IWBNI there were a utility that could compare two given Finale files and report the results in musical terms. The utility could operate on two open documents and report on each difference that is found.

A file compare utility would be useful when evaluating the effects of a new plug-in or when determining the difference between two closely related files.

For example, suppose a plug-in has been developed to adjust the length of shortened stems on unbeamed, flag-less notes. To test the plug-in, one could apply it to a large existing score that contains only 3 notes for which stems must be adjusted. After the plug-in has been applied, the file compare utility could be used to compare the original file with the modified file. In this case, if the plug-in is operating correctly, the utility would report the following results:
 
 

	File 1 (Original File)	File 2 (Modified File)
staff 5 measure 46 beat 3	stem length 3-1/2 spaces	stem length 3 spaces
staff 7 measure 122 beat 1	stem length 3-1/2 spaces	stem length 2-1/2 spaces
staff 10 measure 23 beat 4	stem length 3-1/2 spaces	stem length 2-1/2 spaces

As it is now, one may compare two given Finale MUS files by saving the files as Enigma Transportable Files (ETFs) and using a third-party utility that compares ASCII text files. The results of the comparison may be interpreted and expressed in musical terms manually by using documentation for the ETF file format.

Created: February 11, 2000
Last Updated: February 11, 2000
Version: Finale 2000b