Items view: allow diff of two different files (Diff selected files)
In the Items view, it would be very useful to select two different files in the tree and compare them against each other.
As it is, I can't use Plastic's excellent Diff window for this purpose (at least not from inside the Plastic GUI). Instead I have to configure a Diff tool separately with a shell extension and use it from Windows explorer.
Göran Wallgren
shared this idea
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Göran Wallgren
commented
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Göran Wallgren
commented
Thanks! Great addition! Now I only wish it was available for private files as well...
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:-) Ahahaha, Yes, good point!
We're re-enabling the shell extension these days, after the changes we made with the new diff tool on windows, new textbox + semantic stuff. It will be out there soon.
About this one: yes, I see your point. Not hard to add, not a super high prio either, let's see what we can do.
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Göran Wallgren
commented
Of course, you could consider adding shell extension commands for your Diff tool, just like WinMerge does.
But it would be nice to be able to diff two (multi-)selected files in the Items view as well. The menu choices would only need to be displayed when exactly two files are selected.
(I guess this is the biggest problem with having a file-explorer view in your GUI - everyone expects it to work just like the OS file-explorer... ;)
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Göran Wallgren
commented
Common enough, I do it from time to time. I seldom use it for source code files, but rather on config/data files etc. For example, I sometimes diff two .vcxproj files to check for differences in project settings.
I always keep WinMerge installed for this purpose, it acts as a shell extension. To compare two files you select one file (right-click, Compare To) and then another (right-click, Compare / Reselect First). An excellent tool, it can diff folders too!
Sometimes I fire up a WinMerge and paste code blocks into a new diff view just to check for similarities if I suspect that code has been duplicated. That is another use case that is not yet supported by your Diff tool, but one that you could consider - starting it standalone without files, just two empty panes where you can paste code to diff. There could be a command line option for this mode.
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Is this common for you?
I mean, I think I never, ever, wanted to compare two different files in 10 years using Plastic :-O
It wouldn't be hard to do, but we'd need to figure out a good way to handle the menus.