RC4: vsdiff issues

[astromme]

vsdiff has always had a couple nags with me:

1) This is new - if I try to diff two buffers that haven't been saved yet, I get a dialog that says "This item must be a valid path or filename" - there used to be an option to select if I wanted to diff the buffer or the file.  If one or both of the files don't exist, why doesn't it just diff the buffers?

2) If I happen to type in two paths when "Compare Two Files" is selected, or two files when "Compare Two Folders" is selected, it stops and makes me go to the radio button and click it.. why doesn't it just do the right thing?

[Dan]

vsdiff has always had a couple nags with me:

1) This is new - if I try to diff two buffers that haven't been saved yet, I get a dialog that says "This item must be a valid path or filename" - there used to be an option to select if I wanted to diff the buffer or the file.  If one or both of the files don't exist, why doesn't it just diff the buffers?

This should be fixed for the gold build.  I just worked on this.

2) If I happen to type in two paths when "Compare Two Files" is selected, or two files when "Compare Two Folders" is selected, it stops and makes me go to the radio button and click it.. why doesn't it just do the right thing?

You might want to go to Options>Dialog Setup and turn on "Expert mode setup dialog"

This is how things used to work.  The dialog would change (the radio buttons would change according to whether you had a path or filename) and people didn't like it.  Maybe it should not have changed.

[astromme]

Updated the "Expert mode setup dialog" - thanks.

I'm sure it's opinion based, but the people who didn't like it are entitled to their opinions even if they're wrong   it's just another obstacle.

[Dan]

I liked it the old way too.  I think one of the big problems people had with it is that the radio buttons control whether the "..." button prompts for a file or a directory.  If the radio button is changing based on what is in the text boxes, it doesn't always do what you want.  So I understand that.  I'm more of a keyboard person than a mouse person, and I use aliases for directories. So I really don't use that button.

I changed to using "the new way" at some point - I like to run with the most common set of options for a user.  I use the accelerator keys for the radio buttons so it's not too inconvenient.