Beyond Compare as a merge tool for Team Foundation

[Matthew Kerr]

Frustrated

I can't seem to get BC2 to successfully merge changes to make the TFS dialog happy. I always get the "canceled" message even after saving changes. I am using the exact parameters from the version control FAQ linked earlier in this thread.

[ischyrus]

My problem ended up being that I had the personal version. If you want to do merges you have to purchase the Professional version.

[Matthew Kerr]

I have a site license file given to me by my company, so I'm assuming it's a Pro version but I can't see any text in the program itself that says one way or another.

[Zoë]

Hi Matthew,

There's only a single version of BC2; it doesn't have a pro version like BC3 does.

BC2 always returns an exit code of 0. Make sure that you use the "Save" command before you exit; BC2 doesn't force you to save changes like BC3 does. If you've done that I can't think of what else TFS would check that would make it consider the merge failed. You might make sure that "Allow multiple instances of program" is checked in the "Startup" options.

[[email protected]]

I too am having the same problem with BC3 with TFS 2005.

However, upon reading the posts it appears that perhaps the problem may be with the DOS Error Codes listed by ischyrus.

Since I (we) are performing a merge, the resulting merged file (right hand side) is almost certainly still different than what is on the server (left hand side) and therefore an exit code of 13 (Rules-Based Difference) would be the correct exit code.

It's appears that Visual Studio is thinking that is an error and saying that the operation was cancelled.

Perhaps I"m wrong, but it appears to be the likely suspect.

Can anyone at Scooter (or other) suggest a solution or workaround? The only idea that I have is to maybe add a switch that would supress the exit codes returned and always return 0.

Bob

[Zoë]

Hi Bob,

Are you using the BC3 Standard with the /savetarget switch (two files side-by-side, no separate output window)? That would would set the error code to 13, which TFS would treat as a cancel. The 3-way merge in BC3 Pro sets the error code to 0 in the same situation.

[[email protected]]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for your quick response. Yes, I'm using BC3 Standard specifying the /savetaget switch. It sounds like I have to upgrade to Pro in order to get around this issue?

My workaround so far has been to perform my merge as usual (and recieve the cancelled msg) and then try to checkin again and say "Auto Merge" and it appears to work. Of course, I have only just setup VStudio to use BC3 and so for my merges have been pretty tame. This may not work in every situation, especially if it's a complicated merge with overlapping changes.

BTW, I've also seen the following configuration for merging in one of the other threads:

%1 %2 %3 %4 /title1=%6 /title2=%7 /title3=%8 /title4=%9 /solo

I assume that this is for 3-way merging in Pro?


Thanks,
Bob

[Zoë]

No need to upgrade; we want BC3 standard to replace BC2. I was just confirming the issue.

We'll change the next release so if the /savetarget switch is given it will use the same return codes as the 3-way merge.

That command line is for the 3-way merge, but it's out of date because the /solo switch isn't needed anymore. The current TFS switches are fully documented in the VCS knowledge base article.

[[email protected]]

OK. So it sounds like I just need to use my workaround until the next release then.

Is there any way to get notified when or check if a specific issue gets fixed? Or should this be a pretty easy fix and the next time an update is available via the automatic updates it should be resolved then?

Thanks again,
Bob

[Zoë]

I've already checked in a fix. The next time you see "New Version Available" it'll be fixed.

[[email protected]]

You sir, are awesome!

Thank you,
Bob

[citykid]

Ok, I still have this issue here, can someone please tell me how I can avoid this "merge has been cancelled". I have the latest bc3 and still get this mesasge.

[Aaron]

Are you using BComp.exe instead of Bcompare? Does your configuration match what is listed in this KB article?:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/suppo...?zz=kb_vcs.php

[mastoj]

Does anyone have a solution to this? I am using VS2010 with a TFS as source control. Every time I merge a file manually I get the "The manual merge for <file name> has been canceled".

When should the change get picked up? When I save the file or when I close beyond compare?

[ischyrus]

Are you sure you have the 'professional' version? If memory serves, my issue was that I didn't and only the professional version supported merging.