JSON File Format for Linux

[Dave_L]

There's a JSON additional File Format available for Windows, but not for Linux. I'd like to try to make one for Linux. The same jq tool that the Windows version uses as a helper is available for Linux. Is there any documentation for doing this, or should I simply use the other File Formats as examples?

[Aaron]

We don't have specific Linux documentation, but the same general steps apply to both Windows and Linux using an Input and Output argument on the command line. Our Windows example is here:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/suppo...rnalconversion

And using other Linux downloads with conversions would help as general command line examples.

We'd certainly appreciate it if you got it up and running. Feel free to post it in the forums or email it to us at [email protected] and we'll get it up on the website.

[Dave_L]

Thanks for the documentation link. An article named "Moved Text is Considered Important" is not where I would have thought to look.

Some questions:

1. In the File Formats General tab, are the command lines supposed to use absolute paths? I get an error "External program ... not found", although I know that the path is correct.

2. What's the difference between "Quick compare command line" and "Compare view command line"? Should both have parameters %1 and %2?

[Aaron]

Hello,

1. Did you chmod +x your script file? This is needed to allow it to be executed. You can use a full file path to the script in the Conversion definition.

2. The command lines in the File Format, Conversion tab are %s and %t (source/input, and target/output). S is the file passed in, while T should be the output from your script that is formatted as plain text.

[Garret]

Hello Dave,

We are in the process of releasing Linux and OS X versions of the "JSON sorted" format, however, we have found a bug with the import/export feature for Linux and OS X that is preventing the release of the format. That being said, it is possible to manually setup the file format with the prepared package that will be temporarily available at the following link:

http://www.scootersoftware.com/files...rted_Linux.zip

Here are the steps to follow to use the JSON sorted format:

1) Download the Zip archive and extract the contents
2) Copy the "Helpers" directory to your settings directory (ex: `cp ./Helpers ~/.config/bcompare`)
3) Copy the JSON sorted format settings from the BCFileFormat.xml file that was in the Zip to your existing formats file (this is located at "~/.config/bcompare/BCFileFormats.xml") -- just to be safe, make a backup of the formats file that is in your settings directory. The key section you need for the JSON format will be the all of the XML between, and including, the nodes <TTextFormat Value="JSON Sorted"> and </TTextFormat>

[Dave_L]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try the "JSON sorted" format that you've provided.

[Dave_L]

Hello Dave,

We are in the process of releasing Linux and OS X versions of the "JSON sorted" format, however, we have found a bug with the import/export feature for Linux and OS X that is preventing the release of the format. ...

I noticed that the "JSON sorted" format is now available on the Linux download page. I assume the bug is still present, since no new version of BC4 has been released.

Can you describe the bug? Will it mess up my BC4 configuration if I attempt to import the format in the normal way?

[Dave_L]

I tried installing the JSON format manually using the above instructions. (I used the version on your download page (JSON sorted 13-Oct-2015), which had some differences from the .zip linked above.)

It works properly, but I had to chmod the three files in the Helpers directory to be executable (755). Prior to that, I got misleading error messages ("External program ... not found" or "Conversion Error").

You may want to add that to the instructions. Or maybe for Linux file formats you could use a tarball (.tar.gz) instead of a .zip, which would allow the files to be given execute permission within the archive.

[Aaron]

Thanks for that feedback, we'll look into this. There is a crash that can occur where the Helpers or format are not imported, hence the manual steps that are needed to actually get the Helpers and xml inserted.

[Dave_L]

...
It works properly, but I had to chmod the three files in the Helpers directory to be executable (755). Prior to that, I got misleading error messages ("External program ... not found" or "Conversion Error")
....

Under the same conditions, the command shell issues the error "Permission denied". That's a more useful message.