2 things.

[timh]

2 things that I have noticed, and I'm not sure, if I just can't find them or just not implemeneted yet.

Printing, and ignore column ranges..

1st impressions/intuitive:
I could not figure out how to enable 3 way diff, unless it was from the command line.

Thanks, Tim

[Michael Bulgrien]

Sorry, There is no 3-Way Text Compare.

I could not figure out how to enable 3 way diff

A 3-way compare (3-way diff) was originally intended for BC3, but got dropped due to the tight development timeline. I have asked the Scooter team to add it to the roadmap for a post release version 3.x, but it hasn't shown up there yet.

There remains a small glimmer of hope:

Scooter says:
November 14th, 2006 at 11:39 am

1) 3-way compare will probably make it into some 3.x release, although likely not 3.0. We had it in our early prototypes, but shelved it for now because of time constraints.

[Aaron]

We do have Text Merge

What is your scenario for 3way diffing? We support Text Merge (lower left, separate button from Text Compare) for a 3way comparison common with source control.

In general, this Text Merge is used when you have 3 files, one of the files is a common ancestor.

Does Text Merge meet your needs?

-Printing:
We call this Reporting. We have Folder and File Reports. When in folder view, you can access either (Sessions Menu->Folder Compare Report. Actions Menu-> File Comparison Report)

When in File mode, you can only choose File Comparison Report.

[Tim]

To ignore column ranges for a type of file, define a File Format for it. On the Grammar tab, click "New", give your column range a name, and select Columns to set the beginning/end of the range.

Then, in your text comparison, click the umpire icon and you'll see your new named element on the list of things that can be ignored.

[Michael Bulgrien]

What is your scenario for 3way diffing?

Yes, 3-way text merges work great. We already have the Cirrus BC3 beta integrated with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server to assist with any manual merging we may need to perform. I consider 3-way diffing to be a 3-way text compare: three files open in three full-edit panes with the ability to copy lines from one adjacent file to the next, then save your changes.

Unlike a merge session, a diff would not have an output pane. Since there would be no formal ancestor file in a 3-way diff, I would probably implement the swap sides functionality as follows:

From Left Pane: Swaps left and center.
From Center Pane: Swaps left and right.
From Right Pane: Swaps right and center.

[Aaron]

Defined

Thanks for a definition, Michael.

Since timh did not post an example workflow, I wanted to show Text Merge, in case his definition of what he needed from a 3way diff was different. It can be missed since some people can expect Text Compare to 'expand into 3way merge.'