Given an arbitrary application that has a “settings” or “preferences” dialog, I want to identify the file change(s) made by a particular setting. My assumption is that the change is made in an INI file. Here’s a procedure that might work:
- I enter the “not modifying anything” mode
- The app notices file changes which are not related to settings
- I enter the “modifying setting A” mode
- The app notices file changes which might be related to settings
- I changes values forth and back
- The changes of 4 minus the changes of 2 are considered for setting A
- Goto step 3, for setting B etc.
Since there are many settings (over 100 in the app I consider this for) and each setting may have multiple values (from a drop-down list for example), I need some semi-automated way of identifying the process. Also, the changes are not in one file only, but multiple files.
The app I’m looking for must
- work on Windows
- work offline
- restrict monitoring to a specific folder and subfolders which I specify
- allow me to enter and leave the 2 modes as above
- display the difference when I finish
- work with text files
- let’s me define the file extensions which I consider text files
- cost less than 100 €
Ideally,
- text files, it would ideally identify the line(s) of change.
- for INI files, it would identify the section and key of the change.
- it let’s me specify the name of the setting that I’m toggling, and can identify multiple settings easily
It does not need to
