fast way to go through all the files in comparable directories?

[earth-friendly]

I'm merging from 3 different directories:
- their original version of the files
- their newest version of the files
- my newest version of the files

I'm putting these in center, left, and right columns, correct?
Is there a simple way that I can traverse through these directories, file by file? Right now, after I finish doing a file merge, I have to select the new file in all 3 windows on the top, and then I have to do a save-as on the bottom window, and type in the new filename that I am currently merging from the top.
It would be nice if there were an option that when I select a new file in the top left window, it would automatically find a file of the same name in the top middle and right windows. And then it would default to that same filename in the bottom window that is getting merged into.

I'm a beginner with Beyond Compare (which is wonderful, by the way!).
Perhaps there is a way to do this, and I'm just not seeing it.
Thanks!

[swe9]

3-merge workaround

I've attached a perl script that may be of some help to you. It makes assumptions peculiar to my setup, but it should be simple enough to modify for your purposes. Starting from the current working directory it searches through the given directory looking for files to compare. It then passes the file names in to BC3 so they show up in the correct panes for your merge. It currently assumes the changes go back into your source file so watch out if that's not what you wanted.

I ran this using the MSYS shell, your mileage may vary. The main downside to this method is that you get a new BC session for every file. If you don't want to compare every file in your directories then you'll have to add a statement to filter based on filename extension or something.

[Aaron]

Hello,

You can use the Windows Shell Extention (Tools menu -> Options: Startup) and enable the right-click in my Computer. You can also drag files from My Computer into each of the comparison panes in a Merge session.

Make sure your Original File is in the Center column for expected Ancestor handling (such as the Take Left then Right commands).

We are also working on a 3-way Folder Merge session for a future version of Beyond Compare.