Hotkeys for Next-Diff/Prev-Diff

[Burnone]

I appologize if this was posted or in the app somewhere but I wasn't able to find it.

I prefer to use the hotkeys rather than buttons for next diff/prev diff. What are the hotkey mapping and perhaps they should be added to the dropdown menu or somewhere else?

Thanks

[Aaron]

Hello,

No problem. If you go to the Beyond Compare menu -> Preferences, you can then navigate to the Commands -> Text Compare (or Folder Compare, etc) section.

Each has their own set of commands, which you can search for "difference" or "next". With BC4 Mac still in Alpha, we do not have a full set of Factory Defaults yet. We're still working out what might work best.

[ceretullis]

For what it is worth, the major competitor on Mac is probably Perforce Merge (p4merge). You might take a look at their command shortcuts and see if they would be reasonable.

I know next-difference is cmd-2 in p4merge. That works pretty well for me.

[WildJR]

Another "competitor" (although not even in the same league in terms of features & usefulness :-) is Apple's own FileMerge.app. It's one of the tools included with Xcode (and can be launched via "opendiff" from the command line).

FileMerge uses the up/down arrows (or Cmd-up/down arrows) to navigate to prev/next differences. But it also doesn't allow inline edits (at least not in the comparison panes), so there's no need for line-by-line navigation.

So I would recommend Cmd-N / Cmd-P as the hotkey defaults for next/prev difference. Ctrl-N / Ctrl-P would be my runner-up choice, but those are often used by Mac apps for navigating to the next/prev line (as you're already doing!). Using the Ctrl-N / Ctrl-P hotkeys for next/prev difference is now burned into my muscle memory after having run Windows BC3 in emulation mode via CrossOver for so long now!

--John

[Danyal]

The relevant section within Preferences is currently called "Toolbars, etc". I think this could be better named as "Toolbars and Shortcuts". Also, the keyboard shortcut text in that menu is rendered with excessively large top padding.

[rothkj1022]

Personally I like Cmd-N, as that is most similar to the Windows version of BC. When I want to open a new comparison, I always use Cmd-T for new tab, and never open a new window, so I think Cmd-N would be better served for "Next Difference" instead of "New Window".

[rball]

I agree. Next Difference is the most common command I use. I would much rather have Cmd-N reserved for that.

[Zoë]

The next release will add default shortcuts for most of the commands that the Windows version has them for.

The issue with just converting the Windows ones from Ctrl-* to Cmd-* is that they pretty much all conflict with common ones. Cmd-n is New Window, Cmd-P is usually Print (assigned to Comparison Reports now), but also Cmd-M is Minimize Window instead of Next Different Files, Cmd-R is Refresh instead of Copy to Right, and Cmd-L is usually Go To Line instead of Copy to Left. Any particular one isn't a big deal, but it don't want to override all of them, especially when they all make sense within the context of BC. Similarly, Cmd-Arrows are used for moving the caret to the beginning and end of the line or document, Alt-Left/Right is used to move by word, and Ctrl-Left/Right is used for switching between workspaces/full screen apps.

The current plan is for Alt-Up/Down to be Go to Next/Previous Difference (section), and "Next/previous difference within a line" and "Next/previous different files" will be 3 key combinations like Cmd-Alt-Up/Down and Ctrl-Alt-Up/Down. "Copy to left/right", "Copy line to left/right", and "Copy file to left/right and goto next difference" will all be 3 key variations that use the left/right arrow keys.

I don't like that they're so different from Windows, but it does allow you to navigate and copy changes without taking your hands off the arrow keys, seems to make sense, and doesn't conflict with any established shortcuts, so I think it's the best compromise. You will of course be able to assign your own, and we may have provide imoortable settings or a preset dropdown with mire Windows like ones. We still need to look into whether it will be possible to override shortcuts capture by controls (like Ctrl-N).

[nikolaus]

The next release will add default shortcuts for most of the commands that the Windows version has them for.

The issue with just converting the Windows ones from Ctrl-* to Cmd-* is that they pretty much all conflict with common ones. Cmd-n is New Window, Cmd-P is usually Print (assigned to Comparison Reports now), but also Cmd-M is Minimize Window instead of Next Different Files, Cmd-R is Refresh instead of Copy to Right, and Cmd-L is usually Go To Line instead of Copy to Left. Any particular one isn't a big deal, but it don't want to override all of them, especially when they all make sense within the context of BC. Similarly, Cmd-Arrows are used for moving the caret to the beginning and end of the line or document, Alt-Left/Right is used to move by word, and Ctrl-Left/Right is used for switching between workspaces/full screen apps.

The current plan is for Alt-Up/Down to be Go to Next/Previous Difference (section), and "Next/previous difference within a line" and "Next/previous different files" will be 3 key combinations like Cmd-Alt-Up/Down and Ctrl-Alt-Up/Down. "Copy to left/right", "Copy line to left/right", and "Copy file to left/right and goto next difference" will all be 3 key variations that use the left/right arrow keys.

I like this plan!

[rothkj1022]

The issue with just converting the Windows ones from Ctrl-* to Cmd-* is that they pretty much all conflict with common ones. Cmd-n is New Window, Cmd-P is usually Print (assigned to Comparison Reports now), but also Cmd-M is Minimize Window instead of Next Different Files, Cmd-R is Refresh instead of Copy to Right, and Cmd-L is usually Go To Line instead of Copy to Left. Any particular one isn't a big deal, but it don't want to override all of them, especially when they all make sense within the context of BC.

I agree with your logic, however Ctrl+N in windows is also New Window in Windows, which Beyond Compare for Windows overrides to be Next Difference. So I guess I don't see why you wouldn't do the same for Mac.

That said, I wouldn't oppose the Alt+Arrow solution. I think that actually makes good sense, maybe even for both platforms.

[Zoë]

I agree with your logic, however Ctrl+N in windows is also New Window in Windows, which Beyond Compare for Windows overrides to be Next Difference. So I guess I don't see why you wouldn't do the same for Mac.

Beyond Compare for Windows has used Ctrl+N for Next Difference since BC1, and we didn't start taking inspiration from web browsers until we added the tabbed interface in BC3. Beyond Compare 1 didn't even support multiple windows: you could launch it into a single file compare or a single folder compare that would show a file compare modally. BC2 added support the ability to launch more than one file compare from a parent folder compare, but was still fundamentally a 1-window application. BC1 and 2 also didn't have support for inline editing, so it wasn't as common to use the arrow keys to navigate.

In any case, as I said, the big issue is that Next/Previous Difference, Next Different File, and Copy to Left/Right all conflict with existing shortcuts. If the only conflict had been Cmd-N I definitely would have used it.

That said, I wouldn't oppose the Alt+Arrow solution. I think that actually makes good sense, maybe even for both platforms.

I don't know that we'll be able to change the defaults on Windows without a lot of flak from existing users, but I'm certainly going to play with it myself, and we may have an optional preset or importable file that will add them. We are discussing something similar for Windows style shortcuts for anyone who really wants Cmd-N/M/P/R/L to map to the existing commands.