I see the option for specifying three files (left, right, and ancestor), but it doesn't seem to be possible to actually display the ancestor.
The bottom pane shows the result of the merge. I'd rather see what the original content was, so I could understand the context for the left and right sides of the conflict. Is this possible? FileMerge has awful help documentation.
Looks like in version 2.5 they have finally added this feature. "Ancestor" now actually means "Ancestor" and there is a separate "merge" option
From the command line you can do something like this:
$ opendiff mine theirs --ancestor base
Where "mine" is my version of the file, "theirs" is the version I'm trying to merge with, and "base" is the common ancestor of "mine" and "theirs.
This command will open File Merge and show the ancestor at the bottom (where the merge is in my example from 2010).
Unfortunately, it's not possible to use the --merge option along with the --ancestor option. So you can't view a three-way merge AND use File Merge to resolve the conflicts at the same time.
I am starting to use File Merge for viewing and understanding the conflict, then editing the conflict markers in a text editor as usual. (sigh...)
To my knowledge, this is not possible with filemerge.
Paid (but very good) app: http://www.deltopia.com/
Open source: http://sourcegear.com/diffmerge/
#mehaase:
That is not exactly correct. Here is the documentation on the new ancestor option from FileMerge Help:
Sometimes, you need to compare two versions of a file that have been modified
independently. For example, say two people branch a file; that is, they make
copies of a file and modify it. In this case, specify an ancestor file, which
is the common ancestor of the modified files.
The ancestor file lets FileMerge choose when to take changes from the left
file or the right file. For example, say the left file and the right file
contain a different version of line 33. If line 33 in the ancestor matches
line 33 in the left file, you know the change happened after the two files
branched off, and FileMerge prefers the newer version of line 33 in the right
file. If line 33 is different among the three files, you know that the files’
editors edited the lines separately. FileMerge displays that difference with
a red border and asks you to choose with edit to use.
So the ancestor is still not displayed, but it helps the merge tool to make a little more informed decisions when it decides to choose the left or right sides by default.
I realise this answer technically doesn't answer the question on how to do it with FileMerge, but I use kdiff3 (available for Windows, Mac and *nix) and it shows the base/ancestor, plus left and right, plus output/result, for a 3-way merge. (http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/)
It's not a pretty user interface, but (IMHO) it's fairly simple to use and works well. And it's open source. :-)
Related
The Issue
When you have Chrome browser open, if you have many different "windows" (as in "open in new window" vs "open in new tab") open, as I often do, it is useful to be able to join them all into one single window, leaving each tab intact. I use an extension called JoinTabs and it works great. A different extension, OneTab, merges all tabs into one tab by converting the individual tabs into hyperlinks -- that is not what I'm trying to do.
What I'm asking is if Notepad++ has configuration settings, a keyboard shortcut, or a plugin that will accomplish the same thing. By "the same thing", I mean not 'merging' all open documents into one document, but rather merging multiple documents dispersed across multiple Notepad++ instances (windows) into one windows.
Example
So, to be ultra clear, lets say I had three Notepad++ instances/windows/views open, and lets refer to them as A, B, and C for ease of discussion. A has 10 files open, B has 3 files open, and C has 5 files open. A working solution must move all open file tabs into window A and remove windows B & C, such that window A now will contain all 18 tabs.
Whenever I search for "join", "merge", or "combine" I keep getting text/document operations instead of view/display operations.
Research
When I search for this all I find are a bunch of false positives including stuff about:
Merging files into one
Merging lines
Merging all files in a directory
Using the 'combine' plugin from Heinz
FYI: Though it can be a little ambiguous, I've tried to take the ambiguity out of it by clarifying -- with a clear example -- what I'm asking. The 'combine' plugin doesn't do anything close to what I'm asking, and it can easily be seen if one take the time to read the description on the author website which says:
3 files (1.txt, 2.txt, 3.txt) can be combined to one file
Those are all entirely different than what I'm asking.
We are not after one file ... but rather all files in one window.
Looking at the Notepad++ Plugin Manager, there is an entry called combine:
...and based on the plugin's description, sounds like what you are seeking?
I have never used the combine plugin, so I have no other details.
I am trying to merge a new version into the release branch. I got about 38 conflicts and I sort of get rid of them by selecting the file and clicking the third button at the bottom center saying to use the right file for the merge.
Yet there are three files left: a .xib, the project.pbxproj and a normal .m file that whatever button I push the red C does not disappear and the merge button remains dimmed.
