12204 "Editing disabled"

[chrisjj]

Comparing two writable 26Mb files, I see "Editing disabled" and indeed it is.

Why might this be, and how do I overcome it?

And where is a user supposed to find the documentation for "Editing disabled" ? I find no mention in the Help or knowledgebase.

Thanks.

[Aaron]

Hello Chris,

There are a variety of reasons for disabled editing. One of the most common is the file format used for your files would disable editing. Would you be able to email us a full screen screenshot and your latest Support package from the Help menu -> Support; Export?

Please also include a link back to this forum post for reference.

[chrisjj]

> There are a variety of reasons for disabled editing.

Aha. Again, can you tell me where the user can find the documentation for "Editing disabled" ?

> One of the most common is the file format used for your files would disable editing.

Not this one. The file format is PC > ANSI and does not normally disable editing here.

> Would you be able to email us a full screen screenshot

Sorry, the session is no longer available and I would like to understand this problem more before it rearises.

[Aaron]

Hello,

Usually with the respective options. One example could be in the Command Line References section, /ro1, or in the File Formats, Text Formats, Conversion section discussing Disable Editing.

PC > ANSI is not the currently used file format; that is just the Line Ending and Encoding info displayed in the status bar. The File Format in use is usually also displayed there, such as C++, Word, or <default>.

[chrisjj]

> Usually with the respective options.

There are no respective options.

Where am I supposed to find docs that cover the instance of "Editing disabled" that I have reported?

> PC > ANSI is not the currently used file format; that is just the Line
> Ending and Encoding info displayed in the status bar. The File Format in
> use is usually also displayed there, such as C++, Word, or <default>.

Apologies. It was "<default>".

[Lutz]

I looked into this and discovered two things:

1. If I change "Disable editing" on Session Settings/Specs-tab the status bar indicates this change not before refreshing (manually/automatically) the session.

2. I opened a Folder Compare with editing disabled on both sides. A Text Compare-child session inherits this states even if they are writable files. Perhaps this explains Chris' case.

Greetings Lutz

[chrisjj]

> 2. I opened a Folder Compare with editing disabled on both sides.

Interesting. What caused Editing Disabled?

> A Text Compare-child session inherits this states even if they are writable files.

Sounds like a bug. Certainly there's no mention of this under the Folder Compare Open With command.

> Perhaps this explains Chris' case.

I didn't record the state of the parent session, and it is no longer available.

[Aaron]

You can mark a Folder with editing disabled in the Folder Compare's session settings' Specs tab.
All files will inherit this state if they are opened from that Folder Compare session. This is not a bug.

If your files were set as Read-Only as a Windows property, this would also prevent editing. In the latest version of BC3, we added the ability to prompt and edit these files.

[chrisjj]

> You can mark a Folder with editing disabled in the Folder Compare's
> session settings' Specs tab.

I didn't.

> All files will inherit this state if they are
> opened from that Folder Compare session. This is not a bug.

It is undefined behaviour. If it is not a bug in the behaviour, then the bug is the failure to declare it in the docs.

Is there some further undefined behaviour that sets Folder Compare to Editing Disabled, and hence could explain my occurence?

> If your files were set as Read-Only as a Windows property,
> this would also prevent editing.

As I said in the original report, they were writable.

Suggestion for improvement: add "Editing disabled" to the Help.

[Lutz]

You can mark a Folder with editing disabled in the Folder Compare's session settings' Specs tab.
...

But the status bar isn't refreshed after closing the dialog until a session refresh or changing tab or selection.

Greetings Lutz

[Aaron]

Thanks. I'll make a note to review that for our documentation.

It is hard to determine what settings or combination of settings in BC3 or outside were locking your files. They could have been marked as read-only or detected as Read-only by BC3 at the time of the attempted editing. This could have been a bug or accurate. If you can reproduce it, please let us know.

[chrisjj]

> It is hard to determine what settings or combination of settings
> in BC3 or outside were locking your files.

Yup, that's what you get from undefined behaviour.

> They could have been marked as read-only

As I said twice already, they were writable.

> If you can reproduce it, please let us know.

When you can define the behaviour, please let me know.

[Zoë]

When you can define the behaviour, please let me know.

A file can be marked as "Editing Disabled" for any of the following reasons:

• It's one of the input files in a 3-way merge
• The comparison was cancelled
• The comparison encountered an error (corrupt file, invalid character encoding, out of memory, gamma rays, etc)
• The file format's conversion settings don't support converting back to the original format
• The file is on a read-only "filesystem" (7zip/RAR/CHM archives, CD/DVD-ROMs)
• A file or parent folder had editing explicitly disabled by the user in the session settings or using the /ro command line switches
• The viewer itself doesn't support editing (eg, Hex Compare)

Our documentation will always lag the program, and we need to balance ease of use with coverage, so there will always be things that we don't think warrant explicit coverage in the help file. The fact that something isn't in the help file does not mean it's "undefined".

[chrisjj]

Thanks.

>[*]The comparison encountered an error (corrupt file, invalid
> character encoding, out of memory, gamma rays, etc)

That's the only one that could apply.

But since BC DID NOT REPORT ANY ERROR I'm really disappointed that it instead messes me about by secretly going into Editing Disabled mode.

> Our documentation will always lag the program

That really disappointing to hear.

> and we need to balance ease of use with coverage

I think you've failed dismally. Your docs' usability is severely degraded by ther poor coverage. And getting documentation instead out of this forum is like getting blood out of a stone.

Not least because some your support people here don't know thae answers becasue, I guess, they too are deprived of full documentation.

> The fact that something isn't in the help file does not mean it's
> "undefined".

Then please just publish the definition. Keep the cut-down help for those users who you think would be overwhemed by the complete docs (and I very much doubt there are many), and publish the full docs for those of us whose time is being wasted as a result of your current policy.