Re: [lmi] Allow switching skin while lmi is running

[Greg Chicares]

On 2016-06-01 12:28, Murphy, Kimberly wrote:
> Greg Chicares wrote:
> 
>> On 2016-05-30 14:04, Greg Chicares wrote:
>> Dynamic skin selection was the hard part; adding other members of
>> class configurable_settings would be easy, and this is probably
>> the best time to add any that we want. Here's a list of that
>> class's members, 
> [...]
>> That leaves:
>> 
>>   default_input_filename_
>>   print_directory_
>>   seconds_to_pause_between_printouts_
>>   spreadsheet_file_extension_
>> 
>> which might be useful. Kim would have a better idea what end users
>> might actually want.
> 
> Users would absolutely welcome the ability to change the print 
> directory, myself included. It saves user's time of moving files 
> after the fact. It’s been asked for so how could it not be a win.

Okay, that one seems the most desirable addition, and for technical
reasons it's among the hardest, so I'll just add all four of these.

> Default files are built to coincide with a skin; only one file is 
> distributed. So, if I’m switching skins, the default file should also 
> change accordingly. Most users are probably not aware of this, I see 
> it more for myself and other experienced users. Users can change their 
> defaults, but few do.

I'll add that. But default input files aren't paired with skins
within lmi, and pairing them together is too ambitious to consider
this month.

> That said I imagine the ability to swap default files could be very 
> beneficial, especially when going from one product to another. Let's 
> say, a user runs illustrations for two products. ‘Product A’ 
> necessitates specific parameters with a different set required for 
> ‘Product B’. It would be sweet to have two default files that the 
> user could easily swap out depending on the product they’re running.

I understand that we do have skin-default pairs, e.g.
  skin_coli_boli.xrc <-> /path/to/default-input-files/coli_boli.ill
and you'll be able to change them in tandem manually in the GUI.
The pairs aren't linked together, but this is better than editing
'configurable_settings.xml' by hand.

> As for the last two, IMO they aren't as big hitters as the print 
> directory, but are nice to haves. Altering the seconds in the GUI 
> is handy, though I don't know of too many users that would 
> utilize it. As for the spreadsheet extension, again it would be 
> handy, but not utilized by other than a few users.

Those two are the easiest, so naturally I'll add them, too.

All four of these fields, along with the skin selector, will go
on the tab whose label is "Input" today; I'll change the label
to "General", which is often the first tab in "Preferences" for
other applications.