New and Noteworthy

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.6.0) Apr 21, 2008

  • Ability to set last modified date and time of files and folders in folder comparison.
  • Ability to move files.
  • Improved folder comparison performance.
  • Significantly improved folder comparison updates during synchronization.
  • Significantly improved file load time in file comparison.
  • Shortcut keys for merge operations in file comparison: Crtl+G (Replace), Ctrl+H (Add), Ctrl+Shift+H (Delete)
  • Mac OS X file and folder permissions now transferred during copy/move.
  • Copy/move operations now use a two-level progress meter. Possible errors are logged and displayed at end of operation.
  • Folder comparison Size column now shows folder size.
  • Status line and About dialog show remaining days when using Trial license.
  • Recommended for all users.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.5.9) Feb 05, 2008

  • Improved performance.
  • Improved stability - fixes a possible hang on exit when comparing files from folders with very large number of items; fixes a startup problem on certain RedHat Linux distros.
  • Ability to Copy Selected Path(s) to Clipboard in folder comparison.
  • Improved folder comparison selection visualization.
  • Recommended for all users.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.5.8) Jan 11, 2008

  • Further performance improvements to folder and XML comparisons on all platforms, particularly on Mac OS X.
  • Ability to clear History item on the History menu. History size now a preference.
  • Simplified main toolbar.
  • Mac OS X File and Folder dialogs now remember last visited location.
  • Problem launching DeltaWalker from the command line on Mac OS X fixed.

Update 1.5.8 is recommended for all, and in particular for Mac OS X, users. It is not available through the software updates mechanism.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.5.7) Dec 25, 2007

  • Significant performance improvements to folder and XML comparisons on all platforms, particularly on Mac OS X.
  • Visiblity filters related bug fixes and improvements.
  • Fixes a mouse wheel problem in text comparison on Windows Vista.
  • Mac OS X package installer (half the size of the previous DMG package).

Ver. 1.5.7 in not available as a software update. Deltopia recommends 1.5.7 to all, and in particular to Mac OS X, users.

DeltaWalker '08 (v1.5.6) Dec 3, 2007

DeltaWalker '08 comes with the following new features and enhancements:

File comparison report generation.

An all-new report generation engine, capable of creating reports in both HTML and XML formats, presents:

  • A summary of the comparison results.
  • The pathnames of the files being compared.
  • All preferences and their values used by the text comparison algorithm.
  • A high-fidelity, side-by-side visual HTML rendition of the compared files. When XML files are being compared the report can optionally include a representation of both the text and the structure comparison view, painting a complete picture of the XML differences from two, complementing each other, angles.
  • XML and HTML reports are ideal means for creating electronic snapshots of the differences b/n pairs of files. Such snapshots can easily be stored and used to trace the change history of files of interest. They are also well suited for electronic exchange e.g. via email of detailed differencing information about such files of interest, without the actual files being present.
  • Consistent HTML reports rendering across browsers and operating systems.

Folder comparison report generation:

  • Exhibits all characteristics of file comparison reports described above.
  • Offers “Linked Reports” – the ability of the folder comparison report generator to optionally create and include links to individual file comparison reports of a) Different files B) Selected files C) All files d) No files.

Visibility filters

Offer a powerful way to quickly and easily toggle the visibility of a) Added b) Deleted c) Different and d) Same files. The Visibility and the Search filters can be easily and transparently combined offering you, the user, a uniquely-powerful way to look at your folder and XML file comparison results from different perspectives. Using Visibility and Search filters you can display and operate only on the types of differences you want or zoom in on items – XML nodes or files and folders – of interest to you. This is particularly useful in comparisons with hundreds and thousands of items.

Preferences dropdown menu button

on the main toolbar offering instant access to preferences that directly affect the work of the text comparison algorithm and the visualization of its results. These include:

  • Ignore Whitespace
  • Ignore Whitespace
  • Ignore Character case
  • Ignore Line Delimiters
  • Show Inline Differences
  • Show Whitespace

Structure toolbar

A new toolbar, part of the main application toolbar, is now the home for operations common to folder and XML comparisons. The Structure toolbar currently includes:

Visibility filters drop-down menu-button

Its menu items include the four visibility filters:

  • Show Same
  • Show Different
  • Show Added
  • Show Deleted

Its default action is to toggle the visibility state of the ‘Same’ items.

Select/Deselect Items drop-down menu-button

Its menu items include six selection-related actions:

  • Select Different
  • Select Added
  • Select Deleted
  • Select Different, Added, and Deleted
  • Invert Selection
  • Select All

Exapand/Collapse Nodes drop-down menu-button

Contains five expansion-related actions:

  • Expand Different, Added and Deleted
  • Expand All
  • Expand Different, Added, and Deleted in Selection
  • Expand All in Selection
  • Collapse All

Search field

The Search field, previously available only to Folder comparison is now available to XML file comparison as well. The state and the settings of the Search filter specific to each comparison window are saved and applied as one switches between these windows.

Redesigned folder and XML file comparison context sensitive menus

They now include all actions common to both comparisons as well as two new actions:

  • Expand Different, Added, and Deleted in Selection
  • Expand All in Selection.

These two actions offer a powerful way to work with very large structure comparisons which would otherwise impose performance issues. In combination with the built-in performance optimization preferences that do not expand nodes with differences for very large comparisons, these actions offer the ability to work selectively only with branches/hierarchies of interest.

Improved folder comparison preference pages

  • Two new preferences for finer control of the folder comparison algorithm – Compare file timestamps and Compare file size.
  • Improved options and default values for structure comparison algorithm optimization, including a new option to control the notification for local changes to the files and folders being compared.
  • Added tooltips for preferences whose meaning is not immediately clear.
  • Improved supporting text and labels to the Folder Comparison Filters preference pages.

Improved memory footprint and download size

DeltaWalker 1.5.6 memory footprint is ~7MB less than before; it's startup time is improved by ~10%; it's download size by ~6MB.

The download size of the Windows MSI installer in particular was reduced by more than 50% - from 33.8MB to 14.8MB by using more agressive compression techiniques.


New application bundle package for Mac OS X

The new application bundle is more consistent with the Mac OS X guidelines for such packages

"Compare with DeltaWalker" droplet

The new droplet, named Compare with DeltaWalker accepts files dropped onto it and opens them in DeltaWalker for comparison.


Version 1.5.5 and 1.5.6 contain infrastructure changes that make this new functionality unavailable as software updates. That is, users of previous DeltaWalker versions need to uninstall DeltaWalker and install the new version to take advantage of the new functionality.


Deltopia recommends version 1.5.6 to all users of prior DeltaWalker versions.

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