default exclusion filter?

[paulkienitz]

We're using BC 2.4.3 with a five seat license. You know what I keep wanting? A default file exclusion filter that applies to new unnamed sessions, to exclude "junk" file types that I never care about. Is there anything like that in BC 3?

Also, we use VSS 2005. Anybody got a paragraph or two about what it's like to use BC3 with VSS? What kind of workflow does one use?

[Michael Bulgrien]

The KB article for Using Beyond Compare with Version Control Systems has steps for integrating Beyond Compare 3 with VSS 2005.

[paulkienitz]

That doesn't really say anything about people's experience of how they use it after it's in place.

[Zoë]

Hi Paul,

We don't use VSS, so I can't say on that, but both BC 2 and BC3 support default exclusion filters. In BC2 start a new session, set it up the way you want, then use the Session->Set Defaults menu item. In BC3 you change the "Use for this view only" combobox at the bottom of the session settings dialog.

[Michael Bulgrien]

That doesn't really say anything about people's experience of how they use it after it's in place.

Quite frankly, although I have used extensively over the years, VSS is a fairly poor excuse for a version control solution. It does not pass title parameters to 3rd Party merge tools, so you are always looking at temp file names in your Windows temp folder. It does not provide native support for 3-way merging and conflict management. It is not a true client/server application, so file comparison and retrieval from a remote server can be quite slow. It is not transactional, so it cannot check in multiple files in a single changeset and roll-back the entire check-in if problems are encountered. It is more susceptible to corruption...I should know since I've opened several tickets with Microsoft over the years on corrupted VSS databases when large Unicode check-ins go awry.

I currently use Team Foundation Server and am able to merge entire projects that have been branched at some earlier point in time. The conflict management in TFS is exemplary...files that cannot be auto-merged due to merge conflicts are identified and the user is given several options on how to manage the conflict...including manually viewing the merge in your favorite 3rd party merge tool. VSS cannot do any of this... so if you have a need to merge a branched project, you're on your own. This is where a tool like Beyond Compare is worth its weight in gold.

BC3 doesn't have its 3-way folder merge implemented yet, so its not as simple as it will be down the road... but in a scenario like I've described above, I've downloaded snapshots of complex projects from different points in time (before a branch, and from both sides of the branch in a later point in time) and have placed the files in three folder structures (a common ancestor, left side of branch, right side of branch). I've then written vbScripts to sweep through the files and programmatically merge changes, launching the BC3 GUI when conflicts are detected. Once the merge effort is complete, I can check the merged project back into source control. The time it took me to write the vbScripts to control the merge effort was insignificant compared to the hundreds of hours I saved not having to manually merge every single file from within VSS.

In short, VSS is very limited and will not do a great job in exploiting the potential of BC3 because BC3 can do a whole lot more than can be triggered from within VSS. However, with a little creativity, BC3 can be leveraged outside of VSS to compensate for some of VSS' shortcomings.

[paulkienitz]

My office got officially authorized to buy Team Foundation a couple of years ago, and then never actually got the cash. Apparently they can't budget it.

My team leader keeps complaining about VSS's shortcomings, and then abusing it with needless forks and stuff that to my naive eye seem a cure worse than the disease. But for now we appear to be stuck with it.

Craig: wow, I totally missed the Set Defaults command. THANKS!

[Michael Bulgrien]

My office got officially authorized to buy Team Foundation a couple of years ago, and then never actually got the cash. Apparently they can't budget it.

No need to stay on VSS. Subversion is a good open-source version control system if the budget for TFS doesn't come through.