2019.2 GIT branch Compare With Current changed

I downgraded.. and I'm happy now!
Thanks for a adventure PhpStorm dev's!

It looks like plugin "Git Scope" alleviates the problem

@Stanislav - Unless I'm doing it wrong it seems to be the same as "Show Diff with working tree"? The old view had a top and bottom view to show you the commits that were on each that wasn't on the other along with a new tab that showed the file diff. Let me know if I'm doing it wrong please. :) 

@Charles - Yes, it just complements the reworked branch comparison with a simple overview of differences in files. The old view is a big loss.
Actually, I have just noticed "Show diff with Working Tree" next to "Compare with Current". It looks that the built-in functionality is good enough for me.

I have to sum myself to this. I was quite unpleased with this change. I am not a git expert and one of my favorite things from PhpStorm is the incredible git support it has, and the old "compare branches" was great because of how intuitive it was. This new feature is not intuitive at all. Please return the old "compare branches" or make something more usable and intuitive.

I have to downgrade to version 2019.1 because of this shit.... wtf? (

The new "Compare with Current" is unusable/not user friendly. Please bring the old way back.

Please at least allow the option to use the old "compare branches". This change has seriously slowed down our workflow for code review. 

As others have mentioned, downgrading is not a long-term solution and this will eventually lead people to VSCode..

Your customers are telling you that this "feature" is unusable, listen to them..

"Show diff with Working Tree" is actually enough for me (at least for now), but the annoying thing is that I used to "Jump to source" from the diff but now the modal is always in the front. I have to close it to get to the editor and then reopen again.

@406beny Instead of closing the window, I find it easier to press Cmd+D to jump to comparing the two versions of a file, and Esc to return back to the "Difference...". 

Yeah, I use that one as well. But sometimes I need to analyse the change in context of the whole application. So I want to see project tree, database, search.. etc. Or get a full view of current file without being distracted by previous version.

2019.1.3 working as expected

Hi

Can only chime in: dearly missing the old compare view which served a specific purpose: to be able to evaluate in one second and one click the current state of a branch compared to another. That is gone and the current UI is nowhere near that, nor the announced addition.

Yes, it does other things (cherry-picking?), except those things are not needed for the purpose of the feature.

@Dmitriy Smirnov

> The reasons for the change are:

> The old dialog lacks features - it is no possible to cherry-pick, revert or merge branches from it, and this is possible with the new view. The new Log-based view allows this.

The old dialog had only one purpose and it achieved it extremely well. No additional feature was needed, at least not by removing the main feature for the action.

You added some features that were not needed - because they are already available elsewhere - and destroyed the good one in the process.

> The old dialog is slow (it takes a long time to load and executes expensive git log calls, especially on bit projects if branches diverge a lot). The new view is based on Git Log functionality and uses log index - so it is fast and cheap.

I have never seen the old dialog being slow in any measurable way.

> It opens in a separate frame. This is not very useful if you use the Compare feature to review a branch or cherry-pick something.

Never wanted to do that. Reviewing a branch is something else and so is cherry-picking. Again, you seem to be missing the point of that feature - for users.

> Its Files tab actually shows the difference with the working tree and not the branch tip, while the action name states otherwise

Maybe that was something you could have improved instead of removing the entire feature?

>it's an old code that requires effort to support and add new features to it, while there is a better engine at the moment.

Please be very, very careful when you use such argument. If the code is old, rewrite it. That's your job. We are paying customers, not participating in an open-source project with everyone contributing.

@Yannick Gaultier

Awesome arguments! I agree with you 100%.

Also agree that the 'old' way fit the use case of get overview of branch commit difference in _both_ directions.   

If you can add 'show both' to 'Show diff with working tree' I think that would go a long way toward satisfying most of the folks who have voiced objections here.

PLEASE update the documentation to show this!  The docs still describe the old way.

Hi Dmitriy

Glad to hear that you are reviewing the matter seriously and are not stuck into your own idea.

> However, we believe improving the Compare branches feature is the right thing to do, so we plan to solve all the usability issues of the new implementation and use the fixed version in 2019.3. 

