Author Topic: Can I switch Version Control : Compare Directory Old/New panes?  (Read 2073 times)

Kristen

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Can I switch Version Control : Compare Directory Old/New panes?
« on: January 08, 2019, 10:06:57 AM »
When I do:

Tools : Version control (Subversion) : Compare Directory

I get a list of folders / files with differences.

When I click on one, to DIFF the Old/New file versions, the NEW is on Left and OLD on Right.  This is the opposite way around to everything I have ever used.

Can I change that?
If not, is this a common arrangement? (if so I'm surprised I haven't encountered it before!). I'm dyslexic and [perhaps because of that ... ] I struggle to make the comparison with this arrangement.

Dan

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Re: Can I switch Version Control : Compare Directory Old/New panes?
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2019, 11:48:13 AM »
This is the way we've always done it and we don't currently have an option to change it.  I've had it come up where people are using "regular" diff and want to move code from left to right (on occasion I've done it that way myself, but it just isn't the way we're used to working).

I can put in a feature request for it.  It's not impossible, but it is significant.  A lot of work in the resize code and switching the buttons.  Or maybe switching the buffers is easier.  Let me think about it.

Kristen

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Re: Can I switch Version Control : Compare Directory Old/New panes?
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2019, 03:13:43 PM »
Thanks, I figured that might be the case.

If it turns out that swapping buffers is trivial that will be great ... otherwise I'll work around it.

One workaround is to use SVN (Tortoise in my case) CONFIG which allows "external DIFF program" with command line.

I have that set to

C:\Program Files\SlickEdit Pro 23.0.0\win\vsdiff.exe

which then gives me old-on-left, and new-on-right by default, but it has parameters for Old / New filenames (%base and %mine) so possible to pass those to DIFF as appropriate.

In the past I've always used Window Explorer and Tortoise ... but the new version has a significant "pause on launch" (its about 2 second each time) which is why I tried SVN-from-SlickEdit (which does the DIFF on each file "instantly"). I'm guessing, but seems that its the "launch" time rather than the Compare time ... might be related to having tons of stuff open on my PC.

Happy to try any suggestions that might could improve the launch performance - then I can just revert to Windows Explorer / Tortoise route.

I've tried having both VSE and VSDIFF open already (comparing something else), in the hope that "in memory" would solve it, but doesn't seem to make any difference.

LBCEi

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Re: Can I switch Version Control : Compare Directory Old/New panes?
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2019, 04:17:55 AM »
My 2 cents.

I am also used to having "New" on the right when doing diffs.

I will admit that I don't use VSdiff very much.  I like Beyond Compare.  I do think that VSdiff can sometimes (in the source/symbol aware mode - forgive me, I forget the correct term) can get things a bit more correct.  I also use VSdiff in the mode that allows me to compare functions (I think the mode is called compare symbols?), or to compare specific sections of the same file.

If I've misunderstood the point of this post and interjected noise, I apologize.

Dan

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Re: Can I switch Version Control : Compare Directory Old/New panes?
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2019, 09:44:33 AM »
I'm actually glad to hear from you.  It's good to know there are more people who want this feature than we realized.  Does BC do this?  Or are you just launching it from version control with the arguments reversed?

I think Source Diff is the term you're looking for, and I'm glad to hear that you're using it, as well as Symbol Diff.

rowbearto

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