local settings

dxli wrote

Hi ravas,

Looks like we need a wiki on "How to remove all local setting options". Users should try this option before reporting a bug.

users should remove the local setting file to remove all local settings.

http://doc.qt.io/qt-4.8/qsettings.html

From that link:

On Windows, NativeFormat settings are stored in the following registry paths:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MySoft\Star Runner
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\MySoft
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MySoft\Star Runner
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MySoft
Note: On Windows, for 32-bit programs running in WOW64 mode, settings are stored in the following registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432node.

I couldn't find a "MySoft" in any of those locations.
I have never distributed my own software;
however I like the idea of having the settings in the program folder.
This raises the issue of overwriting it when installing new versions.
Ideally I would have the installer ask about overwriting user files.
This way the settings file is in the same place for all systems.

Requiring that Windows users modify the registry is not desirable for several reasons.
With that said... I still have no idea where these settings are... ;D

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\LibreCAD\LibreCAD

I confirm that is the location.

What do you think about making these settings a single XML document?

> On May 12, 2015, at 10:56 PM, ravas [via LibreCAD] <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I confirm that is the location.
>
> What do you think about making these settings a single XML document?

I thought about this myself one day but I would stick to the 'windows method' for windows
so software is compatible, specially management tools and roaming profiles etc...

Ries

I think there is something to be said about us both having the idea...

It seems more universal to me.
If there are system specific user settings,
then I imagine a folder with:
-settings.xml
-win_settings.xml
-osx_settings.xml
-linux_settings.xml

But then I have not learned about these management tools,
and I don't really get the whole roaming profiles thing... so I will bow to your understanding on this.

As we already use the QSettings class from Qt to make things platform independent, we should not force the user to fiddle around in the registry or delete config files in hidden folders.

We should offer a function, e.g. in application preferences, to reset all settings. QSettings has the ability to remove whole groups, independent from OS. So we can delete whole groups or overwrite keys with a set of hard coded default values for that.

I don't stay on top of LibreCAD settings, to decide which way is better, removing or overwriting. But I remember, that I've recognised RS_Settings class as a refactoring candidate in past.

Another idea I had recently is an expert view for preferences. Many programs offer these editable table views of preferences which are not included in the standard GUI screens. But I'm not sure if there is a good solution with QSettings/RS_Settings classes. This may need a move to a database for storing settings, e.g. SQLite, which is supported by Qt.

Armin

That's nice that Qt supports SQLite... work smarter not harder;
however, I do like settings files that a person can open and manipulate with a text editor.

I read the intro section of the roaming user profile page,
and my first thought is that by taking that work away from Windows you can actually improve LibreCAD.
I imagine a popup at launch time that allows you to select a profile, which would just be an xml file.
Of course we would need a checkbox for "never ask this again". ;-]
You could also make a File-> Profile entry for switching.

The reason I think the profile selection idea would be an improvement is:
a single user could switch between multiple program configurations easily.

Backing up settings would also be a lot easier if it was an xml file.

For Windows 10: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/how-to-add-modify-or-delete-registry-subkeys-and-values-by-using-a-reg-file-9c7f37cf-a5e9-e1cd-c4fa-2a26218a1a23

To save LibreCad settings:

1. Start Regedit and optionally navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\LibreCAD
2. File, Export, Ensure selected branch is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\LibreCAD, enter Filename eg MyLibreCadSettings, Save

LibreCad settings can easily be restored by double clicking on the *.reg file and prompts will appear to open RegEdit if required and to add the contents of the file to the registry.