Sitefinity: Easy SP Upgrades with DiffMerge
As part of the process of preparing the Sitefinity Toolkit 1.1 update for release later this weekend, I needed to upgrade my sites to the latest Sitefinity SP3 update.
For those of you who've done this, you know it's MOSTLY a simple process, but can get tricky when copying the /Sitefinity folder files, because, like me, many of you probably customize or modify these files to meet your needs. Sitefinity addresses a lot of this by supporting external templates, but sometimes it's easier to just edit the files directly.
However, this becomes a problem with every SP release because these files can get overwritten by newer versions. Fortunately, there's an easy way to ensure that you get the latest code files without sacrificing your customizations. And best of all it's FREE!
Sourcegear is a company specalizing in Source Control for Small to Medium sized businesses. I've been using their Fortress software for some time now, and have been very satisfied. And recently, I discovered that it comes with their FREE DiffMerge tool, which is also available as a separate free download.
What I love about this program is that you can point it at two FOLDERS, not just files. So all you have to do is select your site's /Sitefinity folder and the /Sitefinity folder from the update/patch:
And when the tool runs it will show you all the files that have changed:
You can then go into each file and see exactly where the files differ. You can over write your file with the patch, or keep your changes if they are still required.
This tool has been a HUGE time-saver, as I have done literally dozens of customizations to core Sitefinity files, and there's no way I'm going to remember them all. makes updates easy, and more importantly, SAFE!
That's all for today, I'll be working over the weekend to get the SP3-compatible release of the Sitefinity Toolkit up within the next few days. Thanks to all for your continued patience!
Note, although I do use SourceGear products, I am in no way affiliated with the company, and received no compensation or incentive for writing this article.
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SelAromDotNet
Josh loves all things Microsoft and Windows, and develops solutions for Web, Desktop and Mobile using the .NET Framework, Azure, UWP and everything else in the Microsoft Stack.
His other passion is music, and in his spare time Josh spins and produces electronic music under the name DJ SelArom.
