Improve the functionality of the code diff viewer
The diff viewer could potentially have several enhancements:
- add indicators as to where the differences are in the overall file. This would give you visual feedback and let you scroll to a specific part of the document. They could also be clickable to jump specifically to the diff(s).
- Collapse by default lines that are the same to reduce the need to scroll and focus more easily on the diffs.
- Potentially offer the ability to switch between the current side-by-side view to something like the format in GitHub with differences grouped vertically.
- Add the ability to undock the diff viewer from the UI
We’ve made many improvements to the diff viewer over the past year. These include, highlighting the code diff, auto scrolling to changes, resizeable diff viewer, grouping complex objects (e.g. Profiles) into logical groups for easier navigation, and Picklist rendering. Shortly we’ll be adding image rendering too. If you’d like to see any other specific additions, please submit a new idea so we can keep you up to date with our progress.
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Work to implement a new diff viewer has now started which will address the issue to focus more easily on just the diffs and collapsing lines that are identical.
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Nigel commented
This is essential for the larger things like Layouts where it's hard to see what's changed. I actually use GitHub in side-by-side mode now as I much prefer that - but something like that would be great where it shows the diff and some context either side, but with an option to see more context or the whole file.
In fact a lot of times I copy all the changes to my source controlled version and use my local git diff to see what's actually changed