Comparing data

The compare data menu item opens the compare data form, which allows you to find differences between the data in two OrcaFlex files.

You can compare files as follows:

• On the files page, specify the two files that you wish to compare. These can be data or simulation files.
• Click the compare button.
• OrcaFlex saves the data from the two files to temporary text files, then runs the user-specified compare program to compare those text files.

As an alternative to comparing two data files on disk, you can choose instead to compare the currently loaded model with a single file on disk.

Configuration

On the configuration page you need to tell OrcaFlex the text file compare program that you want to use, and how to use it. The compare program must be a program that can compare text files passed to it through the command line. Many such programs are available on the web; we at Orcina have a preference for WinMerge.

Compare program

This is the compare program's executable file name. You can specify either the full path, or just the file name if the executable file resides in a directory which is on your system path.

If no program is specified here, OrcaFlex uses a very basic, built-in, compare facility.

Command line parameters

The command line parameters that are passed to the compare program. OrcaFlex replaces the special strings %1 and %2 with the file names of the temporary text files.

OrcaFlex also replaces special strings %name1 and %name2 with readable names describing the two files or objects that are being compared. Not all compare programs have the capability of assigning readable names and just use the file name, so the use of this facility is optional.

For most compare programs the default setting of %1 %2 will be sufficient. Otherwise you will need to consult the documentation of your compare program.

If you are using WinMerge then we recommend using the following: /e /x /s /dl %name1 /dr %name2 %1 %2