Saving (un)changed settings

[Yahoo Serious]

I often have multiple instances of ExamDiff open.

Now, if I change some settings in one instance of ExamDiff, it does not (necessarily) persist. E.g.
- if I change colors in one instance, later after closing all instances, the colors may remain the old way.
- if I save a session in one instance, later after ('randomly') closing all instances, the session may not appear in Files | Session.
(I think the compared files do persist in the most recently used (MRU) pulldown on the Compare Dialog.)

I don't know if the persistence depends on the order of opening or closing the instances (and will not try to find out). But I would like some adaptations in the saving mechanism and some control over it.

The adaptations would be:
- only save settings that were changed (that would prevent overwriting the changed colors, or the changed sessions list)
- always add (non-double) in stead of overwrite the most recently used (files/sessions/...)

For having more control I am thinking of options (yes, even more):
* Automatically save settings that were changed when closing:
- "Always save",
- "Always save on single instance - but prompt on multiple instances",
- "Always prompt"
- "Never save"
* An extra button to explicitly save all (registry) settings manually

[psguru]

I don't know if the persistence depends on the order of opening or closing the instances (and will not try to find out).

Changes are written to the Registry when you OK the Options dialog, no matter what instance you are in. Other settings are also saved when changes are made.

The adaptations would be:
- only save settings that were changed (that would prevent overwriting the changed colors, or the changed sessions list)
- always add (non-double) in stead of overwrite the most recently used (files/sessions/...)

For having more control I am thinking of options (yes, even more):
* Automatically save settings that were changed when closing:
- "Always save",
- "Always save on single instance - but prompt on multiple instances",
- "Always prompt"
- "Never save"
* An extra button to explicitly save all (registry) settings manually

Coordinating between multiple running instances in Windows is always a difficult task. While these may be good ideas, I doubt that they'll get implemented any time soon. I don't think that majority of ExamDiff Pro users is affected by the problems that arise from making changes in multiple running instances.

[AlexL]

Hello.

The original idea of several variants of saving options is interesting. And it is not necessary related to making changes in multiple instances of EDP. E.g., I often compare files of data produced by different systems, and thus requiring various Ignore options (regular expressions, column ranges, etc.). At the same time I compare (in another EDP instance) program sources, which have led to such difference in the data, and it requires from me to uncheck those Ignore options this time. In such cases the suggested variants might help - provided I know what I want to save.

The only problem is that I don't know what next comparison I shall want to do in the future... So I doubt that I'll use this feature, though it seems perfect for my case.

Thank you.

[psguru]

For your situation you could use multiple sessions. Set up options that you want and name your sessions so that you could easily recognize them by name, then use appropriate sessions for different types of comparison.

[Yahoo Serious]

Coordinating between multiple running instances in Windows is always a difficult task. While these may be good ideas, I doubt that they'll get implemented any time soon. I don't think that majority of ExamDiff Pro users is affected by the problems that arise from making changes in multiple running instances.

Fair enough.
So I'll have to manage it myself. Then I'd like that simplified by a small(?) request of either:

- only save settings that were changed (preferred), or

- an extra button to explicitly (re)load all (registry) settings manually.
That way, my changes saved from one instance can be imported to a second instance. That way, when adapting some other options in the second, I would not overwrite the first save (assuming I do not forget to import first...)

Would that be feasible?

(And I assume you will fix the MRU-session-overwrite will be fixed?)

[psguru]

- only save settings that were changed (preferred)

Unlikely. Given the number of EDP options and other settings, it's a monumental task.

- an extra button to explicitly (re)load all (registry) settings manually.
That way, my changes saved from one instance can be imported to a second instance. That way, when adapting some other options in the second, I would not overwrite the first save (assuming I do not forget to import first...)

Users get scared by things like this. The Registry is not supposed to be visible to the user, and all Registry operations have to be transparent.

A couple of details that may help you to manage options: sessions (including their options) are saved automatically when you hit the Compare button. They are also always reloaded from the Registry when you change them.

(And I assume you will fix the MRU-session-overwrite will be fixed?)

As I mentioned earlier, this has already been fixed.