Mark Fletcher wrote: > Argh. This is the second instance where I've run into a wall regarding > user preferences. (The first time, I was wondering whether you could > deliver a standard preference file as part of a deployment.) Can you > guys please consider making user preference paths/files more > configurable? > > I see several features that XXE "administrators" need: > > * The ability to define and deliver a standard set of user > preferences for a deployment. Upon the first running of XXE (no user > prefs file exists), this "master" prefs file would be used as a > template. > > * The ability to reset master preferences on each startup. This is > supported via the -putpref option, but only one key at a time. It would > be nice to be able to point to a master preferences file instead. > > * The ability to use different user pref paths with different xxe_gui > files. The ability to show custom gui views of your app is awesome, but > some user preferences may be incompatible for different gui views. (In > particular, I'm thinking of the Tree View, Unique Instance, and CSS > default options.) Either make the user prefs path an element in the gui > spec, or allow for user pref path to be passed as an environment > variable, just as XXE_GUI can be passed. The path could either specify a > different filename or subdirectory below the current prefs file > location.
There *may* be a problem with the user preferences file but all the solutions you suggest does not convince me. (I would prefer you to expose the problem, not the solutions, more clearly.) * We could add a -putprefs preference_file command line option to XXE v3.4. This suggestion is OK because it is equivalent to -putpref, -putpref, -putpref, ..., just more convenient. * I still don't understand the relationship between custom GUIs (.xxe_gui files) and user preferences files. In fact, I see no relationship at all. * It seems to me that a custom XXE launch script could solve any problem related to the user preferences file. I mean, this custom XXE launch script should not hesitate to deeply change the contents of the XXE_user_preferences_dir if this is really needed. > I really think these features are crucial to making XXE deployable and > manageable across a large organization. XXE is already deployed and managed across large organizations but this is always done using Java[tm] Web Start (IMHO a very good technology).
