Issues with the BC3 window & Active tab

[Michael Bulgrien]

BC already does FIFO activation.

That is a matter of interpretation. If I run a batch job to open a bunch of tabs, then select the first tab to begin working with it, closing that tab causes the LAST ONE loaded to open in the editor next. If that isn't LIFO, then I don't know what you call it. I want the next (as in 2nd) tab to open, not the last one loaded.

Likewise, if I run a script to open 20 tabs from the command line, I want a configurable option that lets me load them to the bottom of the stack (which is truly LILO or FIFO) instead of to the top of the stack where each subsequent tab opens in the GUI replacing each prior one.

If you are confused about the FIFO/LIFO terminology, just add a tweak that allows tabs to be opened at the bottom of the stack instead of at the top of the stack...which is, perhaps, a better way of defining what the "obvious fix" is.

[Zoë]

Turn off the "When starting with file comparison, show quick compare dialog" option and it always works in FIFO order, if you leave it alone long enough to get stable. If you launch a number of comparisons they may occur slowly enough that it starts showing those dialogs (possibly multiple), which will affect both activation order and the "grouped from command line" state we're maintaining.

[Zoë]

3.3.4 (not 3.3.3, already in testing) should have this improved, though not fully fixed.

I've changed it so that switching between tabs and closing tabs no longer clears the "launched as a batch" flag. It does reset if you close the most recently opened tab (the bottom one) or if you switch away from BC (since we can't tell whether you're starting a new batch of not). Basically, as long as you're working within BC, it should be much better.

After playing with it, I do agree with Michael that a command line switch to open tabs in the background would be good. I'm currently thinking a /min switch (opens tab in background, and opens the window minimized if there isn't one already), with a matching /max (maximized) for completeness. That has the additional benefit that it re-adds support for the "Run: Normal/Minimized/Maximized" shortcut property, which we lost in BC3. Unfortunately the changes required for this are large enough that they'd be hard to merge over into the v3 branch, so that probably won't make it in until the next major release.

[Aldebaran]

Hello Craig,

Thank you for your answers

From our point of view, the most annoying thing is the fact that the Beyond Compare window doesn't keep the state (minimized for instance) in which is it has been set at a given time when a new new tab is open in background and so the window is then restored. That is the cause of our problem : it is impossible to work on other applications than Beyon Compare when we loads several tens of files.
Maybe what you are talking about could be a solution for a work-around, even if it does not completely solve the problem of working in BC when loading and then switching to another application.

The problem with the tabs is also annoying because we loose the order of the files, but is not a waste of time as the above one.

Thank you for this proposition. We can't wait the next version !

Best regards,
Aldébaran