The comparison function doesn't work

[zd-project]

There's not any highlights and comments concerning the difference between two HTML files.

Is this some kind of bug or just that I use it the wrong way?

[bomsy]

There might be some conflicts with another extension. try to disable the others and see.

[tallchap67]

I have the same issue. You click the icon and the new pane appears empty. I have disabled all other extensions and the issue remains.

[davehallowell]

Yes. I have the exact same problem. Too bad. I don't see any other extension that can be used to compare.

[crezaii]

Same issue. Doesn't highlight even with all other extensions disabled.

[npoku]

confirming +1

[bomsy]

Looking into this. what versions of brackets are you guys using?

[crezaii]

I'm using the latest version: 1.6.

[davehallowell]

I am using Release 1.6 build 1.6.0-16680.

[xuefengwork]

same issue on version1.6

[zd-project]

Release 1.6 build 1.6.0-16680 (release 3df0ac6fa)
Thanks for taking care of this. Let me know if I should provide additional information.

[ngrisouard]

Same here, same release as ZDProject. Tried with all other extensions disabled as well, but it won't work.

[dterrazas]

I had the same issue...nothing changed when I clicked compare. I disable the only other extension I had installed (Extract for Brackets) and now when I click the compare button it opens in a full white screen where I can see a little bit of code but completely unusable.

[anton-bot]

tl;dr: probably won't fix

I was having the same issue. Clicking the compare button doesn't do anything. Disabled all other extensions, didn't help too.

Here is the error in the javascript console that is logged when I click the Compare button:

/thirdparty/CodeMirror/lib/codemirror.js:187 Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'first' of null
Display @ /thirdparty/CodeMirror/lib/codemirror.js:187
CodeMirror @ /thirdparty/CodeMirror/lib/codemirror.js:74
CodeMirror @ /thirdparty/CodeMirror/lib/codemirror.js:62
CodeMirror.MergeView @ cm_merge.js:471
CodeMirror.MergeView @ cm_merge.js:439
(anonymous function) @ main.js:116
switchCompareMode @ main.js:56
(anonymous function) @ main.js:111
n.event.dispatch @ thirdparty.min.js:20
r.handle @ thirdparty.min.js:20

Using Brackets Release 1.7 build 1.7.0-16898 (release b0a363b71).

When debugging the main.js of this extension (brackets-compare), it seems that mFile and oFile in lines 94-127 are not null, but their _contents property is null.

This is because of this code in Brackets:

            // Only cache data for watched files
            if (watched) {
                this._stat = stat;
                this._contents = data;
            }

That means that this extension won't work unless you select the directory where the files are located. Users need to click "Open Folder" in the left pane of Brackets, and select the files to compare from that folder only.

[bradanlane]

"you select the directory where the files are located. Users need to click "Open Folder" in the left pane of Brackets, and select the files to compare from that folder only."

For further clarification, the does not work on files in subfolders of the selected folder. As @j3qq4 describes, you must first "Open folder ..." and select the folder that directly has the files to compare.

This makes is good for single files but not for projects. Even with single files, it would be helpful to be able to compare files from different directories. (not being an 'extensions developer', I am not sure how difficult this will be)