Here's the reference I found.
It explains how to set up the option, which it looks like you've done.
To actually use Files diff, you need one of the comparisons that are also listed on that page
Files diff utility - The options of this group apply to file checkpoints and PDF checkpoints, to the Compare Files, File Checkpoint, and PDF Checkpoint operations, and to the Files.Compare, File.Check and File.CheckPDFText methods.
Pick the comparison that you want to use and go to the documentation for that. Those individual pages have script examples. By setting up the Files diff option, you're telling TC to use your chosen tool instead of what is built in for each of those comparisons.
Hi, thanks for the response.
Yes, that's the reference I found as well. As you can see there are no examples. When you call an external comparison tool like Beyond Compare from the command line it returns a value reflecting the results of the comparison. WinDiff (as old as the hills and not support in Windows 11) and PowerShell's Compare-Object do the same thing. My expectation is that result is subsequently reflected in the TestComplete log as a pass or fail. Unfortunately, that's not happening.
If all it does is run the comparison in Beyond Compare and then force me to review an output file from Beyond Compare there is no value in that. I can just call Beyond Compare directly from a script and accomplish that task.
The feature implies you can use Beyond Compare as the comparison tool and then get the results back in TestComplete. There is value in that because Beyond Compare is content aware and can thus use a more appropriate comparison routine (e.g. it will recognize a CSV file and compare the contents of the CSV) to evaluate the files.
The Files.Compare method in TestComplete does a binary comparison only. That is very fragile since subtle formatting changes unrated to the values contained in the CSV will cause a false positive.
Like I said, the examples are given in the documentation for each of the comparisons. There's nothing else to show for Files diff.
Did you try one of the comparisons with Beyond Compare turned on? What were the results?
Hi again Marsha,
Respectfully, it's pretty clear that you have no firsthand experience with this feature. What you have to offer is redirecting me to documentation I've already seen.
I've submitted a ticket to support and will look forward to hearing back from someone that has direct knowledge of the feature.
Thanks again,
John
Just for reference below is the VBScript code I use with the file comparisons. It's not working when I try to use the external comparison tool functionality. It does work when I use the default settings but I get false positives for failures as I previously described.
If Files.Compare(aFile.Path, s_ResFilePath & aFile.Name, 0, False) Then
Log.message "Pass: The files matched: " & aFile.Name,
Call aqFile.Delete(aFile.Path) 'Delete the file if the comparison succeeded
Else
Log.Warning "Fail: The files did not match: " & aFile.Name
End If
