fast switching comapred mode of archives?

[darkradx]

Example,
I am comparing two directories, X:\SRC, X:\DST
I can hardly compare X:\SRC\1.ZIP to X:\DST\2.ZIP using CRC/binary compare
because,
1. "Compare Contents" bahaves strange, different from what BC2 does,(BUG?)
2. "Quick Compare" is not available when two archives are selected
3. Change archive handling mode in "Session Settings" is not a flexible work around

[Aaron]

Hello,

In BC2 and BC3, the archive handling was set to default to: Treat as Files until opened. Quick Compare was not an option in BC2 from the Directory Viewer; are you referring to Compare Contents? In BC2, when run on an unexpanded .Zip, this would generate and compare the CRC values of the zip. If you expanded the zip, or had the Comparison Control set to "Always treat archives as folders", then it would generate and compare the CRC values of the file contents inside of the zip. Which behavior would you be looking for in BC3?

In BC3, Compare Contents should function the same as in BC2. It also seems you have found the option to always treat archives as folders in the Session Settings. Do you always want this option enabled for all future sessions? You can set this as a default by using the lower left dropdown box in the Session Settings dialog, and switch from "Use for this view only" to "Also update session defaults."

How does this work for you?

[darkradx]

The following pictures show what I'm talking about.

[Aaron]

Hello,

Thanks for the screenshots. That helps clarify what you are running into.

The behavior of Compare Contents is different in BC3. It triggers a content comparison based on the alignment of the selected files, rather than between two selected files. This is similar to changing the comparison criteria, but only for a selection. We then added the Quick Compare to allow a quick comparison between the selection, but as you have noticed this only works on files rather than folders.

If you change the session setting to always treat archives as files, or remove the *.zip association as an archive type, Quick Compare will work as you expect.

If you set both as Base Folders after selecting two zips, you can then compare the crc values of the files inside.

It is in our Customer Wishlist to make this a bit easier for quick comparisons between zips of different names.

Does that help clear things up?

[darkradx]

so it's inefficient to compare two archives?
as the topic subject, I think a fast switching method is needed.

usually I do binary compare of two archives, and do binary compare in archives, BC2 works well
I don't think two archives with same contents are the same, if one is password protected but the other not

[Aaron]

Hello Darkradx,

We are looking into improving this behavior in the next release. Once it is available, let us know if you are still having any trouble.