File compare locks files from external editor when not in edit mode

[jrbrown00]

I have a problem that I think is new.
- I am using File Compare to compare two files.
- I am not in edit mode.
- Both files are open in Textpad and were open before I started file compare
- Textpad is configured not to lock files while editting, except when saving
If I try to save either of the files from Textpad while File Compare is open, I see a dialog box telling me "Encountered a sharing violation while accessing ...."

I'm not sure when this started, but I'm pretty sure it did not used to do this. Help?

[Horst.Epp]

No such problem here.
Tested with PSPad, SynWrite and AkelPad as editors.
The editor saves the changes and TC asks if it should be recompared.
So check the settings of your Editor or ask in their forum.

[petermad]

I compare files all the time that are open in my Metapad, Notepad or Notepad++, and TC just asks to recompare, when I save one of the files, just as Horst.Epp also describes.

[ghisler(Author)]

It depends on the size of the files you compare:
1. Small size are read into a memory buffer as a whole, and then compared. In this case, you can still edit the files externally.
2. Large files are opened (locked) and mapped into memory. This has the advantage that even huge files can be compared even if you have far less RAM than the size of the file.

Currently the limit is 1 MByte, but you can change it via wincmd.ini by adding a line under the [Configuration] section:
MaxCompareSizeInMem=1048576

1048576 is 1 MByte (1024*1024), just use a larger number there.

[jrbrown00]

It does seem to be the size issue. The file I have problems with is 1.4 meg. I will try updating wincmd.ini

[ghisler(Author)]

Modern PCs have a lot of memory, so you can set this to a large value like 10 million bytes or even 100 million bytes without problems, e.g.
MaxCompareSizeInMem=10000000