Only open BC tab if there is a difference

[ejhutch]

Hi, I am using BC4 and use it to compare the contents of several directories for backup purposes. I like to do this manually instead of using something like robocopy or rsync. I have a Powershell script with many calls like this...

start-process -FilePath "C:\Program Files\Beyond Compare 4\BCompare.exe" -ArgumentList @("C:\Users\me\docs","${extdriveletter}:\docs")

I was wondering if it would be possible to only open a BC window if a difference is detected, otherwise do not open a window or tab. Looking at the command line reference it does not look like there's and option but wanted to see. Thanks.

[Aaron]

Hello,

Not easily with a pair of folders. BC4 has an option in the Tools menu -> Options dialog, Startup section for "When starting with file comparison show quick compare dialog:" that can show a quick pop up instead of the full view, or automatically the full view if detected as different. The Folder Compare does not have a similar option. You could pre-run a script (using bc scripting with "@C:\scriptfile.txt") that generates a folder-report, then parse the folder report for information and use that as a conditional to make the full command line call or not.

[ejhutch]

Thanks Aaron, I'll give that a shot