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The October 16 aligned result-record continuation adds logical result counts/locator coordinates and exact per-row mappings after single-side marker resolution. Later source/result one-row choices can reuse those mappings. Whole-group mappings remain for both-order copies and fallback conflicts. The result now renders aligned records and uses the same row space for active-pane navigation, source peers, context choices and locator scrolling; both-order choices now retain aligned source/result geometry and precise maps. Unknown mappings from serialized whole-file transforms retain fallback.

Ordinary block choices — October 16, 2026

The source and result context menus now also apply Mine, Theirs and both source orders to ordinary and non-conflicting changed blocks. Non-conflicting engine groups record a mapping for each aligned row: removed Base records have an exact zero-byte result anchor, while additions have their own payload ranges. Selecting one addition no longer implies its neighboring addition. After a source choice, the chosen rows retain their new result range and later rows shift by the actual UTF-16 delta. Both text selection and independent block selection are supported.

MergeSourceBlockEdit follows BottomView::UseBlock/UseBothBlocks serialization: removed/empty records are omitted, the first chosen block uses result endings, and the appended second block retains its captured endings. Source states/colors remain intact except that conflict states resolve. An explicit choice carries a presentation revision, including when it changes no bytes; the modified/savepoint state, Undo and Redo retain that revision. Result history retains the exact map, colors, ignored-conflict metadata and choice revision together.

Each native block menu entry captures its rows, choice, result presentation, source generation and owner identity. Later selection changes keep that target; edits, reloads, busy/modal/Quit state and closed owners reject an obsolete action. Unresolved marker/ignored conflicts keep their existing atomic block resolution.

This is still partial editor parity. Marker groups and groups produced by a multi-row choice can retain a whole-group mapping; selecting only part of such a group is disabled until a complete alignment can represent it precisely. Arbitrary edits crossing mappings can invalidate them. The full aligned result view (including removed/empty records), wrapped screen-row traversal, source-state mutations after UseBothBlocks, physical input/VoiceOver, large-file performance and signed acceptance remain open.

Batch evidence records both builds, focused Core results, the retained fixture selection repair, four passing grouped native receivers and cleanup.

Source inspection of BaseView::CheckOtherView and IsViewGood also confirms that inline navigation requires a visible opposite pane. Combined mode correctly keeps it disabled; it is not a missing navigation feature.

This partial port follows pinned TortoiseGit 7338078f8ddd924b8cddee35f512f2286072136d, especially BaseView.cpp::LinesInOneChange, SelectNextBlock, SetupAllSelection, and the TortoiseMerge navigation accelerators. It does not certify the Merge dialogs.

Two-pane and combined comparison navigation is recorded in the preceding batch. Three-pane navigation now shares that state search: it uses the active pane, skips the current block, searches visible source rows, excludes Normal/FilteredDiff for differences, and searches ConflictAdded/ConflictEmpty/Conflicted/Ignored conflict states for conflicts. It retains the entry state for directional grouping, including asymmetric Empty padding. There is no wrap at either boundary.

The native three-pane result has marker lines and omits alignment-only rows. The engine presentation therefore records explicit source-row/result-UTF16 relationships for common lines and changed groups. Navigation maps peer selections through those relationships rather than assuming equal row indices or matching repeated text. Source peers share alignment rows. Within a changed engine group the result mapping selects that group's payload, including its markers; it does not invent a per-line relationship inside that payload. Unmapped peer selections are cleared instead of retaining an unrelated highlight.

Typing and a block choice retain mappings wholly containing the replaced range, shift following groups, and invalidate groups crossed by an ambiguous edit. Boundary insertions belong before a following group; an insertion at a zero-byte anchor invalidates that ambiguous anchor. Undo/Redo stores the entire previous presentation, including these mappings. Reload starts from new engine evidence. Initial retained results that differ across groups can consequently have fewer peer mappings; navigation within a pane still works, while unavailable source choices remain disabled. There is no text-based guess to restore missing maps.

