Sync with filter on then off - "Bug" or "Feat

[Jim B]

BUG OR FEATURE ?

My scenario...
1.) Syncing files between dozens of folders on two LAN networked computers using a tracking database
2.) After VV compare, many files needed sync-ing including a set of large files in a folder by themselves
3.) I didn't want to sync the large files yet because of the long copy time across the LAN
4.) I set an exclude folder filter eliminating the large files and did the sync - it worked as expected
5.) Since I will want to sync the large files later, I removed the folder filter as soon as the sync was complete
6.) I immediately did another VV compare to verify that the large files still needed syncing
7.) To my surprise, the large files are now marked as "conflict" files and will need to be hand synchronized

This doesn't really bother me too much since there are only a few large files and they are all in one folder that I can easily copy.

In fact, I could consider this a FEATURE since whenever I do a sync now, the "conflict" status prevents the large files from being copied and reminds me that I need to sync manually - and I don't have to set a folder filter to exclude them!

However, I would consider this a BUG if the technique resulted in many conflict files. In that case, I would not enjoy manually copying and would probably try starting a new tracking database - which may or may not cause other file sync problems.

What is your take on this
filter-on --> synchronize --> filter-off --> compare --> files-in-conflict
behavior?

BTW, thanks for such a GREAT software product - one of the best I have ever used - including that which I myself have written. I just wish it worked with FTP!

[TGRMN Software]

Hi!

were the files already in target with a different timestamp? e.g. file A was in source with timestamp X and also in target but with timestamp Y and then you applied the filter?

thanks!
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TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

[Guest]

All of the large files I mentioned were already in both source and target and all of the source files had more recent timestamps than their counterparts in the target.

After applying the filter and performing the sync, I removed the filter. Neither filtered source nor filtered target files were touched - they all retained their original timestamps. So I presume that what changed was the timestamp info about those files in the tracking database.

Thanks!

[TGRMN Software]

Yes, when a filter is applied, ViceVersa does not store information about the filtered files in the tracking database: the files are ignored.

If then the filter is removed, the files "appear" as new to ViceVersa and since they have a non-matching timestmap, ViceVersa marks them as conflict. This is the case of two new files appearing in source and target with a different timestamp. ViceVersa marks them as conflict. As you mentioned in your post, resetting the tracking database, or copying the files manually, resets the conflict.

That's the way ViceVersa works right now, but maybe it can be improved!

thanks for the feedback!
_________________
--
TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com