Blue and olive change history markers?

datatraveller1

I have got a question please, looking at the picture at https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v846-released/

I have never encountered the Change History markers in blue colour (“Revert to original state”) and olive colour (“Revert to modified”). In which cases do these markers appear?

PeterJones

For reference in this discussion, here is that image:

@datatraveller1 is referring to the four colors in box 1

Here is one sequence that goes through all the colors:

Start with new file (or load a file from disk): there are no colors in the margins.
Type something: it becomes orange
Save: it becomes green
Hit undo until type something is gone: it is the blue (“revert to original state”)
Type new text and save
Delete text and save
Undo once (to get text back): it is now olive (“revert to modified”)

Basically, “revert to modified” indicates that you’ve gone back to a previous save from this save. “revert to original” indicates that you’ve gone back to the way the file was when it was first loaded into this session.

(The description for this feature hasn’t made it into the published usermanual yet, though it’s in the source. However, with this exploration, I have some more tweaks to improve it before it does get published.)

datatraveller1

@PeterJones Great description, thank you. However, I have difficulties to reproduce 4. I delete “type something” with backspace so it’s gone and the file is empty but the marker is orange instead of blue. Am I doing something wrong?

PeterJones

@datatraveller1 ,

In step 4, I used UNDO, not BACKSPACE. And it will only work if the UNDO takes you back to the very original state from when you loaded (or created) the file

Alan Kilborn

Note that in the screenshot, the stuff labeled 2 and 3 is related to each other, but both have absolutely nothing to do with the stuff labeled 1.

datatraveller1

@PeterJones Yes sorry, I have just noticed it myself, I should have read the instruction more carefully. So thank you very much! I’ll have to practise this a bit more to get used to it.

PeterJones

@datatraveller1 ,

I actually had to experiment to try to figure out how to get the pale blue, because I rarely undo-to-completely-unchanged-after-save – it’s just not in my normal sequence of events. Undoing after a save to get olive is more common in my experience. But I still usually only see the orange and green in my everyday Notepad++ usage.

@Alan-Kilborn, thanks for the clarification. I guess I should have thought about those numbers when I also then had numbered steps, and realized that could be confusing.

datatraveller1

@PeterJones One more hint: I think I was a bit confused by the terms “Revert to original state” etc. “Revert” as verb sounds like a command that can be executed. Maybe this could better be named “Reverted to original state” etc., couldn’t it?

PeterJones

@datatraveller1 ,

Those terms are just what the original author used in his screenshot. I cannot change that. In the manual, I will phrase it in the way that I think will properly convey meaning to the broadest audience.

datatraveller1

@PeterJones Great, thank you! Looking forward to your documentation. Your description in this post was already very helpful. Thank you again.

guy038

Hello, @datatraveller1, @peterjones, @alan-kilborn,

Many thanks, Peter for providing these hints on the change history markers ;-))

Like most of us, I have not noticed yet the blue and olive markers. Interesting !

So, in summary, it seems that :

A blue marker, on one or several line(s), means that you’re back to the initial state when you open this file in the current seesion => It does not need to be saved again
An orange marker, on one or several line(s), means that you modified some line(s) => So, a future save action is probably needed
A green marker, on all lines, means that, up to now, all modifications, on the current file, have been saved
An olive marker, on one or several line(s), means that you’ve get the final state of the current file => Thus, a future save action is probably needed

Are all my statements correct or am I still forgetting something ?

Best Regards,

guy038

PeterJones

@guy038 said in Blue and olive change history markers?:

A blue marker, on one or several line(s), means that you’re back to the initial state when you open this file in the current seesion => It does not need to be saved again

No, it means you saved changes, and then completely undid those changes after the save to get back to what the line was like when you first loaded. So it still means unsaved changes, because the last save was something different from what is currently showing. Green and no-color are the only states that mean “everything is on disk already”.

guy038

Hi, @datatraveller1, @peterjones, @alan-kilborn and All,

OK ! I did some tests, Peter and, indeed, I was mistaken about the meaning of the blue marker !

This is because I simply considered the following case :

In your current N++ session, switch to a tab without change history markers, relative to a non-empty file
Type just a word at the end of this file => orange marker
Save this file => green marker
Now, undo this unique change => blue marker

But you get, again, the contents of the original file

And it’s this fact which made me wrongly think, that no save action was needed :-(

So, here is a better description :

NO color, on all lines, means that the current file has not been modified, yet, in the current session
A blue marker, on one or several line(s), means that, after a save action, you undid all the modifications on these lines => A future save action could be needed
An orange marker, on one or several line(s), means that you modified some line(s) => So, a future save action is probably needed
A green marker, on all lines, means that, up to now, all modifications, on the current file, have been saved on disk
An olive marker, on one or several line(s), means that you’ve get the final state of the current file => Thus, a future save action is probably needed

Cheers,

guy038

datatraveller1

Hi @guy038
Not sure but maybe you have mixed up the description for blue and olive? As far as I have understood, blue is the very first state after opening the file. Olive is the last saved status but especially this one is hard to understand. In any cases, blue and olive can only be seen after Undoing directly after saving. @PeterJones Please correct if needed.

