On Jan 17, 2007, at 6:05 PM, Daniel Sheppard wrote:

> Yes, but I thought we were talking about the problem that using a  
> config
> page part is too complicated and error-prone for an end user.
>
> If it's meant for a developer to change, hard code it, and tell
> developers to change it if they need to. If it's meant for an end user
> to change, go the extra mile and give them a proper interface to  
> change
> it.

And my message was a plea to keep the config page part around or  
something at least as simple to use from a development point of view  
(only a couple lines of code to use, at most).  A config page part  
may be too error-prone for complex uses, but is perfect for the  
simple ones.  It's also great for testing an extension before it gets  
released.  I simply find it too useful, and I'd probably end up  
making an extension to add it back in if it was removed.

Unless a generic configuration system is added, the need to write a  
configuration interface for every simple plugin would limit my  
interest in developing for Radiant.  If a particular extension is  
having problems, then fix it to have a better interface.  But don't  
remove something that's working because it doesn't work in some cases.

For an example of where it's great is the VirtualDomainsBehavior, as  
I mentioned.  It's not hard to explain what the following config part  
means and I don't see a compelling reason to write a custom interface  
for it because of the limited usage it gets:

----- 8< -----
dev.example.com: development
example.org: non-profit
*: main
----- 8< -----

However, a good argument can be made that a central configuration  
system would be a good thing for Radiant to have.  It would allow for  
a consistent interface across all extensions.  The extension could  
provide a set of global variables and types that would be available  
from either the extensions page or a new page dedicated to the task  
(good if we add configuration for Radiant there too), and Page types  
could provide a set of variables for each page.  It would keep  
developers from having to design a completely custom interface for  
each extension, which is horribly confusing for the users.

But until that exists, let me use my config page part!

~~ Brian

P.S.  I haven't eaten today, so I apologize for any incoherence.
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