The native toolbar exposes Previous/Next difference and conflict. Context menus use the original source icons. Control/Option-Up/Down and F7/F11 navigate differences; Shift-F7/F11 reverses direction, and F8/Shift-F8 navigates conflicts. Source-pane block choices locate the corresponding unresolved result conflict. Selecting an unrelated common line disables those choices; it cannot resolve a stale footer selection. Busy, preparation, export, Quit and attached-sheet gates apply to the new navigation and choice routes. Mark as resolved also treats ignored conflicts as unresolved, even when no literal markers are present.

The native block highlight now follows DrawBlockLine: two horizontal boundaries retain source-state colors and remain separate from the insertion caret. Forward navigation places the caret at the entry row; reverse navigation places it at the bottom entry row. Native text selection stays empty. Peer highlights use the engine mapping, and the entry row is centered where the scroll limits permit. In two-pane Compare, Next/Previous block also advances within the entry line, following GetNextInlineDiff's start/end order and similarity/length/display gates. Explicit inline navigation preserves the block. Three-pane inline caret navigation remains unavailable while the Bottom/result view is visible, matching upstream.

Copy reads the exact highlighted display block, including a neutral combined row without accidentally copying its adjacent alias. Block-only Cut copies without deleting; Paste and typing insert at the caret. Ordinary text selection retains normal Copy/Cut/replace behavior. Caret moves, mouse selection, source generation changes and edits invalidate stale block highlights in all panes.

A further source check of Undo.cpp::updateActiveView corrects the preceding block-selection continuation: upstream Undo/Redo clears selections in all panes. Both native editors now clear block and ordinary text selections and restore the target caret. Compare records the pre-edit display position and source offset, then restores after the authoritative engine publishes its new alignment. An exact restored display uses its saved offset; otherwise it uses source coordinates. Generation gates discard requests superseded by another edit, reload or option change. Result history retains text/presentation provenance and target caret, without resurrecting a block highlight.

Right-click preparation now follows OnContextMenu: it expands both directions using the clicked row's fixed state, including Normal/Filtered groups. It preserves an existing selection containing the clicked point. Context selection starts at column zero and does not automatically advance inline. Copy reads that existing block or ordinary text selection; it no longer invents a block from a bare caret. Combined Removed and Added context blocks remain separate even when adjacent.

At that checkpoint, remaining source parity included wrapped screen-row traversal, the complete aligned result view including removed/empty rows, and source-pane block application beyond unresolved marker/ignored conflicts. The October 16 continuation above adds ordinary block choices; the complete alignment remains open. A changed group can map several distinct source-state blocks to one result payload. Missing mappings after edits require engine recomputation or a future complete alignment model. Physical keyboard/VoiceOver, large-file performance, signed Finder integration and App Store acceptance remain unverified.

Grouped evidence records the build, 41 focused Core checks, five native receivers and cleanup, retained workflow coverage, fixture semantics and the unresolved hosted CI state.

Independent block-selection evidence records the native-only continuation, initial helper-visibility compile failure, repaired build, four grouped native receivers and remaining history/visual limits.

Source history/context continuation records the correction to upstream Undo semantics, automatic two-pane inline advance, context preparation/focus and exact target-caret checks. The following continuation adds explicit user-input revocation and initial source-block selection. This remains a partial editor port.

Initial Compare navigation now waits for the authoritative alignment and current text/geometry in all required panes. It searches Mine (or combined Base/Mine) states with skip-current disabled, matching MainFrm/GoToFirstDifference. It selects peer blocks, applies the same inline entry advance and centers the caret. Neutral combined rows can be the first block even when the engine's first changed region is later. The initial preference remains optional. Transfers/marks use explicit block or ordinary text-selection rows, without an engine-index fallback.

Mouse/key input, context selection, navigation, Find and Go to Line revoke pending initial/Undo caret writers. A line chooser captures an input revision as well as text/window identity; a later input action or document generation invalidates its answer even if the text is byte-identical. Rendering and automatic entry advance do not revoke their own requests. Closing, busy/filter, preparation and sheet checks still gate navigation. Initial selection consumes after layout, avoiding publication from representable updates.

