What is it?VistaStyleBuilder comes with a small utility that can compare two MsStyles files and output all differences between the two files in a text file.
This can be extremely handy if you are trying to figure out how something is achieved in a particular Visual Style.
How does it work?The tool is a bit crude to work with, but it does it job. When you launc the difference tool, you will the following:
- 1 You will be asked to select the first MsStyles file
- 2 After clicking OK, you will directly be asked to select the second MsStyles file
- 3 After clicking OK, the tool will ask you if you want to ignore difference in images. You usually want to do this,so click on YES.
- 4 Now, the Difference Tool will compare the two files and find the differences.
- 5 When the tool has found all differences, it will ask you the file to save the differences in. Just pick any location.
- 6 The tool will write the differences to the text file and automatically open it for you.
Example output:
FILE 1: C:\Users\ave\Desktop\aero.msstyles
FILE 2: C:\Users\ave\Desktop\ave.msstyles
PROPERTIES FOUND IN FILE 1, BUT NOT IN FILE 2
=============================================
sizevariant.LargeFonts.<default>.<default>:DISPLAYNAME:STRING
file1: Large Fonts
sizevariant.LargeFonts.<default>.<default>:TOOLTIP:STRING
file1: Large Fonts
colorvariant.NormalColor.<default>.<default>:DISPLAYNAME:STRING
file1: Glass
ROPERTIES FOUND IN FILE 2, BUT NOT IN FILE 1
=============================================
globals.<default>.<default>:TEXTGLOWSIZE:INT
file2: 0
globals.<default>.<default>:GLOWINTENSITY:INT
file2: 250
PROPERTIES WITH DIFFERENT VALUES BETWEEN FILE 1 AND FILE 2
==========================================================
documentation.<default>.<default>:DISPLAYNAME:STRING
file1 : Aero style
file2 : Aero-stijl