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Re: [StrongED] Re: Fresh 4.69a7 installation



The following bytes were arranged on 24 Feb 2013 by Fred Graute :

> In message <ee2ff62153.old_coaster@old_coaster.yahoo.co.uk>
>           Tony Moore <old_coaster@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > On 21 Feb 2013, Fred Graute <fjgraute@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > > What would be nice to have is for the viewers to be saved
> > > automatically when you close a project, that way the current state
> > > could be preserved across sessions. I'm playing with a few ideas but
> > > as yet nothing solid, suggestions welcome!

[snip]

> > On loading any file, could StrongED check for the presence of a relevant
> > LoW file and, if there, adopt its parameters? If so, this would enable a
> > file to be opened, maintaining the same view. without user intervention.
>
> Interesting idea but how will StrongED know which LoW file pertains to
> the file being opened? If an LoW file opens a file with parameters then
> things are easy but if you open a file and StrongED has to find the
> parameters somewhere things get more complicated.
>
> Your idea would work if there was only LoW file, basically an extended
> file history, but it would prevent a project oriented way of working.

Could you not allocate a new, specialised "LoW" filetype, which StrongED
claims when double-clicked?  It doesn't just have to be a text editor,
y'know - you are allowed to define run actions as well.

The nice part about that is that you can pass as many parameters as you
like to each file - window position, caret position, iconised status,
etc. This could then become the equivalent of a 'project file', which
restores all of its status when double-clicked.

Perhaps you could add the ability for entries in an LoW to be selected,
moved up and down the list, and into and out of definable groups?  Which
group in the LoW a certain window is in thus becomes part of the state
of that window.  You'd even be able to have the same file open twice,
with each view being in a different group.  A named group would need to
have the filename of an LoW-typed file associated with it, so that a
'close and save project' option could be implemented - I guess Ctrl-Q in
an editor window closes it, so maybe Ctrl-Shift-Q to close everything in
the same group and save the state?

Maybe it would work better with the 'group title' forming an extra
column in the LoW, since that allows you to preserve the behaviour where
the list is in the same order as the window stack.  And by default,
files opened/created get dumped in the default (nameless) group.

Probably this would involve some kind of 'group manager' dialogue, since
I think all this would get quite awkward to implement in the confines of
the LoW.  And how would you easily create (rather than open) a new file
to be added to a certain group?  Add another level to the 'Create' menu,
maybe, listing all currently open groups?

Some kind of 'hotlist' facility for running the LoW files for common
groups without having to double-click in a Filer window?  I dunno - that
might be a bit un-RISC-OS-y.

Not sure how you'd handle opening files which should be in the same
group, but currently aren't open (so not in the LoW).  I know there's
the 'hide' function, but do you really want to load your entire project
every time?  You could store a list of 'filenames which should be
claimed for this group' (probably using pattern matching similar to
ModeWhen) in the LoW file, but what happens if more than one currently
open group tries to claim the same file?  Prompt the user to
disambiguate?

Could you save an empty, but named, LoW to represent a project which
knows where its files are but just doesn't have any of them loaded at
the moment?  What happens to a group when all its associated windows are
closed - does it continue to exist?

Just thinking out loud.  Might be useful.  Probably won't be.

-- 
  __<^>__   "Did you know that polar bears stay white all year round? ...The
 / _   _ \  white colour makes them less visible to the seals and penguins
( ( |_| ) ) they hunt."  - Nelson Thornes AQA-endorsed GCSE science textbook
 \_>   <_/  ======================= Martin Bazley ==========================

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