BeyondCompare usage and WishList

[dickdunbar]

1. Where is this magical wishlist. I see lots of new posts with desired features, and they are deflected with "we have them on our wishlist". It would save a lot of time if we knew what you were thinking about, before expending a lot of time to explain (what you already know).

2. I use BeyondCompare for everything. Code merging is wonderful. One side benefit of using BC for directory merging on Windows is that the files are always pre-allocated, and copied directly. Why is this important? Because Windows defrag has nothing (or very little) to do when the action is complete.

For example, I had to copy 200GB+ from one drive to another. Had I done this with Windows Explorer, the target disk would be so fractured that it would take longer to defrag the disk then it did to copy the data in the first place.

With BeyondCompare, I copied disk-to-disk, then defraged the target, and it was done in under a minute.

Some Wish Items:
a. I wish I could use my email account as login. Remembering all these login ids has become a real burden, and it's crazy to create new ids when I have a unique id on the whole internet ... my email account.

b. Compare files, and there is a convenient "swap panels" icon that lets me get the source/target aligned in a standard way (for me). It's important so that I don't copy/delete items on the wrong target when I'm having a senior moment (or caffeine lag).

I'd like that same icon on the directory panel, please.

c. When I right-click a directory in explorer, and "Select left side to compare", I can then go to a different directory and select "Compare to ...".

I'd like you to remember that first directory, so I can use "Compare to ..." over-and-over. That remembered directory should only be replaced when I choose a new "Select left side to compare".

There are other wishes, but I'd prefer to compare against your list. One interesting process that Sun uses is to publish their wish list, and allow others to vote on what would be the most important features, so that Sun can priortize their efforts for maximum community benefit.

[dickdunbar]

Re: BeyondCompare usage and WishList

Another wish item, to save keystrokes.

In Folder View, when I select multiple files, and Right-Click on an action (compare, move, copy, etc), I really don't need (don't want) a secondary prompt to "Start".

Just do it. The dialog box opens too far away from my current (right-click) mouse position, and it really slows me down with these extra confirmation dialogs.

At least give me an option/choice on whether I want these extra confirmations.

I wish for the same actions on the taskbar icons, but I can see where some might want a confirmation to prevent an accidental click.

On the Delete action, one could bypass the dialog box if the option to use the Recycle folder were checked; easy recovery.

In no way are these wish items meant to be a criticism of BC2. It's marvelous as is, and can be made even better.

[Chris]

Re: BeyondCompare usage and WishList

1. Where is this magical wishlist. I see lots of new posts with desired features, and they are deflected with "we have them on our wishlist". It would save a lot of time if we knew what you were thinking about, before expending a lot of time to explain (what you already know).

Currently the wishlist is an internal database. A public version would involve some work, but we've had enough requests that we will consider a public version in the future. Right now the best place to check feature requests is with a search of these discussion forums.

a. I wish I could use my email account as login. Remembering all these login ids has become a real burden, and it's crazy to create new ids when I have a unique id on the whole internet ... my email account.

I agree that this is a good idea (I have too many usernames to keep track of myself). We are planning to migrate to new forum software, and when we do we'll check to see if this is possible with the new software.

b. Compare files, and there is a convenient "swap panels" icon that lets me get the source/target aligned in a standard way (for me). It's important so that I don't copy/delete items on the wrong target when I'm having a senior moment (or caffeine lag).

I'd like that same icon on the directory panel, please.

The "Swap Sides" button is in the Folder Viewer as well as the File Viewer. It should display right between the two path edits. You can also access it using View|Base Folders|Swap Sides from the menu.

c. When I right-click a directory in explorer, and "Select left side to compare", I can then go to a different directory and select "Compare to ...".

I'd like you to remember that first directory, so I can use "Compare to ..." over-and-over. That remembered directory should only be replaced when I choose a new "Select left side to compare".

We'll take this scenario of one to many comparison into consideration for future versions of Beyond Compare.

In Folder View, when I select multiple files, and Right-Click on an action (compare, move, copy, etc), I really don't need (don't want) a secondary prompt to "Start".

Just do it. The dialog box opens too far away from my current (right-click) mouse position, and it really slows me down with these extra confirmation dialogs.

At least give me an option/choice on whether I want these extra confirmations.

I wish for the same actions on the taskbar icons, but I can see where some might want a confirmation to prevent an accidental click.

You can turn off quite a few confirmations in the Confirmations section of Tools|Options. We'll also be working to improve this in version 3 of Beyond Compare.

On the Delete action, one could bypass the dialog box if the option to use the Recycle folder were checked; easy recovery.

I don't think we'll change this in version 2. The recycle bin isn't always available, such as on network drives. Setting confirmation preferences for some of the other options will bypass the dialog, but those options, such as copy or move, only affect one side. With delete, if both sides are selected, it will delete files on both sides, and the dialog is there it prevent accidentally deleting both sides when it isn't intended.

If you don't want the confirmation, it is possible to turn off delete confirmation dialogs with the "ConfirmFileDelete" registry tweak as described at: http://www.scootersoftware.com/suppo...=kb_tweaks.php

[dickdunbar]

Re: BeyondCompare usage and WishList

My BC usage is increasing dramatically, so here is the latest list of observations and wishes.

