Data view

[Lairdwh]

Data view is getting a lot of press around our firm. Although Beyond Compare in file view is beyond compare, truely, the same is not true of data view. Here's some things we need.

We have some fields which are quite long. It would be nice if the memory that the software has about how I liked my file comparision, would also record the length of the display fields, and anything else I modified.

To change the length of the display fields is arduous when they are long, and plentiful -- my situation. Features like those of Excel to set cell lengths would be helpful. Starting with 'set to length of column title as a default'.

Obviously changing the order of fields would be nice.

Properties of fields should 'stick' until you change them.

While File view is good for programmers while programming, Data view is good for programmers while doing data comparisons.

When the testing is passed off to the user, the user needs a tool which remembers more about the setup than the programmer needs. Because the user will do this daily, with new data, and he will not like anything that is not preconfigured.

An important addition to the concept of the software would be that one would be able to record comments about a field on a column by column basis.

Also on a row by row basis, it would be useful if a comparison could be saved with new comments on the row---the GOOD row, so that a new comparison could be done, with the GOOD row, using a new set of data, and the comments would stick, as you changed to a new set of data.

Often we see that, as programmers, we keep producing better data. Yet we want to make and preserve comments about data that is still not matching.

This helps communication between users and programmers.

Laird. (Friend of W. Sloan).

212-506-2925 Lwhitehill at Elliott-Assoc dot com

[jdmarch]

Re: Data view

Hi Laird,

Yes, Data view is very useful (in fact indispensible!) but its interface is not yet up to BC's highest standards IMHO. It's pretty new (6 months?) and improves with each version, so I've got high hopes for it. Because there's almost no end to the possible enhancements of this viewer, perhaps it could eventually be sold as an add-on - I think that it would be well worth the extra money.

I strongly agree with the need for easier configuration of column widths (both on the fly and memorized). In particular: auto-sizing to the currently visible data by double-clicking on column heading boundaries, remembering column widths, showing too-long field contents in a flyover hint box or on the status line.

You can actually change the order of the fields through the Rules dialog, though this interface is painstaking to use, and sometimes acts counterintuitively: e.g. when you move a field to a different position, this dialog exchanges it with another field rather than moving the remaining fields up or down as one would expect. (Overall, I think the Rules dialog needs to be redesigned, as I have suggested by email.)

I like your suggestion for adding comments for columns and rows, though this would not be at the top of my wishlist.

Other requests that I have made:
- option to match columns by field names rather than position.
- edit/copy/paste between files by field or record.
- find next/previous difference in a particular column
- view multiple lines per record in the bottom (single record) panel.
- hide left/right orphans