Local vs FTP Settings

[ZLA]

I'm still learning about the various Beyond Compare (BC3) comparison options. I'm wondering if anyone has a good set of settings that work well in comparing files when comparing local dev files to a remote (ftp) hosting environment. The issues I've run into are:

• I can't use Quick Test timestamp since uploaded files are always newer than local files. Is there a way to only look for newer source files?
• I can't use filesize comparison because many uploaded files are off by 2 bytes even though there are no visual differences when I compare them side by side in BC3.
• In the Folder Compare display, using Ignore Unimportant Differences still shows files that are a match except for the 2 byte file differences.
• Is there any way to speed up the overall content comparison? Perhaps by only selecting files changed since a given date or some other tricks?

Thank you if you can help me out.

[Pete]

Also, if your ftp host supports it, it's much faster if you enable "Tools > FTP Profiles > Listings > Recursive".

[Aaron]

Hello ZLA,

1) You can filter on specific file types by using name filters (Session menu -> Session Settings: Name filters). For source files this would be whatever extension they use: *.java;*.cpp etc.
If the timestamps are consistantly off by a certain amount of time, you can change the time tolerance under the Comparison tab.

Also, if you can verify the files are the same content-wise once, you can then Touch the files (either local or FTP) so the timestamps match exactly. From then on, you could use Timestamp comparisons.

2) If filesize is different, and filesize is a comparison criteria, then it will mark the files as different. You may find this KB article helpful:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/suppo...pdifferent.php

3) Ignore Unimportant will ignore (mark equal) files that have returned a Rules-based comparison of Unimportant Differences Only. For this to happen, you must run a rules-based comparison (one in the background using the Session Setting's Comparison tab; in the foreground by selecting files and running a Compare Contents Command; or by double clicking on a file and viewing it in the Text Compare or other file viewer), and the only differences found in the file are Blue (instead of Red/Important differences). The center column shows the results of the content comparison.

4) There is a date filter under the Session Settings: Other filters. Timestamp/Size comparisons are significantly faster than Binary, CRC, or rules-based, since these will require downloading the file. If your FTP server supports the xCRC command, then you can use CRC comparisons and the FTP will calculate the CRC without downloading the file.