Skip to content

Compare Tool

Available from

The Compare Tool allows you to compare two members side‑by‑side and instantly see their differences in a highlighted Tree View.
This is especially useful for detecting value changes between objects, verifying data integrity, or checking how two instances differ at runtime.

Overview

When two members are assigned to the compare slots, InspectMe evaluates them according to the selected Compare Mode and displays results in a dedicated comparison view.
Each difference is clearly highlighted, allowing you to inspect changes at a glance.

The comparison can be as simple as checking if both references point to the same object (Reference Only), or as deep as inspecting every nested field and property (Deep).

Compare Modes

  • Reference Only
    Compares only the object references. Useful for quickly checking if two slots point to the exact same instance.

  • Shallow (Default)
    Compares only the first level of members (fields/properties) without diving into nested objects. Fast and effective for surface‑level checks.

  • Deep
    Recursively compares all nested members. Provides the most complete comparison but may take longer for large or complex objects.

Assigning Members to Slots

There are multiple ways to assign a member to Slot A or Slot B:

  1. Drag & Drop
    Drag a member directly from the Tree View into the desired slot.

  2. Contextual Menu
    Right‑click a member in the Tree View and choose:

    • Compare → Set as Slot A

    • Compare → Set as Slot B

  3. Toolbar Button
    Use the compare icon in the Tree View toolbar to set the currently selected member to a slot.

Running a Comparison

  1. Assign members to Slot A and Slot B.

  2. Select the Compare Mode and any additional settings:

    • Ignore Null Values - Skip differences where both sides are null.

    • Compare Collections Element‑by‑Element - Compares lists/arrays element‑wise.

  3. Click Start to run the comparison.

The results will appear in place of the default Tree View, showing Differences, Previous, and Next navigation.
The differences are highlighted for quick identification.

Returning to the Default Tree View

You can exit the Compare Result Tree View at any time by:

  • Clicking the close button in the top‑right of the compare result panel.
  • Pressing Escape.

History

All comparison sessions are saved in the History Tab.
From here, you can:

  • Re‑open previous comparisons.
  • Review past differences without re‑running the comparison.
  • Keep track of important comparisons over time.

For any queries or support regarding Compare Tool feature, please refer to our Support section or visit our FAQ page.