Is there a way to compare 2 version of a “compiled” ASP.NET app to see if they are the same?
-
02-06-2021 - |
Question
Is it possible to compare two versions of a compiled ASP.NET application (V2, Webforms). When I say compiled I mean all the code is in separate Webform and Codebehind DLLs in the "bin" folder ie the "Use fixed naming and single page assemblies" publish option in VS.
Currently I used "Beyond Compare" to compare "Source" and it does an excellent job of this especially as one can compare 2 folders and it will go away and compare all the child folders and files. Unfortunately I have not found a way to compare a "compiled"/"published" application with it.
Thoughts?
Many thanks.
Solution
You can compare binary files from Beyond Compare. Just do a folder compare and when you have your folders selected, select the files you want to compare and hit the Compare Contents button to display the dialog below:
When you hit start, it will compare each file and tell you if they are the same or not. File that have this icon between them are not the same as each other.
OTHER TIPS
If you're trying to find a way to compare the DLLs, take a look at the Reflector Diff AddIn.
This article offers a few other options as well.