Status bar data missing but then...also losing license info?

[j_c_hallgren]

Not sure which is best emotion!

Scenanio is, as best I can recall in these odd few minutes:
1) I was somewhat behind current beta...was on 6.30.28 and all was fine
2) Installed 6.30.55 and started XY as final step
3) Noticed immediately that status bar data was almost totally missing, with exception of icon!
4) Discovered fairly quickly (using a hunch, based on 6.30.36 changes) that just by going into Interface Font dialog the status bar data came back! I didn't do anything in that dialog except Cancel.

5) Ok, so now to try and find out what differed...so did a "Save Config As" to make a updated config, and then exited without saving to preserve my original config.
6) Compared the two configs using a text compare (ExamDiff), and the only difference was that the updated config was missing my license, and also the "LastIni=" item in General! Shouldn't a "Save As" have the same info as the original? In other pgms, all it does it alter the name of the file, not the contents.

7) Presumed my orig config was still intact, so restarted XY...
I was back to an original virgin install! Ok...hummm....looked at the orig INI and saw that LastIni was pointing to "newXY" instead of "XY" even though I'm sure I didn't ever save it (or exit saving)...but now wondering:
Does config option "Save Settings on Exit" override "Exit without saving"?
I would have thought that it doesn't, as that defeats any user choice, in one way.
Anyway, edited LastIni back to XY and restarted and all seems to be ok now, more or less...

So...what happened? Where did I go wrong and where did XY go wrong?

Update: I still can't get any status bar info unless I go into Interface Font first after starting XY.
And still quite confused, as when I've started with "newXY", which shows in titlebar, it still shows license in About, yet that INI doesn't have any license info in it...Ok, this may still be a bit mixed up as I'm somewhat

[admin]

License info is only saved in XYplorer.ini. Purpose: allows you to add/change/upgrade and still being able to use other INIs.

About the statusbar: no idea...

[j_c_hallgren]

Ok...that concept of having registration only in the "true" INI makes sense...since I've not really ever used any alternate INI's, I hadn't noticed before...

Anyway, follow-up question: What should happen when the INI named in LastIni is not found? Right now, it seems that XY creates a new one with that name which can lead to unexpected results, IMO...I would have kinda expected some sort of a msg/warning box because I had purposely deleted the alternate INI to make sure it would go back to the original, but that didn't work as I thought.

[admin]

Ok...that concept of having registration only in the "true" INI makes sense...since I've not really ever used any alternate INI's, I hadn't noticed before...

Anyway, follow-up question: What should happen when the INI named in LastIni is not found? Right now, it seems that XY creates a new one with that name which can lead to unexpected results, IMO...I would have kinda expected some sort of a msg/warning box because I had purposely deleted the alternate INI to make sure it would go back to the original, but that didn't work as I thought.

Yes, I had never thought about this. So I just changed it:

Code: Select all

    * Now, the last used INI-file (LastIni key in XYplorer.ini) is only 
      used on startup when it exists, else the default INI-file 
      (XYplorer.ini) is used.

[j_c_hallgren]

That's a good idea...but...other than user hopefully seeing the name change in title bar, should there be some minimal warning like "xxx.INI not found: Default INI used" or similar?

[admin]

That's a good idea...but...other than user hopefully seeing the name change in title bar, should there be some minimal warning like "xxx.INI not found: Default INI used" or similar?

Yes, good! Thanks!

[j_c_hallgren]

One issue resolved!

Now...about the save/exit thing...given that I've got "Save settings on Exit" turned on, and I then do a "save config as" using "newXY" as name, and then "exit without saving" (Cntl+Alt+f4), should my default INI have its LastIni=newXY or the default?

I'd think it should have default with newXY thus becoming an orphan INI, as I explicitly exited without save to preserve the original INI as is...yes, the LastIni may be updated to newXY during the "save as" process, but the exit should negate that, IMO. Otherwise, the value of "exit without save" is then essentially none, in this case.

[admin]

One issue resolved!

Now...about the save/exit thing...given that I've got "Save settings on Exit" turned on, and I then do a "save config as" using "newXY" as name, and then "exit without saving" (Cntl+Alt+f4), should my default INI have its LastIni=newXY or the default?

I'd think it should have default with newXY thus becoming an orphan INI, as I explicitly exited without save to preserve the original INI as is...yes, the LastIni may be updated to newXY during the "save as" process, but the exit should negate that, IMO. Otherwise, the value of "exit without save" is then essentially none, in this case.