1. Explorer context menus don't work reliably on WinXP64.
- Choose: "Select Left Side to Compare"
- Move to New Directory: There is no "Compare to ...". Only a new "Select Left Side to Compare".
- The item (c), "One to Many" comparisons is still a fervent wish.

2. I'm using BC for directory backups ( a lot !!!)

2a. I would like to be able to Select multiple lines in the Log panel (or direct these to a permanent file).

2b. For each log summary of the action, you timestamp and record number of files transferred.
Could you also calculate: Bytes transferred, Elapsed Time, Bytes/Sec speed.

You see ... I also use this as a very convenient benchmarking tool for my network.
Recently, I've been comparing the 300Mb wireless network offerings from Linksys, DLink, and NetGear.
Beyond Compare is a "real world" / "non-synthetic" benchmark for the speeds.

2c. The "Synchronize" (to Left/Right) is enormously helpful. But, it does it for all of the folders/files in the selected root directories.

I would like to be able to Select the directories (multiples), and click "Synchronize Right" for only the selected directories.

Example: When I'm backup/syncing my C: drive, I really don't need to synchronize anything in the Windows directory, but there are several high-level directories that I do want to synchronize.

3. Please enable the main window when there is copy/move/comparison window active.

3a. Frequently, I need to synchronize machines and directories.
When I start copying one directory, I'd like to be able to look around and see what else I should be doing next. I can't do that until the current copy window finshes.

3b. When I'm organizing files from one directory to another, I frequently have to copy files to an entirely different directory. It's a pain to keep launching BC just to do that directory switching.

- While a Copy is going on, I'd like to be able to Right-Click the Right directory, and rebase it to an entirely different directory.

Example: I always download files to the same directory. Then I use BC to "distribute" those files to appropriately named folders elsewhere.

- Left directory is "Downloads"
- Right directory keeps changing to a new location
- Perhaps "copy to directory" option would work ... I don't have experience with it.

3c. I see no reason why I cannot launch multiple Copy/Sync windows from a common BC main window.
You have the "copy" task running in a thread ... just let me launch a NEW thread to do a separate logical sync/copy.

- Today, what I do is launch a second (and third, and fourth) copy of BC, and launch the secondary Copy from that.
It works, but it's a very fussy operation.

- The problem is that the BC Main window gets "locked", so that I cannot resize or move it around.
My screen quickly becomes cluttered with BC windows, and it's hard to keep track of what is going on.

- Allowing me to launch that second copy, while the first is active would be a great productivity aid so I can stay focused on the primary task ... not the manipulation of BC windows to understand when one copy is finished so I can launch another.

[Chris]

Re: BeyondCompare usage and WishList

1. Explorer context menus don't work reliably on WinXP64.
- Choose: "Select Left Side to Compare"
- Move to New Directory: There is no "Compare to ...". Only a new "Select Left Side to Compare".
- The item (c), "One to Many" comparisons is still a fervent wish.

I'll look into the x64 problem you mentioned. Also, one to many comparison is on our wish list.

2a. I would like to be able to Select multiple lines in the Log panel (or direct these to a permanent file).

It is possible to right click on the log pane and select "Save to File", but it will save the entire log. I will add selecting multiple lines to our wish list.

2b. For each log summary of the action, you timestamp and record number of files transferred.
Could you also calculate: Bytes transferred, Elapsed Time, Bytes/Sec speed.

This is on our wish list for the future.

2c. The "Synchronize" (to Left/Right) is enormously helpful. But, it does it for all of the folders/files in the selected root directories.

I would like to be able to Select the directories (multiples), and click "Synchronize Right" for only the selected directories.

It is possible to limit synchronization to selected files and folders. To do this for the Synchronize to Left and Right commands, select Tools|Options. Go to the Sync Options section. Check "Just Selection".

You can also use the Actions|Synchronize Folders|Custom Sync command and check "Just selection" in the Custom Sync dialog.

One other option is to use the standard sync without changing settings, and just use a filename filter to filter out the files and folders you don't want to sync.

3. Please enable the main window when there is copy/move/comparison window active.

We are considering the for the future as well.

3b. When I'm organizing files from one directory to another, I frequently have to copy files to an entirely different directory. It's a pain to keep launching BC just to do that directory switching.

The best option in the current version of BC might be to use the Actions|Copy To Folder command.

[Chris]

Re: BeyondCompare usage and WishList

1. Explorer context menus don't work reliably on WinXP64.
- Choose: "Select Left Side to Compare"
- Move to New Directory: There is no "Compare to ...". Only a new "Select Left Side to Compare".

How consistently does this problem show up?

I did some testing on a Win XP x64 system we have in the office, but I couldn't get the error to show up.

If you select a file, then right click on a folder, or the other way around, the shell extension will show the behavior you describe. This can also happen if you right click on an archive file, the right click on a file that isn't defined as an archive.

Also, what other shell extensions do you have installed on your system? On 32 bit Windows I've seen some problems where other shell extensions collided with BC's shell extension and caused problems.

[willum]

Re: BeyondCompare usage and WishList

I had the same problem in W2K, a very usefull and free program to find the problem can be found at: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/shexview.html