PeterJones

@datatraveller1 said in Blue and olive change history markers?:

Hi @guy038
Not sure but maybe you have mixed up the description for blue and olive? As far as I have understood, blue is the very first state after opening the file. Olive is the last saved status but especially this one is hard to understand. In any cases, blue and olive can only be seen after Undoing directly after saving. @PeterJones Please correct if needed.

I would say his blue description is correct, because blue indicates it’s back to the originally-loaded state (“undid all modifications”).

Unfortunately, I am not sure what Guy means in the olive description by “final state” – it might be something lost in translation between his native language and mine. Olive means that you have undone to a previous saved state: so if you’ve done load, then change1, then save A, then change 2, then save B, if you do enough undo to get back to the “save A” state, it will be olive. (Blue means you undo even more, back to the state immediately after “load”)

Unfortunately, no one else’s description is likely to work as well for you as personal experimentation. The documentation will have a brief overview – like this FAQ, or like the new phrasing that will eventually make it into the online usermanual. So that gives you an idea… and then playing with it will give you experience to put the idea expressed in someone else’s words into something that will “stick” for you. Guy tried to encapsulate his results of that into his post, but as your reply and mine indicate, everyone needs a different internal phrasing.

guy038

Hi, @datatraveller1, @peterjones, @alan-kilborn,

Here are 3 tests to visualize all the markers.

To begin with, let’s create a new file containing the single sring abc :

First, open a new tab ( ctrl + N )
Type in the string abc, without any final line-break
Save this file with the name markers.txt ( Ctrl+ S )
Close this file ( Ctrl + W )
Re-open the file ( Ctrl + Shift + T )

First test :

=> As expected, the unique line contains the abc string and no marker exists !

Go to the end of line ( End )
Type in the string defghi

=> The line contains the string abcdefghi and the marker becomes orange

Hit three times on the baskSpace key, in order to delete the substring ghi
Save the file ( Ctrl + S )

=> The line contains the string abcdef and the marker becomes green

Hit the Ctrl + Z shortcut

=> The line displays the abcdefghi string and the marker becomes olive

Hit again the Ctrl + Z shortcut

=> The line contains the abc string only and the marker becomes blue ( initial file state )

Now, save again the file ( Ctrl + S )
Close the file ( Ctrl + W )
Re-open the file ( Ctrl + Shift + T )

Second test :

At the beginning, the unique line contains the string abc and no marker is present
Move to the end of line ( End )
Again, type in the string defghi

=> The line contains the abcdefghi string and the marker becomes orange

Save the file ( Ctrl + S )

=> The line contains the abcdefghi string and the marker becomes green

Hit three times on the BackSpace key, in order to delete the substing ghi

=> The line contains the string abcdef and the marker becomes orange

Save again the file ( Ctrl + S )

=> The line contains the abcdef string and the marker becomes green

Hit the Ctrl + Z shortcut

=> The line contains the string abcdefghi and the marker becomes olive

Hit, again, the Ctrl + Z shortcut

=> The line contains the abc string only and the marker becomes blue ( initial file state )

Now, save again the file ( Ctrl + S )
Close the file ( Ctrl + W )
Re-open the file ( Ctrl + Shift + T )

Third test :

As usual, the unique line contains the string abc and no marker is present
Move to the end of line ( End )
Again, type in the string defghi

=> The line contains the abcdefghi string and the marker becomes orange

Hit three times on the baskSpace key, in order to delete the substring ghi
Save the file ( Ctrl + S )

=> The line contains the string abcdef and the marker becomes green

Type in the string xyz

=> The string becomes abcdefxyz and the marker becomes orange

Save your file ( Ctrl + S )

=> The line contains the string abcdefxyz and the marker becomes green

Hit the Ctrl + Z key

=> The line contains the abcdef string and the marker becomes olive

Hit again the Ctrl + Z shortcut

=> The line contains the abcdefghi string and the marker stays olive

Hit, a last time, the Ctrl + Z shortut

=> The line contains the abc string and the marker becomes blue ( Initial file state )

Notes :

If we hit repeatedly on the Ctrl + Y shortcut, we obtain the string abcdef or abcdefxyz with the green marker, i.e. the most recent save of the markers.txt file
It does not seem easy to define the file state when the marker is olive ! Indeed, it can be, either, an intermediate save of the file or a specific non-saved contents of current line !

I hope someone will get the bottom of this :-))

Best Regards,

guy038

datatraveller1

Hi @guy038 ,
I have reproduced all your tests successfullly. Thank you very much!

As Peter pointed out, all these different descriptions and own experiences may help to understand the issue better.