Yes, sounds reasonable ... but I have done it as it is with something in mind. No time now to meditate it...

[Gandolf]

No!!!

If it loads the default then it will be disaster for me - it might even force me to stop using XY.

I use "Save configuration as...", do something else, and then exit without saving almost every time I use XY. Often because the "something else" is a search and I don't want XY to start again with that search active. If, when I start XY again, I have a default setting and have to load an ini file, I'll soon start to get fed up doing that every time. I have 68 ini files as of to-day and I don't want to have to look in a list almost every time I run XY to find the last one I used (even if I sort the list by timestamp). I want it to start up with the last configuration I saved, not a default I haven't used for years (if ever).



I apologise for being so adamant, but it really will mess me up.

[admin]

No!!!

It does not apply to your case. It only applies if a last ini is NOT found.

[j_c_hallgren]

No!!!

If it loads the default then it will be disaster for me - it might even force me to stop using XY.

I apologise for being so adamant, but it really will mess me up.

It appears that Gandolf may not have fully read the exact situation that prompted this change, since as Don wrote, it applies only when the INI defined as last one used is not found, and thus it now avoids having XY start with an almost original out-of-box set-up.

[Gandolf]

But surely it will apply because I delete ini's I have finished with.

I'm working on an edit; I may have twenty or more ini's that are basically the same because I do a save configuration as... repeatedly as I'm working, deleting configurations as I don't want them and finally exit without saving because I don't want the last state I was in, then what will I get when I start again if I've deleted the last save as...?

[j_c_hallgren]

deleting configurations as I don't want them and finally exit without saving because I don't want the last state I was in, then what will I get when I start again if I've deleted the last save as...?

Bear with me here...I'm a bit confused...I think we have a failure to communicate...you exit without saving because you don't want the last state, but yet you now seem to want it to start up the next time pointing to a file that no longer exists? How can this ever work?
And IF one starts it using current style with pointer to a deleted file, don't you agree that it reverts back to a virgin type setup? That's how it's working here...and that is worse, IMO!

If you haven't saved the pointer to the last INI used, then why would it (even with this change) point to the wrong INI for your purposes?

[Gandolf]

I now get a message saying XY is going to load XYPlorer.ini. I know that, that is what I want XY to do. Please can I disable the message? I'm back to 0055 because that works as I like it.

Yes, I exit without saving because I don't want the last state - I've finished with that project and all it's settings in XY. I have deleted all the ini files related to it so "LastIni" will not exist.

When I start a new project I want to load with a "clean slate", i.e. the default XY setting. That way (because the default is so different from my settings) I know that I've finished everything I was doing on that project. I then load my template.ini file for the type of project I want to work on, save it as a name appropriate to the project and I'm away. Creating and deleting ini files as I go until I've done all I want to and then delete the last ini. Back to a clean slate the next time I start.

I admit I thought at first that deleting ini files would prompt for an error but Don confirmed that it wouldn't.

I've worked that way now and have a script that does all the tedious work for me, like listing the ini files and their dates, so I can delete them easily.

[j_c_hallgren]

I now get a message saying XY is going to load XYPlorer.ini. I know that, that is what I want XY to do. Please can I disable the message? I'm back to 0055 because that works as I like it.

When I start a new project I want to load with a "clean slate", i.e. the default XY setting. That way (because the default is so different from my settings) I know that I've finished everything I was doing on that project.

Ok...but don't you agree/admit that the way you work might not be the way the general public works? As someone who did not use "save as", (like myself), when I used it and it started with a virgin-type default setup instead of my prior INI after deleting the test alternate, that caused me a bit of panic! I had a 'what the heck happened' moment until I started to understand what situtaion was.

So this issue now goes back to the fact that the INI gets updated with LastIni even when user has done everything to prevent that: Having "save on exit" off or/and using "exit without save" just to make sure.

How to solve this conflict in expectations? It would seem either:
1) Not auto-update during "save config as" so LastIni doesn't get changed...or...
2) Provide INI tweak to disable the warning msg, since it's my guess that most all users (except Gandolf and ???) would want to be warned when a non-existant INI caused a revert back to standard INI.

Addendum: Did some more thinking on this and realize that part of problem is the difference between "settings" and "status" (like open tabs, etc)...And I guess now that LastIni falls into the latter group...thus option 2 would seem lost practical.