DataView Suggestion: Auto-Hide Same/Similar

I'd like to easily get to the "cells" which have differences.

For example, I have two tab separated exports from excel, with MANY columns, and only a few columns have been updated.

I want to auto-hide the columns that have no changes/or tie it to the row status (eg so could hide/show different, orphan, no-orphans, etc).

Is this already do-able somehow. I started manually hiding but then realized:
1. I may actually hide a column that has an "accidental" difference (which I would be interested in)
2. It would take forever and be a one time thing.

?
Peter Yamamoto

[Chris]

It isn't possible to filter columns in the current version, I will add your suggestion to the wish list.

The only way to hide columns in the current version is to manually hide them.

[Chris]

You can determine if it is safe to hide a column based on the color of the triangle icon in the header.

The colors are:
Yellow: Key column
Black : Everything in the column is a match
Blue : There are unimportant differences in the column
Red : There are important differences in the column

Wasn't this functionality available in the earlier iterations of the DataViewer? Since it was in previous iterations, can its priority be bumped higher on the wish list for this plug-in?

[Chris]

An early version of the Data Viewer plug-in had column filtering. It was removed when the interface was simplified. It is high on our list of priorities for the Data Viewer, and we plan to release an updated viewer relatively soon.

[jdmarch]

we plan to release an updated viewer relatively soon.



Great. The Data Viewer has... how can I say this delicately... an extraordinary wealth of unrealized potential. It is wonderfully useful, yet has a frustratingly inefficient user interface. I've said before and I'll say it again: I would happily pay extra for a seriously reworked DV.

[GalenTX]

May I revive this thread? I'd like to put my vote in for a column-filtering feature in the Data Viewer. I was disappointed that it did not appear in the recent update. It might even help me justify the purchase of additional licenses someday.

[Tim]

Sorry for the delay.

We're working on a command that hides all matching columns in a single click (or keystroke). It's an action rather than a filter setting, so you can use in in conjunction with manually hiding columns.

[GalenTX]

Excellent! Thanks for the update.

Hi - this is kind of the same but not exactly.

Is there a way to do a multiple select of columns when classifying them as std, unimportant, remove, etc.?

This would be really nice. I compare large csv files and I'd like to be able to quickly focus on one key column and one data column (even though many columns may have changes).

The way I would envision doing this is to start the dataviewer compare, mark everything as removed (This is where doing a select all before clicking on the remove radio button would be huge), then mark my one key column and my one std column.

Another way (maybe do both - but I'm getting greedy now) would be to allow a multiple selection once I am viewing the columns (kind of like what you can to to restore a column where the list of hidden columns comes up). The difference would be that I would envision a pop up menu option called "Hide Column(s) >" with the Choose submenu where you could quickly select one...N columns to be hidden. Could do the same for Remove to be consistent?

Thanks for considering these changes.
Beyond Compare is really a great tool!

Thanks for considering this suggestion.

[Chris]

Thank you for the suggestion. I'll add selection of multiple columns to our wish list for the Data Viewer plugin.

[dan_nazario]

Thanks Chris!