Retaining left-side selection in context menu

[Michael Bulgrien]

There are times that I compare two files via the explorer context menu only to have them display in an undesired compare session type. (For example, wanting to open two .csv files in a text compare session, but having them launch in a data compare session instead; or wanting to open two executables in a hex compare session, but having them launch in a version compare session instead.) I immediately close BC3 and attempt to use the "Compare using" option in the explorer context menu.

The problem is that when the original compare session loaded, BC3 emptied out the cached value of the left-side selection, so I cannot simpy launch the new compare without first navigating to the location of the file for the left-side and re-selecting it.

Please consider adding a configurable option to leave the left-hand selection in place until the user replaces it with a different selection...even if the launch of the compare session has completed.

[Zoë]

We have had requests for this in the past, so it may make it in. In your case you might want to consider using the Session->Compare In New View Using-> submenu to open the comparison in the correct viewer.

[Erik]

In any file compare view, you could use Session -> Compare In New View Using to open the files in a different view.

[Michael Bulgrien]

Thanks, Craig. That's what I do when I remember to... but sometimes my hand is quicker than my brain when I see that I don't have what I expected, and the windows is closed before I can think twice about it.

[aid9035]

Scooter Team:

I also agree with Michael's request, but for both viewer types and session types. 99 44/100% of the time, I launch individual file comparisons from the Explorer context menu. Although do I verify that one can invoke a comparison using a particular session, as Erik describes, it IS a rather roundabout way to get there.

So, I'd like to see something like:

In Explorer,

1) Right-click>Select Left Side to Compare
2) Right-click>Compare Using>xxx Viewer>With SomeSessionName

or

2) Right-click>Compare to xxx>With SomeSessionName

Thanks,

Jerry

[Zoë]

Jerry,

What you're asking for already exists. Open the Options dialog, switch to the Startup tab, and under "Explorer integration" change "Compare Using" from "None" to "Main Menu". The Explorer menu will now have an additional submenu with all of the viewer types.

[aid9035]

Reply to Craig:

I was able to configure this option as you indicated for "Explorer Integration", but only to choose the viewer. Is there a way to choose a particular saved session? For a given grammar, I may have several saved sessions that ignore different grammar items as unimportant text. At the time I select files from Windows Explorer, I'd also prefer to select which session (with its particular predefined unimportant text items) should be presented.

Thanks,

Jerry

[aid9035]

Feedback Requested

Scooter Team: Is there any way to accomplish what I am trying to do (as explained in my post of 17 June 2008)? Thanks.

[Chris]

Sorry, it isn't possible to select a saved session from the Windows Explorer context menu.

[aid9035]

Enhancement Request

Thank you for your followup. Please add this enhancement to the wish list:

The ability to select a saved session from the context menu - or at least a context menu item which loads a separate dialog where one can easily and quickly select a saved session.

[Michael Bulgrien]

Why don't you just launch BC3 from the BC3 icon? All saved session are accessible from the home view.

I guess you are suggesting that if (and only if) you have one or more saved sessions that involve the file you are right-clicking on, you would like to see a list of those saved session and have the opportunity to launch one? That is the only way that it would make sense to add such functionality to the context menu...because all other sessions would be out-of-context and would not make sense to include on the context menu.

Not a bad idea, actually.

Perhaps there could be an option on the context menu that opened BC3 to the home view and auto-selected the most recently used session that included that file. That would be simpler than adding a list of sessions to the context menu itself, and shouldn't be as difficult to implement.

[Zoë]

I think he actually has a number of saved sessions without paths that he'd like to apply to the comparison of the files launched from Explorer.

[Michael Bulgrien]

Sorry, I didn't read his original post, just the follow comments. Nevertheless, being able to launch the last used saved session that a file was in sounds like a very useful feature for the context menu. One worthy of the wish list.

[aid9035]

I think you all have the basic idea, but perhaps a bit more clarification is warranted:

For a given "type" of text, source code or whatever, there would normally be one grammar, which defines that "type". In my work in a technical support area, many of my tasks involve problem investigation and resolution, rather than mostly routine coding and editing. As such, I find that within a particular grammar, I have need of several "profiles", each containing a different list of "unimportant" items, depending on the nature of the problem with which I am working.

During my investigations, I typically will have already navigated to targeted files via multiple Windows Explorer windows. In this mode, I find that I can launch comparisons much more easily and quickly using the right-click context menu. In fact, it is not uncommon for me to have several comparison windows simultaneously open in my investigation chain.

So, from my point of view, it is really not so much a particular "session" that I wish to launch against the same, specific file or set of files, so much as a particular "profile" that I would like to apply to an ad-hoc comparison invoked through the right-click context menu. Then once the compare "session" is displayed, I might then want to manipulate "unimportant" items as I analyze the compared files, and later save any changes/additions to those "unimportant" items in an existing or new "profile".

I can certainly see where a large number of "profiles" could overwhelm the context menu directly. I propose, therefore, that if the user wants to select a particular "profile" when invoking a comparison from the context menu, there would be an option to launch a separate, profile-selection dialog. The user could then choose among a list of available profiles or sessions to apply to the files already selected for comparison.

[Michael Bulgrien]

I can certainly see where a large number of "profiles" could overwhelm the context menu directly. I propose, therefore, that if the user wants to select a particular "profile" when invoking a comparison from the context menu, there would be an option to launch a separate, profile-selection dialog. The user could then choose among a list of available profiles or sessions to apply to the files already selected for comparison.

There have been discussions on this forum suggesting "profiles" that override the default session settings for a given session type. See this thread and the "prior discussion" links in the second post for more details.

The request has usually been in the context of having an optional default profile for a particular file-type that, if present, will override the default session settings for the associated session type. In other words, users might want certain grammars treated differently in one programming language than they are in another. Since BC3 moved certain items into session settings, this is no longer possible.

Your request seems to take this request one step further asking not just for a single profile to override session defaults for a given filetype, but for the ability to manage multiple session profiles for a given filetype.

Until session profiles are implemented, all I can suggest for now is to try the following:

• Launch BC3
• After working with a text compare session and tweaking the session settings, clear the file names and click one of the load buttons to take the specific files out of the session.
• Choose Save Session As...from the Sessions drop-down menu.
• Provide a name that describes the profiled settings and save the session.

This will give you a generic saved session (not associated with specific files) that contains your "profiled" session settings. You can even group these generic session "profiles" under a separate folder in the Sessions tree on the home view. Create a new folder called "Session Profiles", for example, them drag these generic saved sessions to the new folder.

When you open a compare from the Explorer context menu, do the following:

• Once the compare session opens, click the [Sessions ▼] button on the toolbar.
• Select the generic saved session that you've created as a "profile"
• Select the topmost filenames in the MRU filename dropdown lists above the left and right panes (they will be set to the files you selected from the context menu)

This will bring your files into the generic session that defines your "profiled" settings. If you make changes to the profile, then do the following at the end of your compare session:

• Clear the file names and click one of the load buttons to take the specific files out of the session.
• Resave the generic session to save your changes to the session settings.

This may be a little cumbersome, but it should work. You will be able to select one of several generic sessions each configured with different settings then pull the files into it using the MRU dropdowns.