How Can I Compare Two Versions of a LabVIEW Project?

Issue Details

Solution

There is no built-in tool in LabVIEW allowing to compare LabVIEW Projects. However, there are possible workarounds to identify project-level differences.

• Compare the hierarchies of the main VIs of the two projects by selecting Tools » Compare » Compare VI Hierarchies
  • In the Compare VI Hierarchies dialog box, you can click Read Hierarchies to categorize the VIs in the hierarchy. VIs that need to be compared are categorized as not compared. You can selectively compare individual VIs by double-clicking an item or clicking Show Differences.
  • Note: Compare VI Hierarchies feature in LabVIEW 2021 or prior versions requires LabVIEW Professional Development system. In LabVIEW 2022 Q3, this feature is made available to all LabVIEW editions.
• Compare the two .lvprj files by opening them with a text editor. The LabVIEW project file can be viewed as an xml file
  • Although this is not a built-in tool, this method allows you to compare non-LabVIEW files in the project as well, whereas built-in tools do not.

Additional Information

• You can compare specific VIs within your project to give you more granular information using the VI Comparison Tool and LVCompare.exe. 
• Consider implementing source code control in LabVIEW to improve software management practices.