What must I do to also merge those files and thereafter merge the whole project?
Thanks,
Fabrizio
File by file with a lot of work I fixed it. Surely if each time I need to merge two files I need an evening work, that is not a nice operation to execute!
How do I switch between the header and implementation file in Xcode 4?
In XCode 3 it was cmd and right or left (I think)
Ctrl+Cmd+Up or Down, but the shortcut seems a bit finicky and sometimes stops working, not yet sure when and why.
Be sure to FIRST click ON the actual code window...
that's the critical tip to ensure it works. Click anywhere at all on the actual code. (If you're active in one of the other many panes of Xcode, the keystroke combo has no, or different, meaning(s).)
Also, you can 3 finger swipe up and down on the touchpad if you have one.
Ctrl+Cmd+Up or Down
The shortcut sometimes stops working!!
The menu option has moved to "Navigate->Jump to Next Counterpart" and "Navigate->Jump to Previous Counterpart".
In preferences the key binding is now under "Jump to Next Counterpart" and "Jump to Previous Counterpart".
Why Apple insist on changing the menu positions AND names of these things is beyond me! I mean "Counterpart"!?
Worth nothing that Ctrl+Cmd+Left or Right move between previous and next files that were viewed (I mean "counterparts") too. These are also under the key bindings "Jump to Next Counterpart" & "Jump to Previous Counterpart").
The reason the menu option has been split between:
"Navigate->Jump to Next Counterpart" and "Navigate->Jump to Previous Counterpart"
is because you can have more than just one header file and one source file with the same file name. Besides having matching .xib files for view controllers, I have separate .vsh and .fsh files for vertex and fragment shaders in my OpenGL program. Along with my .h and .cpp files that's a list of 4 files that I can navigate up or down through with one key binding, instead of hitting the same key binding 3 times in a row to cycle back from file 2 to file 1.
Also in Xcode 6.1/7.1 shortucts are the same:
Jump to next counterpart:
Ctrl+Cmd+Up
Jum to previous counterpart:
Ctrl+Cmd+Down
Personally, coming from eclipse, I change this shortcut with:
Ctrl+Tab
this combination insn't already binded to anything else.
Xcode -> Preferences -> Key Bindings
search for "Jump to next counterpart" and put the new keys combination.
PRO
This is more efficient than default bindings see that you can use one hand instead of two!
"but the shortcut seems a bit finicky and sometimes stops working, not yet sure when and why."
Sometimes Xcode loses track of which .m and .h belong together. This is e.g. the case
when you open one of the files directly from the Finder. When you open the file from
the file list in Xcode, it normally works okay. Although when you have moved files between
folders & groups in the file list of Xcode, it will also list the relation between the files.
The command to swap between m and h files is CTL-CMD-up/down. It sometimes get stuck. To unstick it simply save the file, i.e. CMD-S, and the hotkey should work again.
I've been a user of UltraCompare Pro since it first came out, and I think it's a very full-featured compare and merge tool. However, since I have been looking more closely into DVCS, I found that it handles three-way merges differently than (most?) other tools out there. So I wonder why that is, and whether I'm missing something because of it.
In UltraCompare, there are three merge panels (let's call them base, local and other). All the merge action happens within these panels. In practice, this means that I do my work on the middle pane (local), merging changes from the right (other) or maybe from the common ancestor on the left (base). The middle pane is modified during the session and then saved - and committed as the result of the merge. The fourth pane (Output window) only contains information about the diff result.
(source: ultraedit.com)
In other tools, it appears that the three panes only exist in a read-only state, and that the fourth, bottom pane (output) is the place where all the merging happens. What are the reasons to have an extra merge window? Is it easier to keep track of all the changes? Or is it just like that because everybody has always been doing it this way, so we're copying that behavior? What's your opinion on this?
(source: hginit.com)
I'm not sure whether there exists a best or correct answer, so I haven't yet made this question CW, but I'll defer to your opinion here as well.
Seems straightforward to me, you might very well want to keep an unchanged ‘local’ version visible when you are making your changes.
original local other merged
bar= foo+1 bar= foo+2 bof= foo+2
zot= foo+1
... ... ... ...
print foo print bar print foo+1 print bar??
Both local and other have introduced a new variable bar. Merge the first change to bof/zot, go for a cup of tea, come back and try to merge the print. Wait, what was bar in local? If the original local isn't there, that information's gone, and you're scrabbling about with another text editor to work out what's happened.
