but what this file looked like before the last download or save.
Mistakes to avoid
Do not compare the wrong pair. Check you are on the file you mean, in the right pane, before reading too much into the results. Paths with similar names (an old copy in a backup folder, say) are easy to mix up.
Do not hide whitespace when whitespace matters. In most HTML and CSS it does not, but in some files it can, and Ignore whitespace will hide changes there. Turn it off if the differences you see do not explain what you are seeing in the browser.
And remember that the comparison is about text. It is ideal for PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and similar files. For images, look at both copies or use the times and sizes the transfer tools show.
A few seconds of comparing before you overwrite anything is the cheapest insurance in website work, and in FTP by Zaweba it is always one right-click away.