Remaining acceptance includes physical input, selected-text direction/affinity, wrapped-screen-row behavior, complete result alignment, large-file performance and signed installed behavior.

Initial navigation and input ownership evidence records actual initial/neutral blocks, explicit transfer refusal, input during Undo realignment, same-text stale/fresh line chooser responses, the fixture configuration race and repaired grouped native checks.

Three-pane source views are read-only in the pinned MainFrm::LoadViews; only Bottom/result is writable. Two-pane Base/Mine editing is separate and now retains Edited records through input, history and Save; see in-place editing.

Aligned row-model evidence: October 16 grouped verification.

Native aligned editor evidence: October 16 grouped verification.

Both-order source choices now also retain source layout revisions and perform all-pane gap insertion/state changes, resolved-empty handling and cleanup. Explicit partial conflict selections resolve only their selected rows. Captured commands are invalid after any intervening source layout edit or Undo, even when file text returns to the same bytes.

All-pane block-choice evidence: October 16 grouped verification.

Aligned result-format evidence: October 16 grouped verification.

Wrapped screen-fragment entry — October 16, 2026

The connected wrapping continuation adds native reverse/forward/context fragment entry and coordinated peer centering, alongside source-row reading anchors during resize/font/wrap changes. Earlier wrapped-row gaps above are superseded within that scope. The logical source state search, hidden-row projection, independent block range and two-pane inline entry advance remain in place. Exact virtual-padding caret geometry and full Windows/TextKit equivalence remain open.

The moved-block continuation adds source detection, original margin icons, double-click and native context navigation, two/combined peer selection and editing/history ownership. Its source oracle and grouped native evidence are separate from ordinary difference/conflict navigation above.

Margin selection adds native gutter text/peer-row selection, fixed Shift/drag origins, wrapped fragment entry, folded marker expansion and owned autoscroll/retirement.

Attached pane startup and deferred writers — October 17, 2026

Automatic appearance loading now runs only once after a load is accepted. Repeated appearance does not reset initial navigation, reload an open document or invoke a dirty Reload question. Explicit Reload and File/Open transfer still use the ordinary load path, including error/cancellation and Save/discard behavior. A deferred initial document can still begin its first load after preparation.

Initial entry now requires current text/generation and usable geometry in all required panes attached to the owning editor window. Layout is forced for both before block/peer/inline entry consumes the request. Registration refuses panes from another model/window and keeps an attached current pane authoritative until a replacement attaches. Native updates refresh the pane-side identity; retired representables unregister only their own slot, detach observers and Find/delegate receivers, and cannot unregister a newer viewport.

Viewport callbacks capture their scroll identity and recheck the current visible slot/owner at dispatch. Initial selection, Undo caret restore, active-pane lookup and block/margin navigation share current-viewport guards. A detached history restore stays pending rather than consuming the caret into an outgoing view. User input continues to revoke pending initial/Undo requests, and explicit Reload remains available.

These are concrete ownership/readiness fixes for the workflow in which the October 17 search batch observed an intermittent initial block/caret assertion. They do not prove that observation had only one cause. A deterministic native case holds initial selection with an owned sheet, detaches fully prepared panes, checks deferred entry/history, reattaches and checks exact block/inline/peer state, then exercises appearance, dirty preservation, foreign registration, explicit Reload and retirement. The Debug build and six grouped native families have passing runs: deterministic ownership, initial navigation, wrapping, margin, folding and Find. The first margin run timed out at editability; the unchanged assertion passed after adding diagnostics, without an app change. That intermittent timeout remains open. All seven owned receivers were reaped and independently absent. Core was unchanged and not repeated. See batch evidence for the exact attempts and limits. Physical gestures, all host/replacement timing, large-file performance and signed acceptance remain open; no dialog certification is added.