A few small nitpicks

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  • Alex
    New User
    • Nov 2007
    • 2

    A few small nitpicks

    I noticed a couple of small inconsistencies in 440, which might (or might not) have been fixed in 441:

    * When an empty line is added to the output file and then deleted, the output shows /////-filled [non-existing] line that corresponds to the previous line in input files. I'd expect it to be removed from the output completely, at the very least, after saving output. Unlike in the input files comparison, it doesn't have any meaning in the output file.

    * Cut-and-paste move of several lines in the output file resulted in lines that had white, not yellowish background. I think it should be yellowish for consistency, unless you can somehow show moved lines.

    * Also, if it were possible to change yellowish "edited in output" background to some sort of greenish "edited in output and saved" it would be a useful visual cue. I know that you have a line on the side that shows saved/not saved portions, but it doesn't work as well as in MSVS / Source Insight, because there is a lot of background color already and this thin line gets lost [unless you deliberately stare at it =8-)].

    * I think Ctrl-Left/Ctrl-Right behavior in C/C++ files is not consistent with MSVS / Source Insight / etc. source code editors. Do you plan to fix it or is it "by design"? ~:-)

    Thank you!
  • Tim
    Team Scooter
    • Oct 2007
    • 786

    #2
    Thanks Alex,

    1) The diagonal hashed lines in the output pane are placeholders. Each difference section is mapped from input to output and that mapping is maintained so that the output section can easily be replaced by any corresponding input section (even after saving). It also helps with synchronizing vertical scrolling. It may be technically possible to remove the empty lines (and it's on my wishlist), but it would be difficult to make that change before the 3.0 release.

    2 + 3) The yellowish background coloring may be confusing, but it's working as designed. Keep in mind that the output is constructed of difference sections (initialized to one of the inputs), and text in between difference sections. The colored backgrounds in the output pane serve to highlight the difference sections and to show which input file the text came from. The yellowish color means you've manually edited something in the section and it no longer matches one of the inputs. It does not have the same meaning as the gutter changebars. Notice that if you "Take Left Section" or "Take Right Section" to override the initial merge, the yellow changebar appears but the background is *not* colored yellowish.

    The text between difference sections always has a white background. Again, this is to differenciate it from the difference sections.

    You can make the yellow/green changebars more like MSVS: Select Tools | Options | Text | Display. Select Gutter in the list of elements, and change the Background color to "Window Background". Tweak the yellow/green colors also if you like. I think our changebar line is a little thicker than MSVS.

    4) We patterned the Ctrl+Left/Right behavior after Delphi, which we find here to be more useful than the MSVS technique. In the samples below I've placed asterisks representing each keystroke positioning in the line "Apple.Sauce = Box[i]":

    Style 1: *Apple*.*Sauce *= *Box*[*i*]
    Style 2: *Apple.*Sauce = *Box[*i]

    We prefer Style 2 although a lot of people are likely used to Style 1. I will consider making this an editor option.
    Tim T Scooter Software

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    • Alex
      New User
      • Nov 2007
      • 2

      #3
      Originally posted by Tim
      1) The diagonal hashed lines in the output pane are placeholders. Each difference section is mapped from input to output and that mapping is maintained so that the output section can easily be replaced by any corresponding input section (even after saving). It also helps with synchronizing vertical scrolling. It may be technically possible to remove the empty lines (and it's on my wishlist), but it would be difficult to make that change before the 3.0 release.
      Fine, it's a minor nitpick anyway. It can get output file a bit confusing though.

      Originally posted by Tim
      2 + 3) The yellowish background coloring may be confusing, but it's working as designed. Keep in mind that the output is constructed of difference sections (initialized to one of the inputs), and text in between difference sections. The colored backgrounds in the output pane serve to highlight the difference sections and to show which input file the text came from. The yellowish color means you've manually edited something in the section and it no longer matches one of the inputs. It does not have the same meaning as the gutter changebars. Notice that if you "Take Left Section" or "Take Right Section" to override the initial merge, the yellow changebar appears but the background is *not* colored yellowish.

      ...

      You can make the yellow/green changebars more like MSVS: Select Tools | Options | Text | Display. Select Gutter in the list of elements, and change the Background color to "Window Background". Tweak the yellow/green colors also if you like. I think our changebar line is a little thicker than MSVS.
      I understand the meaning of the yellowish background :-) My point is that the change line on the left side is visually lost. Source Insight uses more colors than MSVS, plus different font sizes, so they make the whole width of the gutter change color for edited and edited+saved sections. Could you please consider this as an option?

      Originally posted by Tim
      The text between difference sections always has a white background. Again, this is to differenciate it from the difference sections.
      When I move a few lines in output file they do not match either of input lines anymore. BC3 still displays them with white background. I think this is not consistent.

      Originally posted by Tim
      4) We patterned the Ctrl+Left/Right behavior after Delphi, which we find here to be more useful than the MSVS technique. In the samples below I've placed asterisks representing each keystroke positioning in the line "Apple.Sauce = Box[i]":

      Style 1: *Apple*.*Sauce *= *Box*[*i*]
      Style 2: *Apple.*Sauce = *Box[*i]

      We prefer Style 2 although a lot of people are likely used to Style 1. I will consider making this an editor option.
      Please, do this! The current style is very inconvenient, for example, for selecting words or "foo.bar" constructs. Also, going forward and backward stops at exactly same points, which makes it impossible to jump to the end of a word when going backward.

      Comment

      • Tim
        Team Scooter
        • Oct 2007
        • 786

        #4
        Alex, the next release has a "tweak" to make the changebars wider. And, we've changed the Ctrl+Left/Right positioning behavior to be what you are used to.
        Tim T Scooter Software

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