These options apply to comparisons and merges of files
detected as XML files (the files beginning with "<?xml"
marker).
The primary goal of these feature is to allow
efficient comparisons as the comparison engine of
Ellié Computing Merge is primarily oriented toward
comparing lines of text.
Pretty print at load time/Compact at save
time
These options allows to tell whether the algorithms should
be applied for : All text files, Only for XML files or Never.
The detection of the XML marker may not always be a perfect
solution. These options let you apply the algorithm when useful
for you. Note that these options can be specified per text
document as well (so that you can force application to a single
comparison/merge, not necessarily for all comparisons from now
on).
The pretty-printing engine supports DTD, CDATA and standard
XML tags. It formats tags so that only tags containing only
simple text remain on a single line. The other are breaked and
indented according to their current number of ancestors (i.e.
level of containance).
Reformat, Do not format these tags
Select with Reformat to which tags the
algorithm should apply: All tags or Tags with no spaces.
Additionally, the tags in Do not format these
tags will never be touched.
The criterium 'Tags with no spaces' means the tags for which no
spaces are in front or at end of texts between start tag,
sub-tags and end tag of a given tag.
This mode will remember the tags left untouched.
Remember tags left untouched for
compaction
If this checkbox is selected, the Compaction algorithm will
automatically leave untouched the same tags that the
pretty-printing did not pretty-print. This way, applying both
algorithms to an XML text leaves the original text intact.
Just break into lines
This option just removes the indentations while keeping the
pretty printing principle. It is useful for XML document with
high-level of containance. Note that when you do not use this
option, selecting Ignore differences in whitespace at
start of lines may be helpful for your comparisons as
it will prevent the difference in level of containance of given
tags from preventing their matching at line level.