Oso Corporation | 2.3 - Integrating with SmartGit

SmartGit allows the integration of third party tools to provide comparison and non-automated merge operations for complex file types. This page details how to integrate Oso XML Merge to provide comparison and merge services for Visual Studio project files. The steps here though can be adapted for any type of XML file.

First you should launch SmartGit, and open the Preferences Dialog. This is done by selecting the Preferences option at the bottom of the Edit menu as shown in the image to the right.

First we'll set up Oso XML Merge to compare files. Click on the Diff item in the tree on the left of the preferences dialog and then on the Add button on the right to open the Add File Type dialog:

The SmartGit Add Dialog showing the settings for Oso XML Merge filled in.

Fill in the information for the new file type as detailed below:

File Pattern

*.vcxproj

This is the file extension for Visual Studio C++ project files.

External diff tool/Command

Browse to the Oso XML Merge application folder and select the Oso XML Merge executable. This will be located under either Program Files or Program Files (x86) depending on which version of Oso XML Merge you installed, and whether you are using a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows.

External diff tool/Arguments

-compare -left ${leftFile} -right ${rightFile}

These are the command line options instructing Oso XML Merge to compare the two files specified by SmartGit.

When you have filled out the above details, click the OK button to save the changes in SmartGit. SmartGit should now invoke Oso XML Merge when you attempt to compare two Visual Studio project files.

Now we'll set up SmartGit to use Oso XML Merge when merging files. SmartGit always performs three-way merges with a common base file and two changed files that are combined into a single result file.

In the SmartGit preferences dialog, click on the Conflict Solvers item in the tree on the left, and then on the Add button as before to open the Add dialog:

The Add Dialog with the settings for Oso XML Merge filled in.

And once again, fill out the information for the new file type as below:

File Pattern

.vcxproj

This is the file extension for Visual Studio C++ project files.

External Conflict Solver/Command

External Conflict Solver/Arguments

-merge -base ${baseFile} -left ${leftFile} -right ${rightFile} -result ${mergedFile}

These are the command line options instructing Oso XML Merge to merge the three input files specified by SmartGit into a single output file which SmartGit will read back once the merge is complete.

When you have filled out the above details, click the OK button to save the changes in SmartGit. SmartGit should now invoke Oso XML Merge when you attempt to resolve conflicted Visual Studio project files.

SmartGit allows you to specify multiple file extensions for a single third party application, so you can edit the above settings to apply them to as many file types as you require. Simply modify the File Pattern to include a comma-separated list of file extensions. For example, you can use Oso XML Merge to compare and merge Visual Studio property sheets as well as C++ project files by changing the File Pattern to *.vcxproj, *.vsprops.