PrestoSoft Community

I searched the forums but was unable to find anyone else with this issue so my apologies if it has been asked and answered previously...

When I installed at home (XP Home), everything worked marvelously. When I installed here at the office, (XP Pro), the context menu item doesn't work correctly. When I right-click a file and choose "Select first item to compare" everything "seems" to work normally, except that when I right-click the next file, the only option is "Select first item to compare". Isn't this supposed to change?? Did I do something wrong or is there something that I can try to fix this?? I have uninstalled and reinstalled twice now (once to a separate location even). Any ideas??

Odd. EDPro Shell extension has been tested in XP Pro environments.

Try this: look into your Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PrestoSoft\ExamDiff Pro\Shell. Note that there are 2 values used to store first items: "First Directory to Compare" for a first directory, and "First File to Compare" for a first file. Now, use "Select first item to compare" Shell command, then see if the appropriate value in the Registry changed.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to this - been busy at work Anyway, I can't seem to test this anymore since my evaluation time has expired and so it's removed itself from my Explorer. Thanks for the help though - I appreciate it.

Send me your e-mail address via a private message, and I'll e-mail an extension password to enable one more month of evaluation.

Ok, now that I'm back up and testing I was able to look at what you're referring to. My HCU\Software\PrestoSoft\ExamDiff Pro\Shell branch in the registry has the following:

(Default) - REG_SZ - (Value not set)
Shell integration - REG_DWORD - 0x00000001 (1)
Shell options - REG_SZ - [blank]

I don't even see any of the items that you mentioned. I can assure you that I have not manually altered the file and I am an administrator on this machine. I'm not sure why it wouldn't have those keys. Can I manually place them so that it can use them?? I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling and they didn't show up then either.

Thanks for the help.

What happens when you select a first file or directory using the Shell extension? Does "First Directory to Compare" / "First File to Compare" get added to the Registry?

No, it was not getting added. The context menu did not change either.

Ok, once I registered (dropped the bin file in the directory and started EDP up), I can now do directory compares but still no file compares. So when I pick "Select first item to compare" on a directory, the "First Directory to Compare" shows up in the registry. So now I have the ability to compare 2 directories but still no luck on the file selection. And ideas??

This is odd. So when you select a file as a first item, what happens? Does "First Directory to Compare" get added to the Registry with a file name? Also, what OS are you using?

I am using XP Pro. Actually, NOTHING gets added to the registry.

It's really weird because as I said, once I purchased the product, the directory part started getting added and working but still no luck with the file part.

This is odd. If you are willing to help me debug the problem, here's what we can do. I'll e-mail you a debug version of EDPShell.dll, which will output debug traces as you use the shell extension. To do it, copy the debug DLL to some location other than your real EDPShell.dll, then register it by using the following command from the command line (running in the directory where EDPShell.dll is located):

regsvr32 EDPShell.dll

After that you need to run a debug trace monitor prior to using the shell extension, such as DebugView from http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freew ... view.shtml . Then use your Windows Explorer to select a file and a directory as the first item to compare. After that save the trace in DebuView and send it to me.

I'd be happy to help out - I'll get this done first thing Monday morning.