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Licence CPOL
First Posted 18 Oct 2000
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A better front end to WinDiff

By | 18 Oct 2000 | Article
A GUI front end to a handy utility
  • Download source files - 65 Kb
  • Download executable - 20 Kb
  • Sample Image - RunWinDiff.gif

    Introduction

    If you have ever used WinDiff you will be aware of its poor user interface for selecting files and directories. To this end I developed a simple application that acts as a front end to WinDiff and allows you to drag and drop files or directories, or browse for files and directories using the file and directory chooser dialogs.

    The program also remembers its last screen location, the files last compared and the whether or not the dialog was expanded or contracted. The sample demonstrates collapsable dialogs, window position persistance, and also demonstrates a variation of Chris Losinger's great CDropEdit class (in this case a drop-file combobox).

    New features

    • Extensive use has been made of Davide Calibro's flat buttons, thanks to Daniel Lyons who felt my original UI was a bit boring and gave it a major facelift. Thanks Daniel!
    • The combo's accept dropped files (previously used drop edit controls) and are auto-completing. They store the last 10 files entered and the drop width is modified each time a file is added in order to display as much as possible.
    • Directory pickers start from the last directory visited.
    • My ComboBoxEx class has been renamed - hopefully this will fix the VC6 compilation problem.

    Thanks to:

    • Chris Losinger - Drop Edit
    • Vladimir Kvashin, Girish Bharadwaj and Lars Klose - Directory picker class
    • Davide Calibro - Flat buttons
    • Daniel Lyons - UI work and a new approach to collapsable dialogs.
    • Klaus - suggested setting the initial directory of the directory pickers. No idea why I didn't do that in the first place!

    License

    This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

    About the Author

    Chris Maunder

    Founder
    The Code Project
    Canada Canada

    Member

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    Chris is the Co-founder, Administrator, Architect, Chief Editor and Shameless Hack who wrote and runs The Code Project. He's been programming since 1988 while pretending to be, in various guises, an astrophysicist, mathematician, physicist, hydrologist, geomorphologist, defence intelligence researcher and then, when all that got a bit rough on the nerves, a web developer. He is a Microsoft Visual C++ MVP both globally and for Canada locally.
     
    His programming experience includes C/C++, C#, SQL, MFC, ASP, ASP.NET, and far, far too much FORTRAN. He has worked on PocketPCs, AIX mainframes, Sun workstations, and a CRAY YMP C90 behemoth but finds notebooks take up less desk space.
     
    He dodges, he weaves, and he never gets enough sleep. He is kind to small animals.
     
    Chris was born and bred in Australia but splits his time between Toronto and Melbourne, depending on the weather. For relaxation he is into road cycling, snowboarding, rock climbing, and storm chasing.

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    General5/5 PinmemberBloodBaz1:11 13 Oct '11  
    GeneralRe: 5/5 PinadminChris Maunder1:53 13 Oct '11  
    BugDisplay problem and a couple suggestions PinmemberJimLS5:03 24 Aug '11  
    GeneralRe: Display problem and a couple suggestions PinmemberBloodBaz1:09 13 Oct '11  
    GeneralMy vote of 3 PinmemberJFergulbops23:08 6 Oct '10  
    GeneralSingle launch tickbox Pinmemberplanetjim14:28 3 Dec '09  
    GeneralAwesome :) PinmemberJasmine250112:35 9 Jan '07  
    GeneralRe: Awesome :) PinadminChris Maunder12:39 9 Jan '07  
    GeneralWDCMX... PinmemberShaun Harrington17:15 28 Sep '04  
    GeneralProblem in selecting files ... Pinmembergontivos3:06 18 May '03  
    GeneralI prefer WinMerge PinmemberBlueBird3:57 25 Nov '02  
    GeneralRe: I prefer WinMerge PinmemberTom Welch3:45 3 Mar '03  
    GeneralWindiff+ PinmemberBoostRules22:40 5 Aug '02  
    GeneralRe: Windiff+ PinmemberRancidCrabtree8:32 27 Mar '07  
    GeneralIt doesn't work on WinXP Pinsusscatiger3:47 18 Jul '02  
    GeneralRe: It doesn't work on WinXP PinmemberFrickaFrackaFirecracka SisBoomBah18:34 30 Apr '03  
    GeneralRe: It doesn't work on WinXP PinmemberJFergulbops22:51 6 Oct '10  
    GeneralThanx PinmemberAnonymous17:02 24 Jan '02  
    GeneralNice Work! PinmemberRobert Marquardt13:05 2 Dec '01  
    GeneralWinDiff PinsussGeorge Poulose16:23 20 Oct '00  
    GeneralPowerful alternative to WinDiff PinsussLeo23:15 19 Oct '00  
    GeneralCommand line format for Active Movie Control PinsussDuc Truong15:53 19 Oct '00  
    GeneralExcellent front end... Pinsussanon8:48 19 Oct '00  
    GeneralRe: Excellent front end... PinsussChris Maunder10:10 19 Oct '00  
    GeneralRe: Excellent front end... PinsussCrispy11:03 23 Oct '00  

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