Word wrap in text-compare

[Aaron]

These are both recommended workarounds, and while not intended to be best case solutions can definitely help people. Thanks for concisely posting setup instructions. And correct: it's not an easy implementation and comparison ties into the core of the program.

[patch]

...correct: it's not an easy implementation and comparison ties into the core of the program.

Given the difficulty in implementing the desired solution, how long it has been on the too do list, and the likelihood the preferred solution will be implemented within the short or planned future. Implementing easier to achieve interim solution(s) to improvement in the current capability is highly desirable.

Suggestion:

1. Sentence compare filter which forgoes editing within beyond compare. The filter should remove line breaks within sentences (single <cr> or <lf>) then insert paragraph breaks at the end of sentences. Double paragraph breaks should be retained as they corresponded to meaningful white space in the original document.
2. Automate other recommended work arounds such as the suggestion listed two posts above.
3. Enable the user to readily choose which (imperfect) text compare they use on each document.

Core changes are not going to happen in the short term. Working within the limitations of the current core feature set is still a useful approach in the interim rather than saying we can't do what we really want to do, so wont offer any support within beyond compare 4.

[David.P]

So I just downloaded the trial and loaded my two paragraphs of text I wanted to compare.

However, on both sides in Beyond Compare, the respective text paragraph was squished into one line, and I could only see like 10% of every paragraph.

Well I thought, that must be a case for that text wrap button on the toolbar.

However, there seemed to be no text wrap button.

Okay, then it must be in the settings.

I started looking all over the settings for the text wrap setting.

However, there seemed to be no such setting

I still was sure that I only had overlooked it, however was already getting a little angry, because the ability of wrapping text paragraphs of every program in this galaxy since like 20 years was so hard to activate in Beyond Compare.

Okay so I went on the Internets, about to look up where this damn setting was hidden.

Sure enough I was taken to this thread.

And my ears couldn't believe their eyes what I found here.

Are you ******* serious??? This is 2019, and you can't do ******* text wrap?!? In one of the supposedly leading comparing tools of this planet??

Sorry but this kind of anachronism leaves me shaking my head and questioning the future of humanity. This is unbefuckinglievable.

Profanity language indended, because obviously you guys otherwise don't get it, particularly looking at the fact that this has been legitimately requested by users for literally decades.

Sorry guys, of course it's not meant personally.

[technoeditor]

David

[technoeditor]

So I just downloaded the trial and loaded my two paragraphs of text I wanted to compare.

However, on both sides in Beyond Compare, the respective text paragraph was squished into one line, and I could only see like 10% of every paragraph.

Well I thought, that must be a case for that text wrap button on the toolbar.

However, there seemed to be no text wrap button.

Okay, then it must be in the settings.

I started looking all over the settings for the text wrap setting.

However, there seemed to be no such setting

I still was sure that I only had overlooked it, however was already getting a little angry, because the ability of wrapping text paragraphs of every program in this galaxy since like 20 years was so hard to activate in Beyond Compare.

Okay so I went on the Internets, about to look up where this damn setting was hidden.

Sure enough I was taken to this thread.

And my ears couldn't believe their eyes what I found here.

Are you ******* serious??? This is 2019, and you can't do ******* text wrap?!? In one of the supposedly leading comparing tools of this planet??

Sorry but this kind of anachronism leaves me shaking my head and questioning the future of humanity. This is unbefuckinglievable.

Profanity language indended, because obviously you guys otherwise don't get it, particularly looking at the fact that this has been legitimately requested by users for literally decades.

Sorry guys, of course it's not meant personally.

I know what you mean, I've been using Beyond Compare for a long while now and it's unbelievable that it doesn't have Word Wrapping. Of all the super advanced features, I would have thought basic word wrapping would be the easiest when doing simple text compare.

[Zingaro]

I just want to chime in to say, I agree -- I'm absolutely baffled as well. How on earth can text wrapping be so technically complicated?! Given the extent of our technological progress, it seems downright silly to be stuck for 10 years on such a trivial aspect, even if it requires a drastic algorithm rethink.

I'm actually genuinely curious what the technical challenges are to implementing this. You can parse the text out of an RTF and a DOCX and display the extracted text side-by-side -- ingenious and super useful -- all the data's right there in front of my face so you can obviously access it and manipulate it. Just take each string, and add a line break every 80 chars for display! I honestly can't understand how this can be so difficult.

I'll use the HTML compare workaround in the meantime, but it's certainly bizarre. (I mean why not just use the algorithm you use to word wrap in the HTML and display it on the main screen?)

