Hex Editor Neo watches for changes in each file opened in shared mode. It is able to detect the following change types: deletion, modification and renaming.
By default, rename change detection is switched off, as it may interfere with a way several applications modify files. Imagine the following scenario:
You open a file A in Hex Editor Neo and some application B. You then make a change to a file in application B and save it. Application B follows this algorithm:
If rename change detection is ON, Hex Editor Neo catches it on the step 2, renames the document and then catches the delete notification on step 4, thus effectively missing actual file modification made on step 3. That is why this option is turned OFF by default. You may turn in on in the General Settings page using the option “Ignore renames of shared opened files”.
When a shared file is renamed and “Ignore renames of shared opened files” option is ON, Hex Editor Neo automatically renames all opened editor windows for the file. No notifications are presented to the user.
When a shared file is deleted, Hex Editor Neo presents a window with two options:
When a shared file is modified, Hex Editor Neo presents one of two windows, depending on whether you have made modifications in the editor or not. Your further actions are described in the following table:
Change type | There are no modifications in Hex Editor Neo | There are modifications in Hex Editor Neo |
---|---|---|
File's size is unchanged |
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File's size is changed |
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The following table briefly describes each option:
Note that if another application changes the shared file's size and you select the “Retain all changes and update the file” option, the “Highlight changes in the file” option must also be selected (it is done automatically).
If you select one of the “update” options, an option to highlight changes in a file becomes available. It automatically performs a file comparison between the old and new versions of the shared file. Both algorithms, Simple Compare Algorithm and Diff Compare Algorithm are provided.
When you check this option, Hex Editor Neo renames the current document and opens a new version of the file. It then instructs the File Compare module to compare them and highlight their differences. An option “Close older versions of the file” will instruct Hex Editor Neo to close older versions used in previous comparisons.
Note that older versions are not backed up by an actual file, but nevertheless are normal documents which can be edited, saved and so on.
Please note that Hex Editor Neo may be unable to detect a file change if too many files in the file's folder are modified at the same time.