WinMerge & ASP.NET Filter for WinMerge

I've been using WinMerge for a few months now and really like it. It is available on SourceForge.

The latest stable build as of this writing is WinMerge 2.4.6.

I have been using WinMerge to compare ASP.NET projects on my local workstation with my company's server located in a different state over a VPN. It performs very well considering the network topology.

It is a timesaver and I wanted to thank the folks that built it, maintain it, and support it.

I searched the NET for an ASP.NET filter for WinMerge and found one on Jon Galloway's blog: JonGalloway.ToString(). This filter got me close but I decided to approach it from the other direction by creating and exclusive filter.

Here is my filter:

============== Begin file =================

## This is a directory/file filter for WinMerge
## This filter lets through only files ASP.NET developers care about
## Based in part on a filter found on JonGalloway's blog: JonGalloway.ToString()
## http://weblogs.asp.net/jgalloway/archive/2004/10/05/237984.aspx

name: ASP.NET Devel

## This is an exclusive filter
## (it lets through only matching files)
def: exclude

## Filters for filenames begin with f:
## Filters for directories begin with d:

f: \.xml$
f: \.xlst$
f: \.dtd$
f: \.html$
f: \.htm$
f: \.css$
f: \.gif$
f: \.bmp$
f: \.jpg$
f: \.png$
f: \.js$
f: \.dll$
f: \.aspx$
f: \.asmx$
f: \.ascx$
f: \.vb$
f: \.resx$
f: \.cs$
f: \.js$
f: \.vbproj$
f: \.csproj$
f: \.sln$
f: \.webinfo$
f: \.config$

d: \\*$ ## Subdirectories

============== End file =================

One drawback with the current filter implementation in WinMerge is that an exclusive filter excludes only files and directories that match the patterns listed in the filter but it doesn't exclude a "negative pattern". It sounds like this might be addressed in the future. Here is a link to a forum posting on this filtering issue. kimmov started a thread in the developer forum regarding this issue. Despite this minor shortcoming, I think it is a great tool to have in your arsenal.