feature request: save manual synchronization points

Yahoo Serious · Post by **Yahoo Serious** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:14 am

I love manual synchronization points!

I would really like to be able to save my manual synchronization points. (I would suggest just saving the synced line numbers.) This way I can restore the in a new session (with the same files and options), e.g. in case I happened to crash, log off, reboot, or just (accidentally) close ExamDiff.

Of course, it has to be saved to a separate file. Because any change in options or the files themselves would make the manual sync points invalid, it would be the user's responsibility to only re-use it when it (seems) applicable. But you could (should?) also (optionally) save the compare-options with these manual sync-points, to raise the chances of re-usability.

You could also add the option to save the manual sync-points (with the compare-options), on a sudden stop (shutdown). You could then offer to keep/restore these after the first restart of EDP.

Cheers, Yahoo

Post by **psguru** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:17 am

We'll add the following request to the wish list at http://www.prestosoft.com/edp_suggestions.asp :

"Ability to save/restore manual synchronisation links to/from an external file"

Yahoo Serious · Post by **Yahoo Serious** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:47 am

OK, thanks

Yahoo Serious · Post by **Yahoo Serious** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:52 pm

It is still not added?

I just found out about the session file.
Maybe you could introduce an option: "Save manual synchronization points to session file"? Changes in the files after saving the links, can easily be overcome by deleting some links.

Just a thought (no request):
I (also) just found out, deleting all links can [only] be done from the context menu, when right-clicking on the synchronization splitter. Maybe these context options can also be added to the main menu. E.g. like Bookmarks under Navigation | Synchronization | Next/Previous/Delete/DeleteAll/AutoRecompare/Import/Export.

Post by **psguru** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:23 pm

It is still not added?

It is now.

I just found out about the session file.
Maybe you could introduce an option: \"Save manual synchronization points to session file\"? Changes in the files after saving the links, can easily be overcome by deleting some links.

I'm not sure. I think that it may be better to save manual links in a separate file (just the way your original suggestions was).

Just a thought (no request):
I (also) just found out, deleting all links can [only] be done from the context menu, when right-clicking on the synchronization splitter. Maybe these context options can also be added to the main menu. E.g. like Bookmarks under Navigation | Synchronization | Next/Previous/Delete/DeleteAll/AutoRecompare/Import/Export.

No, I prefer to keep all manual synchronization links commands/options in one place, where they are now.

MudGuard · Post by **MudGuard** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:47 am

Yahoo, how would you expect the synchronization points to be saved?

I can think of three ways (without changing the files)

1. Line numbers
IMO useless, as soon as lines are inserted/deleted in the files.

2. The text of the line
IMO useless, as the same line of text could appear multiple times in a file.

3. The combination of line number and line text?
IMO useless, as it combines the disadvantages of 1 and 2 ...

Saving sync points only makes sense if the files are not changing.
In that case, the Save HTML Diff report should suffice (though I can't test at the moment whether sync points are taken into account for that report)

MudGuard · Post by **MudGuard** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:51 am

Ok, found the solution for the Save HTML Diff thing - the sync points seem to be respected, but there is no indicator for them ...

Post by **psguru** » Wed Apr 25, 2007 6:48 pm

Well, drawing the links in HTML is a challenge...

Yahoo Serious · Post by **Yahoo Serious** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:57 am

Well, I'm not quite sure about the Save HTML Diff, as this gives me an error: "Could not open file ???????-? to read!: The file name, directory name, or volume label is incorrect. (Error 123)."
I suspect not, it depends if the 'real' files are used after a reload. Because I want to be able to change the files after I re-started the comparison.

* Why save
However, to explain the use to you, let me quote my first message:
"This way I can restore the in a new session (with the same files and options), e.g. in case I happened to crash, log off, reboot, or just (accidentally) close ExamDiff. "
Mostly it is because I shutdown for the weekend, and would like to continue after the weekend. And because I have to reboot occasionally, to straighten out my development machine.

* When (not) to save
You say "Saving sync points only makes sense if the files are not changing.", but I'd like to add "significantly". I'd like to make it more subtle by saying "Saving sync points only makes sense if the files are not significantly changed before re-usage."
If nothing changes, or only a couple of letters change, or only some lines are appended (log-files!), the sync points may still make a lot of sense! So I'd prefer the user to decide about the sensibility of re-usage.

* How to save
To explain how I expect the synchronization points to be saved, let me quote my first message:
"I would suggest just saving the synced line numbers."
But other options are fine with me. E.g. I am curious how are they saved when EDP recompares, e.g. because one (or both) file(s) changed?

* Where to save
I also suggested where to save them, let me quote my first message:
"Of course, it has to be saved to a separate file. Because any change in options or the files themselves would make the manual sync points invalid, it would be the user's responsibility to only re-use it when it (seems) applicable"
Another option is to save them to the session file. To quote my third message:
"Maybe you could introduce an option: 'Save manual synchronization points to session file'? Changes in the files after saving the links, can easily be overcome by deleting some links. "

Post by **psguru** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:22 pm

Well, I'm not quite sure about the Save HTML Diff, as this gives me an error: "Could not open file ???????-? to read!: The file name, directory name, or volume label is incorrect. (Error 123)."

Make sure that HTML template files under Options | HTML point to the right location (usually "C:\Program Files\ExamDiff Pro\difftempl_v.htm" and "C:\Program Files\ExamDiff Pro\difftempl_h.htm").

I suspect not, it depends if the 'real' files are used after a reload. Because I want to be able to change the files after I re-started the comparison.

HTML diff report takes into account manual links but the links are not saved per se.

E.g. I am curious how are they saved when EDP recompares, e.g. because one (or both) file(s) changed?

When files are recompared, line numbers are saved. So if your files changed, there's no guarantee that manual links are relevant. However, if the links were not save during recompares, I think the user would be less happy.

Yahoo Serious · Post by **Yahoo Serious** » Tue May 01, 2007 4:56 am

Yes, the HTML template files fixes/prevents the error. Maybe the error message can be more specific? E.g. something like "Could not read the HTML template file '???????-?' specified in View | Options | HTML: The file name, directory name, or volume label is incorrect. (Error 123)."

The HTML diff report is very static, so it is definitely not what I want.

So I would suggest saving sync points to be handled just like the recompare does now: remember the line numbers and leave all change-risks to the user, recycling them (like I suggested before).

Post by **psguru** » Tue May 01, 2007 6:41 pm

Maybe the error message can be more specific? E.g. something like "Could not read the HTML template file '???????-?' specified in View | Options | HTML: The file name, directory name, or volume label is incorrect. (Error 123)."

Agreed, will be fixed.