I'm sure it's more complicated than what it seems to end users, but all problems are complicated, and all of them have solutions. It would be really great if you took the time to make this a priority for the next release, hopefully within a few months.

[Aaron]

We appreciate the frustration when dealing with horizontally long files. Wrapping is something we've researched and investigated, but as you've gathered is a much larger project that it appears when it comes to loading and building the comparison. It's something still on our radar, but not likely a project we'll be able to tackle in the next few months.

[u823752]

I looked for a tool to compare text and stumbled upon 'Beyond compare'. I need the word-wrap feature, otherwise the tool is useless. This thread, more exactly the response from the devs is just ridiculous. If customers want a feature badly, they should implement it and not put them off year by year. Absolutely terrible behaviour. I will search for another solution.

[Aaron]

Just take each string, and add a line break every 80 chars for display! I honestly can't understand how this can be so difficult.

BC4 supports this style of line break insertion as part of the File Format, Conversion tab, "characters per line limit" set to 80.

[Aaron]

Hello,

We're listening to customer feedback and know this is an important feature. We've actively worked on wrapping over the years, up to and including different prototypes for wrapping styles or entire new Viewers, and are continuing with a new design to get something of a deliverable quality. When combined with all of the other comparison features and data structures in the Text Compare, it is not as simple to wrap the view as it would be in other text applications.

[Tatanka]

BC4 supports this style of line break insertion as part of the File Format, Conversion tab, "characters per line limit" set to 80.

Doesn't work when there is a conversion running on the text, like the HTML-to-Text format script. You get a "Could not find delimiter" error.

I have no clue how complicated you guys coded the "core of the program", but your management team has prioritized other features to sell, like 3-way folder compare, over this very basic feature. This feature has been waiting by your customers for over a decade and your "deliverable quality" criteria sure didn't stop you from failing to catch a bug in your 4.2.8.23425 build. And your statement of , "We've actively WORKED [emphasis added] on wrapping over the years" doesn't give any confidence to your customers. It sounds like you're saying, "we're tried to, but it's hard, so we aren't doing it. Instead, we're going to work on integrating with cloud storage rather than fix an oversight about a feature that has been added to every text editor tool since 1993, including Window's Notepad."

All these people want is something that allows them to see even the most basic level of wrapping. All we need is the ability to have the height of the cell adjust to the contents of the text in the cell based on the width of the column, so we can see that character 4006 changed. If you have to use a TTF to do it, at least it's available to use. Getting fancier with wrapping, dealing with format differences in the text, could be improvements, heck, you could even sell the format comparisons work in the "Pro Edition". Now, do you have a plan to get a basic text wrapping feature added within the next year, or do people need to start looking at other comparison tools on the market that can do the same things as BC?

[Zoë]

We are working on word wrap in the Text Compare's editor as a launch feature for version 5. We are trying to get it out as soon as possible, but don't expect to launch in the next 12 months. It will only affect the display; we want to compare across line ending changes in the original files too, but that will have to come later.

We have been trying to add word wrap for a long time. Beyond Compare's implementation is more complex than a traditional text editor's because we have to take the comparison into account, including gaps to keep things aligned, and we have to synchronize between multiple files and up to 7 editors (main compare, merge output, line details). Doing all of that well, and keeping it performant for large files, has been a significant challenge, and there have been several false starts.

Yes, we have developed other features in the meantime. We have to weigh the needs of all of our customers, and many of them were asking for things like 3-way merges and macOS support. Also, our developers have different expertise and areas of responsibility; the one handling our cloud support is not involved with word-wrap, and can't easily switch to that.

We are sorry that it's taking so long. We know this is a deficit, and one we take seriously, even if that's not obvious from the outside.

[skyteddy]

We are working on word wrap in the Text Compare's editor as a launch feature for version 5. We are trying to get it out as soon as possible, but don't expect to launch in the next 12 months.

That means, should version 5 ever appear, that I have to pay extra for the missing standard function word wrap?

[Zoë]

That means, should version 5 ever appear, that I have to pay extra for the missing standard function word wrap?

Our upgrade policy is here: https://www.scootersoftware.com/shop...=upgradepolicy

When BC3 and BC4 launched, we gave free upgrades to anyone who had purchased a license within the previous 18 months.

[skyteddy]

When BC3 and BC4 launched, we gave free upgrades to anyone who had purchased a license within the previous 18 months.

ROTFL, you wrote 2 posts before: "..., but don't expect to launch in the next 12 months."

once again: text wrap is in my eyes a standard function. I could not imagine that bc did not have this function.

It was my mistake, because I should have tested bc better before buying it. Normally I wanted to replace kdiff3 with bc, but since months I have to use both again :-(

a great pity