Synchronizing WinCmd.INI files: temp. re-format

[Ralph]

I maintain TC on several single-user computers. (My work group owns over 20 licenses.) As Start Menu and Directory Hotlist items and other settings are added, changed, or re-ordered on one computer or another, the WinCmd.INI files gradually diverge. Some of the INI files should not have all of the Start Menu and Directory Hotlist items. For some parameters, environment settings allow the INI files to appear the same. I use file comparison/editing programs to partially synchronize the INI files.

Because the item numbers in the Directory Hotlist and Start Menu blocks could interfere with file comparison, I wrote a crude program that removes those item numbers, and places a blank line between each item. (Each item may have a few lines, so there may be 1 blank line for every few non-blank lines.) After doing file comparison/editing, I run a second program that adds item numbers and removes the blank lines. I use blank lines to separate items because they don't interfere with examining the information by eye.

I may add sorting for the other blocks, to make comparison easier, but I would need to deal with comments. I sometimes comment out a command with a semicolon, or place some other information or even a blank line above the command. If I assume that comments always are associated with the command below, then I can sort in a consistent way.

It would be convenient for me if TC could export and import WinCmd.Ini files in a format similar to that mentioned above. Do other users encounter this problem of making INI files look more similar before synchronizing them? If the problem is uncommon, then I will not hope for a solution beyond what I can write. Has the problem already been solved in existing software? Thanks

[Sheepdog]

Have you ever tried the Ultra Editors? In your case it should be the Ultra TC Start and Directory Menu Editor. For your purposes to compare two different Directory hotlists you could open two different instances and arrange the list-entries by drag and drop and synchronize them by copy and paste.

You can also export and import the hotlists. Maybe it fits your demands.

sheepdog

[Ralph]

Sheepdog:

I just downloaded the Ultra TC Start and Directory Menu Editor. It looks as though I can use it for re-ordering and copying items, to the extent that the two INI files should have the same items. Thanks.

I still would like to do automated comparisons of the entire INI files, while accommodating different block orders and different item orders within the other blocks. By "block," I mean a section that begins with a [keyword] in square brackets. Exception: outside of the Start Menu and Directory Hotlist, any item numbers should continue to matter.

[Sheepdog]

Still I have no solution for automated comparison. But there is the 'Ultra Configuratin Editor' by the same Author on his website. You could also open many instances and the prog sorts the entries in a predefined order.

You can even generate simply templates for only show the settings you want to see.

Only to your information: There are a TC Mainmenu editor and a TC history editor available, that may be of interest for you.

Concerning the question of export parts of wincmd.ini there are requests to separate the different sections of wincmd.ini to different files. So you can access the desired section more easy, you would not have to struggle with the 32Kbyte size restriction and it's a lot easier to backup and manage your settings.

So I think such a funktion to export the wincmd.ini settings to another format is not as desirable as it seems at the first view.

sheeppdog