Problem with multiple File Formats for the same extension

[Stumpii]

I need to view CSV files as Text occasionally, not as Data, so I add a new File Format of the 'Text' variety called 'CSV (Text)'.

When opening a pair of CSV files, the new File Format is used, which is fine. The File Format drop down box that allows other formats to be selected no longer shows the default 'Comma Separated Variables' format. This doesn't make any sense. BC2 would allow me to select any of the multiple rules for the CSV type.

CSV is commonly used and for so many different purposes, it does not make sense to say that all CSVs have to be compared the same way.

[Aaron]

This behavior is the same as BC2, but organized a bit differently. The default behavior is picked based on the priority in the list of Rules/File Formats. You can override the default by telling it to open in the other type.

In BC2, under Tools->Options->Rules you could see a list of rules. By default there was a CSV rule that opened in the File Viewer (Text Compare), since we did not install the Data Viewer/Compare plug-in by default. Once you installed the Data Viewer Plug-in, there was a Data Viewer rule available under Tools->Options->Rules. Whichever rule was higher would have that Viewer (File or Data) run. Once in a File Viewer, the Data Viewer rule was not available from the Rules button drop down. (The Data Viewer did not have the concept at all.) To select the 'other' rule, you could right click the file in the Directory Viewer and say Open With->File or Data Viewer.

The behavior is the same in BC3. Whichever File Format is higher in the list is the one that will be picked automatically. You can right click and select to open in a different Compare type. You can also switch compare types (Text <> Data) by going to the Session menu and selecting Compare in New View Using: Text/Data Compare.

[kjsmithtx]

Any reason why BC3 can't also have the ability to select these alternate compares from the File Format dropdown. It would be far less mouse navigating/clicking and more intuitive. It seems very confusing to only list a variable portion of the file formats that appears to be based on whether it is currently in a data or text view. For instance, when comparing csv in data view, there are only 3 data file formats listed (CSV-data, HTML Tables and MS Excel Workbooks). However, when comparing the same csv using a text view, I see all available text file formats.