XnView Software

It's all a little bit confusing for me...

- Options are saved in "XnView\xnview.ini" (for all users)
- History ?? (I don't use it)
- Favourites in "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\bookmark.ini"

...this could cause some speed problems of xnview maybe, if xnview load both ini files at start (especially if xnview is installed on different drive, e.g. D: ) and I still don't know where is "History" so there are even 3 ini files maybe...

So I've got a suggestion: Save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to one ini file - "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Dreamer wrote:It's all a little bit confusing for me...

Pierre and I are preparing a FAQ entry for this. It's not very difficult...

Dreamer wrote:So I've got a suggestion: Save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to one ini file - "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Thanks for the suggestions. But be sure that Pierre is a fit programmer, so you do not have to agonise over implementation details.

Dreamer wrote:It's all a little bit confusing for me...

- Options are saved in "XnView\xnview.ini" (for all users)
- History ?? (I don't use it)
- Favourites in "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\bookmark.ini"

...this could cause some speed problems of xnview maybe, if xnview load both ini files at start (especially if xnview is installed on different drive, e.g. D: ) and I still don't know where is "History" so there are even 3 ini files maybe...

So I've got a suggestion: Save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to one ini file - "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Yes, i think that it's better to save all .ini in Application Data. History is in xnview.ini.
Any suggestions?

xnview wrote:Yes, i think that it's better to save all .ini in Application Data. History is in xnview.ini.
Any suggestions?

Why not save all options, history and favourites (for each windows user) to a single ini file / combine bookmark.ini and xnview.ini?

If you share your computer with another user(s), that user(s) can change size and position of the main xnview window, then you must change it back... finally it could even cause conflicts between users

...so I think a single ini file for each windows user would be very useful.

Also creating of backup from a single ini file would be easier than from two files in two different locations.

Dreamer wrote:

xnview wrote:Yes, i think that it's better to save all .ini in Application Data. History is in xnview.ini.
Any suggestions?

Why not save all options, history and favourites (for each windows user) to a single ini file / combine bookmark.ini and xnview.ini?

If you share your computer with another user(s), that user(s) can change size and position of the main xnview window, then you must change it back... finally it could even cause conflicts between users

...so I think a single ini file for each windows user would be very useful.

Also creating of backup from a single ini file would be easier than from two files in two different locations.

No, for users that use registry, you have no xnview.ini

xnview wrote:No, for users that use registry, you have no xnview.ini

Registry is another problem, which options/favourites/history is independent for each user now?

What other users (mainly those who share their computer with other user(s) ) think about that - "save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to a single ini file" ?

Dreamer wrote:

xnview wrote:No, for users that use registry, you have no xnview.ini

Registry is another problem, which options/favourites/history is independent for each user now?

What other users (mainly those who share their computer with other user(s) ) think about that - "save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to a single ini file" ?

Dreamer, please wait for an appropriate FAQ entry (see above). Then the discussion can base on facts, not on assumptions and guessing.

helmut wrote:Dreamer, please wait for an appropriate FAQ entry (see above). Then the discussion can base on facts, not on assumptions and guessing.

OK, I misunderstood your post above... but Pierre already wrote "History is in xnview.ini" and I know that options are in xnview.ini too and favourites are different for each windows user in bookmark.ini ... so my suggestion is easy - save all options for each user like favourites in bookmark.ini.

Dreamer wrote:

helmut wrote:Dreamer, please wait for an appropriate FAQ entry (see above). Then the discussion can base on facts, not on assumptions and guessing.

OK, I misunderstood your post above... but Pierre already wrote "History is in xnview.ini" and I know that options are in xnview.ini too and favourites are different for each windows user in bookmark.ini ... so my suggestion is easy - save all options for each user like favourites in bookmark.ini.

Once the FAQ is available, even other users might follow this discussion and give input. So just wait.

I've just posted the FAQ 'Technical info about XnView's settings (store & load)'. This should clarify most questions on .ini files.

helmut wrote:I've just posted the FAQ 'Technical info about XnView's settings (store & load)'. This should clarify most questions on .ini files.

My suggestions are still the same:

Dreamer wrote:Save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to one ini file - "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

And combine xnview.ini with bookmark.ini and save it to a single file under "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Another reason for that - if user 1 has options saved in registry and user 2 in ini, then user 1 could clear/overwrite options of user 2 - if he unmark "Use registry to save options"

Also another suggestion (somewhere else) - Export options to *.reg file - would be useful. Or at least one of these suggestions...

Dreamer wrote:My suggestions are still the same:

Dreamer wrote:Save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to one ini file - "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

And combine xnview.ini with bookmark.ini and save it to a single file under "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Right. I think for saving .ini files the directories:
- on Windows 9x: \Windows
- on Win2K or higher: \Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\XnView
should be used (see also topic 'Location of wallpaper file'). As you have pointed out, already, this will prevent users from overwriting their configurations/settings.

When backing up a configuration, you have to backup two files. One file might be better in some respects, but it does not make much difference. There's even reasons for splitting the bookmarks from the rest.
So I think putting all settings in one .ini file has no or very low priority.

If there was a performance issue, Pierre should naturally adress it, but I don't think that 1 or 2 ini files make a big difference. But this is Pierre's business.

Dremer wrote:Another reason for that - if user 1 has options saved in registry and user 2 in ini, then user 1 could clear/overwrite options of user 2 - if he unmark "Use registry to save options"

Right, see above.

Dremer wrote:Also another suggestion (somewhere else) - Export options to *.reg file - would be useful. Or at least one of these suggestions...

This has been discussed in another thread and I still think that this has little priority.

Dreamer wrote:

Dreamer wrote:Save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to one ini file - "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

And combine xnview.ini with bookmark.ini and save it to a single file under "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Sorry but i can't. bookmark.ini is not loaded by windows API, not the same format.

xnview wrote:

Dreamer wrote: And combine xnview.ini with bookmark.ini and save it to a single file under "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Sorry but i can't. bookmark.ini is not loaded by windows API, not the same format.

I just thought it could speed up the startup, but I agree with Helmut, that it's not so important, especially if both files will be placed in the same folder, users can backup whole folder xnview. But this could be also the problem, if there will be also a wallpaper - users might backup just files and if they've got a lot of ini files, bookmark.ini could get lost, so I suggest at least (if possible) to rename bookmark.ini to e.g. xnview bookmark.ini or xnviewbookmark.ini...

And what about that (see above for more):

Dreamer wrote:Save all options, history and favourites for each windows user to one ini file - "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Dreamer wrote:

xnview wrote:

Dreamer wrote: And combine xnview.ini with bookmark.ini and save it to a single file under "C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\xnview.ini"

Sorry but i can't. bookmark.ini is not loaded by windows API, not the same format.

I just thought it could speed up the startup, but I agree with Helmut, that it's not so important, especially if both files will be placed in the same folder, users can backup whole folder xnview. But this could be also the problem, if there will be also a wallpaper - users might backup just files and if they've got a lot of ini files, bookmark.ini could get lost, so I suggest at least (if possible) to rename bookmark.ini to e.g. xnview bookmark.ini or xnviewbookmark.ini...

Why to rename it, you are in the XnView folder
So by default, now XnView must use Documents and Settings\<user>\Application Data\XnView\ to save xnview.ini instead of XnView folder?