Arrange windows in Compare Two Front Documents

[David Brostoff]

In the very handy Search > Compare Two Front Documents feature,
TextWrangler places the new document on the left and the old one on
the right, which for me is counterintuitive. There is a Window >
Arrange preference, but it doesn't allow you to change the left-right
position of New and Old.

The only workaround I have found is to use Search > Find Differences
and specify the new document as the old one and vice versa, but this
can sometimes be confusing. Also, you can't do this with Compare Two
Front Documents.

Anyone know of another workaround?

Thank you,

David

[Roy McCoy]

Your workaround seems okay to me. Try to find some way of redefining "new" and "old" in your head for comparing docs.

Roy McCoy

[Steve Kalkwarf]

If it bothered me (it doesn't) I'd write an AppleScript to do the work:

tell application "BBEdit"
if (count of documents) < 2 then
return
end if

set d1 to document 1
set d2 to document 2

if (modification date of d1) is less than (modification date of d2) then
compare d1 against d2
else
compare d2 against d1
end if
end tell

[Roy McCoy]

Interesting. I'm interested in how you would trigger this script. The necessity of doing so would discourage me from using it.

Without trying it to see, I suppose it avoids a switch of the windows when changing from one line in the found differences to another. I just noticed (and suffered) this for the first time last night.

Thanks, Roy

[David Brostoff]

At 5:23 AM +0100 11/9/10, Roy McCoy wrote:

>Try to find some way of redefining "new" and "old" in your head for
>comparing docs.

Yes, as you suggest, I do make a mental adjustment, but it's a nuisance.

The developers of TextWrangler were seemingly aware that users might
want to change the positions of the windows, since they allowed for
four different layouts in Window > Arrange (when you are in Search >
Find Differences mode). In my opinion, they didn't go far enough,
though, since New and Old can only be moved above or below Results
(with New always above Old), but not switched left for right.

David

[Roy McCoy]

Well, if it will make you feel better, I can add that I've occasionally
had such problems with this myself. One thing I would like would be if
the doc windows stayed in the same place when you go from one difference
line to another, rather than persistently reverting to the insisted
positions.

But beggars can't be choosers, can they? This is a free program and
it's great - I don't even want to add "otherwise".

Roy

[Thomas Fischer]

Hi Roy,

> Interesting. I'm interested in how you would trigger this script. The necessity of doing so would discourage me from using it.

SInce nobody else seems to have respond: This is very easy: save the script using AppleScript Editor (as script) in TextWrangler's Scripts folder (the one for AppleScripts, not the Unix one).
Then you can call it from there. If you want, you can open the Scripts palette (Windows -> Palettes -> Scripts) and assign a keystroke to the script.
And probably change "BBEdit" to "TextWrangler" in the script.

Cheers
Thomas

[David Brostoff]

At 1:22 AM +0100 11/12/10, Roy McCoy wrote:

>Well, if it will make you feel better, I can add that I've occasionally
>had such problems with this myself. One thing I would like would be if
>the doc windows stayed in the same place when you go from one difference
>line to another, rather than persistently reverting to the insisted
>positions.
>
>But beggars can't be choosers, can they? This is a free program and
>it's great - I don't even want to add "otherwise".

I agree with all your points, especially the fact that this is such a
great program, with no qualifications. I am always impressed with the
intelligence that went into it.

David

[Roy McCoy]

Thomas Fischer wrote, quoting me:

>> Interesting. I'm interested in how you would trigger this script. The necessity of doing so would discourage me from using it.
>
> SInce nobody else seems to have respond: This is very easy: save the script using AppleScript Editor (as script) in TextWrangler's Scripts folder (the one for AppleScripts, not the Unix one).

This is suggestively enlightening. I had an apparently good menu-bar scripts launcher, but it was slowing down my startup too much so I deinstalled it. I can assign a scripts-folder-opening QuicKeys shortcut to a keycode and get a convenience similar to that previously provided by the scripts launcher.

> Then you can call it from there. If you want, you can open the Scripts palette (Windows -> Palettes -> Scripts) and assign a keystroke to the script.
> And probably change "BBEdit" to "TextWrangler" in the script.

Right. I put my InDesign scripts in QuicKeys shortcuts and assign the keycodes there, and I've done the same with TextWrangler though only with my window-placing/resizing scripts. The others are just in the normal scripts folder. I wasn't aware of the TW scripts palette or of the ability to assign keycodes from within TW itself - thanks!

Roy