This is a contrived example but this sort of thing can easily happen for any set of changes you can't keep all in your head and do in one go. In general, a 3WM always has two variable elements, change A and change B. To reproduce all the information in that, you need four views for all the possible permutations of: 0 (the original), A, B, and AB (the merge).
Project: Merge is a comparison and merge tool I've written for XML. I looked at the standard 4-pane approach and almost instantly discarded it as being a very wasteful way of displaying data. A point amply proven in the screenshots above where nearly all panes are showing exactly the same data multiple times.
I therefore developed a single pane approach for displaying all input files and showing which of them contributes to the output. (Or where the differences are when comparing files.) While I haven't allowed completely free form editing of text (mostly due to how the XML nodes are managed and referenced) some parts of the merge output can be edited more or less as you would in a regular text editor. (My editor keyboard shortcuts closely follow those of Visual Studio as far as navigation is concerned.) Most notably character data, comments, and attribute values. You can also cut and paste XML nodes in their entirety. (But obviously only as text to external applications.)
The following screenshot shows a three-way merge with most changes appearing in the 'left' file, and an unresolved conflict below the selected change:
Personally, I like the free perforce merge tool (p4merge). It also has 4 windows - top middle for the original (before branching), left for destination branch, right for source branch and the bottom part is editable.
I like this better than your option 1, as all 3 original files may have important information that can influence the merge.
There are basically two ways to display differences between two files:
Two panels side by side
One panel
Graphically:
aaa aaa
bbb ···
··· ccc
ddd ddd
and
aaa
-bbb
+ccc
ddd
Some program use the first one (e.g. WinMerge) and some programs allow to choose (e.g. TortoiseMerge or Google Project Hosting). It's probably a matter of taste but I find the second one more intuitive when you want to track changes. However, you need two panels when you want to edit changes.
When doing three-way merges, the different layouts come from this. Ultra compare uses the single panel approach to display changes so you get two panels plus a third panel to edit. Other programs use the two panel approach to display changes so you get three panels plus a fourth one for edits.
Again, I believe it's just a matter of taste.
Often, when I am reading code or debugging, I want the ability to quickly jump around files. I especially want to "go back" to where I was. I know about "Command+T", "Command+Shift+T", and, bookmarks. But, I cannot figure out a way to jump around files quickly.
UPDATE: I do not think I my question was clear enough judging by two answers given. Specifically, I am looking for a way to "jump back" to where I was in a file. I know how to navigate in TextMate (in general). I want to know if TextMate has a "jump back" key binding.
It's subtle.
The command-T thing has the files listed in Most Recently Used order.
So, you can go command-T return to get back to your last file real quick. At first I couldn't find it either.
I don't think there's a go to last edit location as there is in, say, IDEA/RubyMine.
Courtesy of MacroMates.com
2.3 Moving Between Files (With Grace)
When working with projects there are a few ways to move between the open files.
The most straightforward way is by clicking on the file tab you need. This can also be done from the keyboard by pressing ⌘1-9, which will switch to file tab 1-9.
You can also use ⌥⌘← and ⌥⌘→ to select the file tab to the left or right of the current one.
It is possible to re-arrange the file tabs by using the mouse to drag-sort them (click and hold the mouse button on a tab and then drag it to the new location). This should make it possible to arrange them so that keyboard switching is more natural.
One more key is ⌥⌘↑ which cycles through text files with the same base name as the current file. This is mainly useful when working with languages which have an interface file (header) and implementation file (source).
When you want to move to a file which is not open you can use the Go to File… action in the Navigation menu (bound to ⌘T). This opens a window like the one shown below.
Go To File
This window lists all text files in the project sorted by last use, which means pressing return will open (or go to) the last file you worked on. So using it this way makes for easy switching to the most recently used file.
You can enter a filter string to narrow down the number of files shown. This filter string is matched against the filenames as an abbreviation and the files are sorted according to how well they match the given abbreviation. For example in the picture above the filter string is otv and TextMate determines that OakTextView.h is the best match for that (by placing it at the top).
The file I want is OakTextView.mm which ranks as #2. But since I have already corrected it in the past, TextMate has learned that this is the match that should go together with the otv filter string, i.e. it is adaptive and learns from your usage patterns.
If you have a project window open, you can leave frequently-accessed files open (in tabs), and then use ⌘+1-9 to jump to open tabs.