Beyond Compare for Object Instances

Does anyone know of a tool or library in .net that can be used to compare object properties and sub-objects like beyond compare does for text files? What I am looking for is a way to show two instances of the same type and show colored coded differences between them and allow the user to copy values between the objects.

From stackoverflow

• Just an idea: serialize your objects into XML and run a WinDiff or TortoiseSVN built-in diff-viewer.

  1. The export can be done (with [Serializalbe] objects) with XmlSerializer or DataContractSerializer:

     Person p1 = new Person("Zighetti", "Barbara", 101);
     FileStream writer = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Create);
     DataContractSerializer ser = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(Person));
     ser.WriteObject(writer, p1);
     writer.Close();
     

  2. Repeat this step for p2 (instance of Person).

  3. Drop your xmls into WinDiff or your favorite diff viewer.

  Special XML diff tools

  • XML diff online
  • Using the XML Diff and Patch Tool in Your Applications
  • XMLDiff
  John Saunders : Yes, serialize it, but serialize to an XmlWriter configured to do indentation. You might also need to do postprocessing to maintain a canonical order.