Beyond Compare: Filter older / newer than: why are the files shown?

 Here is how you use the "exclude files" newer/older than X feature in Beyond Compare

https://www.scootersoftware.com/vbulletin/forum/beyond-compare-4-discussion/general/13333-filter-older-newer-than-why-are-the-files-shown

Beyond Compare: Insert spaces instead of tabs

To change the way Beyond Compare behaves when you enter a tab 

- Go to the menu \Tools\File Formats

- Select the "Everything Else" option that has a Misc tab

- Check the Insert spaces instead of tabs

- Change tab stops to 4 spaces

Setting up VS 2013 and GitHub Locally

Install VS 2013

Set up source control provider Tools\Extensions and Updates. Choose Online, Search for git.

• Choose "Git Source Control Provider" and install.
• Switch to this provider in Tools\Options\Source Control

Add Pending Changes to Standard toolbar.

• Right-Click on white space in tool bar, choose customize at the bottom
• Pick Commands tab, choose the tool bar radio button, select the standard toolbar Click Add Command button, Choose the View Category, scroll down to Pending Changes Click the move down button until it is at the end of the standard toolbar.

Set Keep tabs. Tools\Options\ Search for "tabs" Find in Text Editor\All languages Choose the Keep Tabs radio button.

Show Line Numbers, Search for Line number in Tools\Options. Check "Line Numbers" in Text Editor\All Languages\General\

Install Git For Windows "Full installer for official Git for Windows"

• Use defaults except for the following
• In Select Components, choose Windows Explorer integration "Simple context menu (Registry based)" Git Bash Here
  "Use Git from the Windows Command Prompt" For Configuring the line ending conversions, choose "Checkout as-is, commit as-is" ### Install TortoiseGit Set User Info in TortoiseGit Settings\Git. Enter a user name and email.

Sample GitHub workflow:

• Click Pending Changes button in VS 2013 standard toolbar.
• check the files you want to commit
• Enter comments and click the Commit button.

When you are ready to push

• From the VS 2013 Pending Changes page Choose synch from the TortoiseGit drop down menu. Click the Push button.

TortoiseGit settings

Updated 2020-10-22

To use BeyondCompare4 for your diff and merge tools in TortoiseGit make the following changes in your settings. To get to the TortoiseGit settings, right-click on any folder and go to TortoiseGit\Settings.

Under Diff Viewer put this in for the External path

• "C:\Program Files (x86)\Beyond Compare 4\BCompare.exe"

The child node under Diff View is Merge Tool. Use this for the External path

• "C:\Program Files (x86)\Beyond Compare 4\BCompare.exe"

Folder Filters in Beyond Compare

I love Beyond Compare. My NAS puts a folder in some of my folders with a bunch of numbers in it.  I like to hide this folder when I am comparing folders

This is how my filter shows up in the text box:  "-*983db650f7f79bc8e87d9a3ba418aefc\"

Keyboard Shortcuts I Use In Visual Studio

Here are some keyboard shortcuts that I use in Visual Studio along with Resharper.  Edit their mappings in VS 2019 under Tools\Options\Environment\Keyboard

Ctrl+-  _Go to the previous spot in code (VS undocumented)
Ctrl++ _Go to the next spot in code (VS undocumented)
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N _Go to Symbol (Resharper.Resharper_GotoSymbol) Finds any method by name anywhere in your loaded solution
Ctrl+Shift+B  _Build All
Ctrl+R+R  _Rename variable (Resharper.Resharper_Rename)
   Remove F2 shortcut
F12  _Go to declaration (Edit.GoToDeclaration)
   Remove from Resharper.Resharper_GotoNextHighlight
Shift+F12 _Find usages of this method (ReSharper.Resharper_FindUsages)
   Remove from Resharper_GotoPrevHighlight
Ctrl+G _Go to line number
Ctrl+Tab _Switch to another tab in the solution

Ctrl+ scroll wheel zooms in and out. Ctrl+Shift+period (zoom in) and Ctrl+Shift+comma (zoom out). There is also a drop down list that you can type in a specific zoom level you want.

Edit/Advanced/Untabify Selected Lines
In Beyond Compare, change Tab Stop from 8 to 4 spaces in Tools -> File Formats -> Misc

Resharper Key Map
A Visual Studio list

View White Space

Use the following Menu in Visual Studio to view the white space characters
Edit->Advanced->View White Space
This allows you to see whether the white space is tabs or spaces.

For me these characters are too prominent. So I dim them by choosing
Tools->Options->
Environment->Fonts and Colors
Select "Visible White Space" from the Display Items.
Select Silver. Then Click the Custom Button and use the darkness scale to choose the right amount of darkness.

In Beyond Compare you can select the following from the View menu:
Show White Space
Ignore Unimportant Differences

They are useful when dealing with differences in white space.

Folder Filters in Beyond Compare

We use subversion and ReSharper at work. Using wildcards on folder names in Beyond Compare lets me exclude the svn and ReSharper folders when comparing two working directories.

This is how my filter shows up in the text box: "-*_svn\;-*_ReSharper*\"

Beyond Compare File Filters

I don't know why I did not know this before. I use Subversion and I always want Beyond Compare to ignore the _svn folder in my working copies.

Go to the Session\File Filters menu. Add "_svn" to the Exclude folders text box.

Now I never have to see_svn folders in beyond compare again.

Beyond Compare File Comparison Rules

I was comparing two versions of my code. The right side of my comparison had tabs the left had spaces. Visual Studio 2005 must have put them in there. Beyond Compare (BC), highlighted the differences.

I made BC ignore leading whitespace in the "Everything Else" rule set by going to the Tools/Edit Current Rules/ menu. In the importance tab check "Leading whitespace". The right side was much more indented than the left. I fixed this my going to the General tab and choosing 4 characters = tab stops.

Now BC shows me only the important differences in my code versions.

You can pick rules by using the Tools/Pick Rules menu. I don't know why it did not pick VB when I was comparing two *.vb files.

I am using Beyond Compare version 2.4.3 (build 243).