I read the tickets you linked to and they do not sound too good, just basically rehashing what you and others said in this ticket.

For instance: "Show if there are commits in reversed comparison": does not sound like a good idea, it's just trying to make do with a broken thing. It will still require that a/you notice/look for some flag and b/ you then click something to get the reverse view.

The beauty of the current "Compare with current" is that with one click you have a global view of the compared state of two branches. Can I delete this branch? does it need review/action? Obvious response with one click

You can then drill down if needed but that's not the main use of the view. For me. And apparently for quite a number of your users.

Best regards

@Yannick Gaultier - I completely agree with your comment. That's almost exclusively what we used it for on my team. Quick, easy, and painless code reviews. That and me going through every other week or so tending to branch health.

@Yannick Gauiltier - I use it heavily when managing multiple contributors with multiple branches for a sizable repository.

Jetbrains: Please heed your customers and bring back that functionality.   We need to see commit differences in both directions _at the same time_.

Please bring back the old compare with branch view and stop sabotaging your clients. I am not renewing my subscription unless this is fixed! So far, only a few feature changes have been questionable, but this... This is another level: you just removed one of the most useful features of your product on a whim and from what i gather from the official response you didn't know what it did in the first place!

Best regards.

Nicee.. they reminder my about subscription period expirement. :)

My answers:
Thanks for reminder, but I'm not sure will I renewal my subscription.
I was using PhpStorm for more than 5 years. Since studing IT. But your customer approach makes me fill unsafe..
According to last changes in IDE
https://intellij-support.jetbrains.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360004371379-2019-2-GIT-branch-Compare-With-Current-changed
I had to downgrade my instance. For now it is ok, but as new features of PHP will be required in projects I will need to do something.
Of course I could learn new system (as far as it will be working - currently it is not useable), but tomorrow you could change some other commonly used feature and I will have a problem again..

Lot of people in my company has simillar filling about last change - I don't think all will migrate but I personally starter looking for new IDE.

Thank you for a journey..

Updated to 2019.2.3, and Compare with Current is back! Nice work.

Wonderful! Old compare with current is back!

THE OLD COMPARE IS BACK!!!... thank goodness.

Old Compare is back :D !! I missed you so much, please don't leave again

Thank you, Jetbrains!

JB representatives made clear statements that the feature won't be restored. On the basis of that information I switched to VSCode, cancelled my auto-renewal and removed my credit card from my JB account. I had been a user since 2011.

I don't understand why JB was so stubborn about this. What a lot of trouble and damage. And in the end they admitted that the reason was old code they didn't want to maintain.

After a short return in 2019.2.3, old "compare with branch" window was replaced again. Is there a way to return the "old style compare window"?

It is the need to click again to see the other direction (swap) that sucks.  The value of the old way was that with ONE CLICK one could see commits in both directions IN ONE PANEL.   Dealing with branches, especially from multiple developers, is fussy enough with out having to swap views to see the differences.  If the commits are different in each direction it is extremely useful to see them AT THE SAME TIME.

Pardon my shouting, but this is extremely disturbing and the excuse of not wanting to maintain (or replace) old code to retain the user desired behavior is short-sighted at best and seems arrogant... One of the biggest reasons I use JetBrains IDEs is the substantial easing of the pain of using command line git.  Command line git is, of course, more powerful, but prone to the not insignificant slow down and distraction of having to go to a command window to fumble typing in arcane git commands to get less than easy to understand git command results.  GUIs do make jobs easier and quicker and less error-prone.  Don't ignore your users and don't look down on them because they prefer gui solutions to command line for frequently used functionality.

This kind of branch/commit checking is critical for anyone managing a repository for multiple users and keeping track of commits between branches for fast-paced development cycles (agile anyone?)

I actually like the new Tool Window tab, I just wish it was designed more like the Local Changes view. And the default view should show the changed files compared with the branch - similar to the Github "Changed Files" tab. This is mostly what developers care about - less so for diffs from individual commits.

I can't believe this is happening again, avoid version 2020.1 and up.