GroupDocs.Comparison for .NET 26.5 Release Notes

GroupDocs.Comparison version 26.5 delivers improvements to PDF rendering accuracy, enhanced CSV and spreadsheet comparison readability, new API capabilities for revision handling and spreadsheet change metadata, and an updated NuGet packaging model with multi-framework support.

Full list of changes in this release

Major Features

Multi-framework NuGet packaging and TFM-split packages

GroupDocs.Comparison has transitioned to a more advanced NuGet package delivery model. The main package now targets net462;net6.0;net8.0;net10.0, replacing the previous net462;netstandard2.1 targets.

In addition, to reduce the download size, dedicated per-framework NuGet packages are now published alongside the main package. When installing the platform-specific package, only the binaries matching the user’s target framework are downloaded — no unused platform assemblies are included.

Note: .NET Standard 2.1 is no longer supported as a dedicated target. Projects that previously relied on netstandard2.1 should migrate to one of the supported TFMs listed above.

Support optional disposal of passed stream in RevisionHandler

RevisionHandler now accepts a leaveOpen parameter that controls whether the underlying stream is disposed when the handler is disposed. When leaveOpen is set to true, the stream remains open after the RevisionHandler is disposed, allowing the caller to continue using it. This is useful in scenarios where the stream lifecycle is managed externally.

using FileStream revisionFileStream = new FileStream("source.docx", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite);

using (RevisionHandler revisionHandler = new RevisionHandler(revisionFileStream, leaveOpen: true))
{
    List<RevisionInfo> revisionList = revisionHandler.GetRevisions();

    foreach (var rev in revisionList)
    {
        if (rev.Type == RevisionType.Deletion)
            rev.Action = RevisionAction.Accept;
    }

    ApplyRevisionOptions revisionChanges = new ApplyRevisionOptions { Changes = revisionList };
    revisionHandler.ApplyRevisionChanges(resultPath, revisionChanges);
}

Extend ChangeInfo with Spreadsheet Properties

Three new properties have been added to ChangeInfo to expose spreadsheet-specific metadata for each detected change. These properties are populated when comparing Excel (.xlsx) and CSV (.csv) files and allow you to precisely locate each change within the spreadsheet grid:

• Row – zero-based row index of the changed cell.
• Column – zero-based column index of the changed cell.
• ColumnHeader – the header text of the column containing the changed cell (when available).

The example below shows how to compare two CSV files and serialize the change list — including the new spreadsheet properties — to JSON:

string source = "source.csv";
string target = "target.csv";
string outFilePathJson = "result.json";

using (var comparer = new Comparer(source))
{
    comparer.Add(target);
    var doc = comparer.Compare();
    var changes = doc.Changes;

    var json = changes.Select(c => new
    {
        id = c.Id,
        type = c.Type.ToString(),
        componentType = c.ComponentType,
        row = c.Row,
        column = c.Column,
        columnHeader = c.ColumnHeader,
        sourceText = c.SourceText,
        targetText = c.TargetText,
        text = c.Text
    });

    File.WriteAllText(outFilePathJson,
        JsonSerializer.Serialize(json, new JsonSerializerOptions { WriteIndented = true }));
}

Enhancements

Improve CSV comparison result readability with text markers

CSV comparison output now uses inline text markers to make inserted and deleted content immediately visible without requiring a side-by-side view:

• Inserted text is wrapped in parentheses — for example, (new value)
• Deleted text is wrapped in square brackets — for example, [old value]