Thanks Wayne. I will look in to wxConfig paths and see if I can see any compelling disadvantages to bring up vs. JSON (note that JSON could be handled by Boost.PropertyTree so no additional dependency). If I can see a clear way to achieve the things I want to propose using wxConfig, I'm fine with that, no need to change for change's sake.
-Jon On Thu, Dec 1, 2016 at 3:24 PM, Wayne Stambaugh <[email protected]> wrote: > On 12/1/2016 11:44 AM, Jon Evans wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > Per my recent email, I'm going to be looking in to various UI/UX things, > > starting with Eeschema, and I thought of a topic that probably warrants > > its own thread. > > > > Some of the things I want to propose would involve giving the user more > > options for customization of the tool (i.e. more preferences, color > > themes, etc). > > > > Right now, it seems like all KiCad configuration data is stored in a > > INI-style key-value file per binary (one for eeschema, one for pcbnew, > > etc) in the user's application data folder. > > > > What do the core developers think about the possibility of > > changing/expanding the way KiCad uses files for configuration? > > > > Some examples I thought of: > > > > - Switching to a format like YAML or JSON that allows nesting of > > configuration parameters, for more clean configuration > > I'm not thrilled about using YAML or JSON. It would add another build > dependency and I can't think of any config settings in kicad that need > this kind of nested file complexity. That being said, we certainly > could clean up our current config files. I've never been a big fan of > prefixing the window frame name to the key (SchematicFramePos_y, > LibeditFrameShowGrid, ViewlibFrameSize_y, etc) in on one huge section. > I would like to see the config settings take advantage of the wxConfig > paths so the config files would look something like: > > [Schematic/Frame] > X=0 > Y=0 > Width=600 > Height=400 > [LibViewer/Frame] > X=200 > Y=100 > Width=400 > Height=200 > > This would certainly be a lot cleaner (more readable) than what we are > currently doing. > > See http://docs.wxwidgets.org/3.0/classwx_config_base.html for examples > using wxConfig paths. > > > > > - A "configuration hierarchy" system, meaning that there are "system > > defaults" for all values stored in a file somewhere, and when the user > > starts changing them, they are creating a new file in their home > > directory that "overrides" whatever settings they have changed, rather > > than updating the system config. This would allow the default config to > > be preserved if multiple users on one PC want to have different local > > settings. It would also make it easier for people to send config to > > each other, and to back up their config by checking it in to a Git > > repository for example. Sublime Text is one example of a program that > > does this, and it works really well in my opinion. > > I'm OK with this. Most of the default config settings are hard coded > since there is no config on startup so you may have a lot of work to do > in this regard. > > > > > - Splitting out certain configuration items into distinct files, rather > > than using a single file for all config of a certain program. Color > > themes are one area where this is often done in other programs, so that > > people can download/share new color themes without having to copy/paste > > certain areas of a global config file. > > I'm OK with this too. You could split out the viewer and editor frame > settings into separate config files so they are more manageable. > > > > > So, any opinions on this? Just knowing something like "never gonna > > happen" versus "sounds interesting, send more details" is good feedback > > for me at this point, that way I can know up front what kind of changes > > are likely to be accepted when I come up with more detailed proposals. > > > > Best, > > Jon > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > > Post to : [email protected] > > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > Post to : [email protected] > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp >
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