Synchronize 2 folders

[highend]

Sorry tiago, but I tend to disagree

There already perfect companions for such tasks (e.g. the great Beyond Compare). Providing a feature doesn't always mean: It's the best in town. In many things XY excels but it has a few weak points which should (imho) have a higher priority, e.g. threading, implementing native .zip, .rar support (treat archives as folders). Sure, personal opinion, but there also related to XY as a file managing tool...

[admin]

XY has only one feature: It makes you get your work done faster, in an easy, safe, and relaxed way. Everything else is secondary to this.

[Filehero]

I want it to offer

- sync sets (each set is a list of folder pairs sharing a common <direction> and <mode> config), made available from a tb button drop down.

- 2 directions
-- left-> right: the "left" side is the source reference
-- right->left : the "right" side is the source reference

- 2 modes
-- copy: the reference file items are completely copied over (including all file attributes). Items already existing on the target side are overwritten (w/o confirmations), items exclusive to the target side stay untouched
-- mirror: like 'copy', but target exclusive items get deleted (w/o confirmations)

- a SC syncitems command with the particular option to allow to run multiple sync sets (to combine different common config sets into one sync run)

If possible, make the sync runs undoable?

/e: SC sync already exists

Cheers,
Filehero

[admin]

Yes.

a) UI sync should be very simple.
b) SC sync could be used to do the more complex stuff with more options.

This 2-layers strategy to organize complexity is a common feat in XY.

[Filehero]

Would it use XYcopy.exe? Asynchronous mode would be essential to me.

So, UI sync would be:
- requires both panes open
- active pane:=src, inactive pane:=target
- needs a "fire" button
- what mode?

Would a preview mode make sense?

[admin]

Yes, background operation is possible.

Yes:
- requires both panes open
- active pane:=src, inactive pane:=target

Fire: One command for each mode, e.g.:
- Copy Sync (identical to already existing Backup operation)
- Mirror Sync (= Backup + Delete non-matching stuff in target)

Preview? Why?

Confirmation Prompt: Yes. (There is no undo for overwrites.)

[Filehero]

Preview? Why?
.......There is no undo for overwrites

For the wimps.

[Enternal]

Shameless plug but while you are all "arguing" and "planning", you can use http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15070 in the mean time.

I can see that quite a decent amount of people been downloading it but never got feedback to whether it sucks. Then again, no feedback means no problems?

[admin]

Shameless plug but while you are all "arguing" and "planning", you can use http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15070 in the mean time.

I can see that quite a decent amount of people been downloading it but never got feedback to whether it sucks. Then again, no feedback means no problems?

Oh, wow! Totally overlooked this. Thanks!

Sync is a very popular/demanded feature, so I will probably bring it with ver 17.00. Which means we still have a little time for "arguing" and "planning"...

[PeterH]

Yes:
- requires both panes open
- active pane:=src, inactive pane:=target

Questions, just to verify:
- what does "requires both panes open" mean? Just that Synchronizing via UI always is pane-to-pane, or that no pane (i.e. the inactive pane) may be hidden? I'd expect the former?
- and I'd expect that sync via SC can be done by explicit locations, i.e. not by info from panes?

[admin]

Yes:
- requires both panes open
- active pane:=src, inactive pane:=target

Questions, just to verify:
- what does "requires both panes open" mean? Just that Synchronizing via UI always is pane-to-pane, or that no pane (i.e. the inactive pane) may be hidden? I'd expect the former?
- and I'd expect that sync via SC can be done by explicit locations, i.e. not by info from panes?

- You are right, "open" is too strict. Always activepane-to-inactivepane, whether inactivepane is visible or not
- yes, SC sync can be done by explicit locations

[xyplorerköln]

I want it to offer

- sync sets (each set is a list of folder pairs sharing a common <direction> and <mode> config), made available from a tb button drop down.

- 2 directions
-- left-> right: the "left" side is the source reference
-- right->left : the "right" side is the source reference

- 2 modes
-- copy: the reference file items are completely copied over (including all file attributes). Items already existing on the target side are overwritten (w/o confirmations), items exclusive to the target side stay untouched
-- mirror: like 'copy', but target exclusive items get deleted (w/o confirmations)

- a SC syncitems command with the particular option to allow to run multiple sync sets (to combine different common config sets into one sync run)

If possible, make the sync runs undoable?

/e: SC sync already exists

The 2 directions listed above make perfect sense.

The only problem with leaving out a third mode (true 2-way sync) is that the sync feature will then be inherently incomplete. A most common use case is that people (like me) have to frequently re-synchronize directories that each get worked on independently, in situations where there isn't infrastructure for a more elegant/technical solution. There are changes happening in both directories as time goes on. So we need a tool to "grab the newest files/folder structure and make both folders consistent." This is a very common situation in marketing agencies and media production facilities, where the level of technical infrastructure sophistication is low but these things need to be managed so everything isn't a mess.

With the 3 modes (L>R, R>L, 2-way sync) then the only critical variable in this case is, as you say: Do we propagate deletions?

I think these considerations represent the minimum tool. To hide these options in a command-line feature or some other laborious process is going to make it tedious for the very people the tool would help - the less technical who just want a quick fix for synchronization. That's who I'm thinking of implementing XYplorer for when this feature rolls out. If they have to do a lot of extra manual work to get a sync, they just won't do it.

And again - sure, we can use other filesync tools. But if you're already in the flow with XYplorer, it's a hassle to have to go into another program, navigate to the directories again, set a sync up. It just feels like you should be able to do this quickly/easily in XYplorer.

Would a preview mode make sense?

Could be really cool - it could simply pop up a list of the changes to be made, so if a user wants to see what will happen before it does, they can. Maybe this could be a separate option: Instead of being a step in an actual sync, a user could simply "Preview Sync" to generate this list.

[admin]

Yes, I forgot the 2-way mode. All in all it looks like four modes to me now:

Code: Select all

AP  > IP
AP  > IP + Delete
AP <> IP
AP <> IP + Delete

[xyplorerköln]

Yes, I forgot the 2-way mode. All in all it looks like four modes to me now:

Code: Select all

AP  > IP
AP  > IP + Delete
AP <> IP
AP <> IP + Delete

Sounds great to me. Thank you for your consideration on this.

[admin]

Could be organized like Panes | Sync Select..., i.e. in a list with some additional informative text. I mean this dialog:

2016-04-09_165606.png (14.22 KiB) Viewed 2419 times

A checkbox at the bottom could be "Preview only".