How to: Set Up the Difference Viewer

Visual SourceSafe can show you the differences between files or projects using the Compare, Show Differences, and Show History commands. For more information, see Compare and Merge Mechanisms. If you choose to use a visual format to display differences, you must first enable the difference viewer (visual merge window) and set difference options as described in this topic.

To enable the difference viewer:

1. In Visual SourceSafe Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Options.

2. In the SourceSafe Options dialog box, click the Command Dialogs tab.

3. Enable the display of file differences by checking Show Differences and History in the Commands used on files column.

4. Enable the display of project differences by checking Show Differences and History in the Commands used on projects column.

5. Click OK.

To set difference options:

1. In Visual SourceSafe Explorer, select a file or project.

2. On the Tools menu, click Options.

3. In the SourceSafe Options dialog box, click the Difference tab.

4. Click Sample to show the colors and font currently used for differences.

5. You can use the Colors box to change the foreground and background colors to use in the difference viewer.

6. Use the Font box and the Modify button if you want to change the font to use in the difference viewer.

7. Select the Ignore white space differences when merging file check box if you want the viewer to ignore white space differences between versions of a file. White space includes tabs and space characters.

8. If you want the difference viewer to show line numbers, select the Show line numbers check box.

9. Click Reset to return the difference viewer to its default settings, or OK to register your selections.

See Also

Tasks

How to: View Differences

Reference

Difference Options Dialog Box (Explorer and Plug-in)
SourceSafe Options Dialog Box, Command Dialogs Tab (Explorer)
SourceSafe Options Dialog Box, Difference Tab (Explorer)

Concepts

Compare and Merge Mechanisms