Option to use an INI file instead of Registry
Moderators: AmigoJack, bbadmin, helios, Bob Hansen, MudGuard
Option to use an INI file instead of Registry
Is anyone interested in an option to have Textpad use an INI file instead of the registry for preferences? I work on several servers that are locked down pretty tight - no registry access. Currently I can run textpad.exe but it doesn't remember my preferences....
EVIL...
Anytime there are PC options you cannot control without the blessing of Big Brother, this is Evil. "Imagine a world with no registry, it's easy if you try..."
"There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey."
-- John Ruskin
-- English critic, essayist, & reformer (1819 - 1900)
-- John Ruskin
-- English critic, essayist, & reformer (1819 - 1900)
Would still like this!!!
At the moment I edit in TextPad but then have to run the required IDE to compile the project. It would be nice if I could have a set up for each compiler (a different ini file which could reside in the project directory) then I would not have to leave TextPad at all
By the way, I seem to have lost the ability to display everyones picture in the forum - it just shows a small red cross. Is it just me?
At the moment I edit in TextPad but then have to run the required IDE to compile the project. It would be nice if I could have a set up for each compiler (a different ini file which could reside in the project directory) then I would not have to leave TextPad at all
By the way, I seem to have lost the ability to display everyones picture in the forum - it just shows a small red cross. Is it just me?
The key problem with the registry is that you don't understand it properly. If you know what you're doing, and only if, and if you have made an attempt to understand it, you will find it's easier to sling it around machines with group policy/ reg files than opening up a system's permissions so you can poke an ini file somewhere.
Keep the registry - it's what it's designed to do!
Keep the registry - it's what it's designed to do!
TextPad redneck since 1999.
NinjaLabs is now CSWD Limited!
NinjaLabs is now CSWD Limited!
Everyone who's posted here "understands the registry" just fine. Just because someone has a different opinion than you do, doesn't make you right and them ignorant.ninjalabs wrote:The key problem with the registry is that you don't understand it properly. If you know what you're doing, and only if, and if you have made an attempt to understand it, you will find it's easier to sling it around machines with group policy/ reg files than opening up a system's permissions so you can poke an ini file somewhere.
Keep the registry - it's what it's designed to do!
But keep that condecending attitude. I've sure it will get you far in life.
-=Mara=-
Trolls abound...
Some more insight for you so you see my point in full.
You should use the right tools for the right job and the registry is the right tool.
The condescending attitude comes from the experience I have gained over the last 10 years or so dealing with the registry and INI files and really poorly written software on VERY large (2000+ user) networks. Three points for consideration:
1. INI files are hard to replicate using group policy to client workstations or new build workstations. Textpad is used in some very large network environments, one of which I managed for 3 years. I wouldn't want to alienate those users by making the software unmanageable (like most text editors are) by spreading numerous ini files around.
2. The registry is where meta-data belonging to applications should reside. Microsoft have been trying to get people to use it for years and years, but they are fighting a losing battle against people with their own ideas. This causes fragmentation and gives windows a bad reputation for being unmanageable, when in fact it is poorly designed applications without the centralised configuraiton which are the problem.
3. The configuration should be in ONE place and ONE place only. This is logical. Registry scales infinitely, multiple INI files don't.
I'd be interested in hearing valid opinions against this.
Some more insight for you so you see my point in full.
You should use the right tools for the right job and the registry is the right tool.
The condescending attitude comes from the experience I have gained over the last 10 years or so dealing with the registry and INI files and really poorly written software on VERY large (2000+ user) networks. Three points for consideration:
1. INI files are hard to replicate using group policy to client workstations or new build workstations. Textpad is used in some very large network environments, one of which I managed for 3 years. I wouldn't want to alienate those users by making the software unmanageable (like most text editors are) by spreading numerous ini files around.
2. The registry is where meta-data belonging to applications should reside. Microsoft have been trying to get people to use it for years and years, but they are fighting a losing battle against people with their own ideas. This causes fragmentation and gives windows a bad reputation for being unmanageable, when in fact it is poorly designed applications without the centralised configuraiton which are the problem.
3. The configuration should be in ONE place and ONE place only. This is logical. Registry scales infinitely, multiple INI files don't.
I'd be interested in hearing valid opinions against this.
TextPad redneck since 1999.
NinjaLabs is now CSWD Limited!
NinjaLabs is now CSWD Limited!
Because Windows allows more than one user to share the same installation of a program. With that solution, ALL users on a machine would have a SINGLE set of options. Or, whenever you use the machine after someone else used it, you'd have to set back options to what you want (because that other user might have changed something).^OO^ wrote:Why not keep a TextPadConfig.txt file, written in plain text, in the same directory as TexPad.exe?
If options are stored in a file, then in the appropriate place (i.e. in the user profile).
What about expanding the workspace format?
I am clueless about the registry and in general the inner workings of Windows and don't want to learn!!. All I would like is a way to set up TextPad so I can have one toolset for one project and for another project use a different toolset rather than having to have everything set up simultaneously. At the moment I'm involved on a number of projects which require 4 different c compilers plus lint. It would be nice for example to have one shortcut to the processor documentation which changed depending on the project as well as one compile button.
Don't care how it's done as long as I can easily edit the information and copy / change it for the next project (or zip up the project and email it to someone else to continue development). If people are against ini files the workspace file seems a reasonable place to put the information (it would reside with the source files which seems logical) although it would be useful if this was a plain text file so it can be edited easily, e.g. change compiler and settings - which sounds like an ini type file
I am clueless about the registry and in general the inner workings of Windows and don't want to learn!!. All I would like is a way to set up TextPad so I can have one toolset for one project and for another project use a different toolset rather than having to have everything set up simultaneously. At the moment I'm involved on a number of projects which require 4 different c compilers plus lint. It would be nice for example to have one shortcut to the processor documentation which changed depending on the project as well as one compile button.
Don't care how it's done as long as I can easily edit the information and copy / change it for the next project (or zip up the project and email it to someone else to continue development). If people are against ini files the workspace file seems a reasonable place to put the information (it would reside with the source files which seems logical) although it would be useful if this was a plain text file so it can be edited easily, e.g. change compiler and settings - which sounds like an ini type file
registry is easy.
Configure textpad for each compiler and export the relevant registry data in turn:
1. configure compiler
2. start regedit (start -> run -> regedit)
3. navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Helios
4. right click export -> save reg file to "compiler1.reg" to "compiler4.reg"
5. goto 1.
To switch, close textpad, double click regfile for compiler options, start textpad.
For each project, distribute a regfile and a tws file.
Sorted. No harder than INI files!
Configure textpad for each compiler and export the relevant registry data in turn:
1. configure compiler
2. start regedit (start -> run -> regedit)
3. navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Helios
4. right click export -> save reg file to "compiler1.reg" to "compiler4.reg"
5. goto 1.
To switch, close textpad, double click regfile for compiler options, start textpad.
For each project, distribute a regfile and a tws file.
Sorted. No harder than INI files!
TextPad redneck since 1999.
NinjaLabs is now CSWD Limited!
NinjaLabs is now CSWD Limited!