Click here to Skip to main content
15,867,308 members
Articles / Desktop Programming / MFC
Article

A better front end to WinDiff

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.67/5 (26 votes)
18 Oct 2000CPOL 334.9K   10.1K   53   28
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)


    Written By
    Founder CodeProject
    Canada Canada
    Chris Maunder is the co-founder of CodeProject and ContentLab.com, and has been a prominent figure in the software development community for nearly 30 years. Hailing from Australia, Chris has a background in Mathematics, Astrophysics, Environmental Engineering and Defence Research. His programming endeavours span everything from FORTRAN on Super Computers, C++/MFC on Windows, through to to high-load .NET web applications and Python AI applications on everything from macOS to a Raspberry Pi. Chris is a full-stack developer who is as comfortable with SQL as he is with CSS.

    In the late 1990s, he and his business partner David Cunningham recognized the need for a platform that would facilitate knowledge-sharing among developers, leading to the establishment of CodeProject.com in 1999. Chris's expertise in programming and his passion for fostering a collaborative environment have played a pivotal role in the success of CodeProject.com. Over the years, the website has grown into a vibrant community where programmers worldwide can connect, exchange ideas, and find solutions to coding challenges. Chris is a prolific contributor to the developer community through his articles and tutorials, and his latest passion project, CodeProject.AI.

    In addition to his work with CodeProject.com, Chris co-founded ContentLab and DeveloperMedia, two projects focussed on helping companies make their Software Projects a success. Chris's roles included Product Development, Content Creation, Client Satisfaction and Systems Automation.

    Comments and Discussions

     
    GeneralAwesome :) Pin
    Jasmine25019-Jan-07 12:35
    Jasmine25019-Jan-07 12:35 
    GeneralRe: Awesome :) Pin
    Chris Maunder9-Jan-07 12:39
    cofounderChris Maunder9-Jan-07 12:39 

    General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

    Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.