[Bf-committers] File -> Open ... "open as startup file" and a bit more ...

[Gaia]

On 27.11.2013 15:55, Brecht Van Lommel wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 1:50 PM, Gaia <gaia.clary at machinimatrix.org> wrote:
>> -------------------------------------------------------
>> 1.) Add a checkbox to the File -> Open panel:
>> -------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>       [ ] open as startup file
>>
>> When this box is checked, then the file opens without
>> its file name memorized.Then an attemptto do a
>>
>>       File -> Save
>>
>> will not overwrite the file but ask for a new store location.
>> Note: This checkmark will need to be accessible from python
>> as wellso that we can script "open file as startup file"
>>
>> If we would get this checkmark and nothing else i would
>> already be very happy.
>>
>> btw: at least on windows we can not simply make the
>> blend file readonly. This would ensure the file content
>> keeps untouchable but ... well, try it out yourself what
>> happens, certainly this was not my expectation. But well...
> Can you explain the purpose of this? If it's mostly for python scripts
> then it's perhaps better to make bpy.data.is_saved editable.
>
> If it's to avoid users accidentally saving over this .blend file, then
> I'm not sure it's very effective. It seems likely users will forget to
> check this option if they also forget to not save over this file. Or
> they open .blend files by double click in a file browser outside of
> Blender, and this option is never presented to them.

Indeed we only need this option to be available from Python.
Something like this would be ideal:

   layout.operator("wm.open_mainfile", text=name, save=False)

If that would be OK, then i got all i need :)

* The use case:

We ship "demo" blend files within a subfolder of our Addon.
These blend files are made available from a new menu entry:

"File -> Open Demo ..."

All demos are listed in a submenu using "wm.open_mainfile".

* The problem:

When you open a normal blend file, the load location is memorized.
Hence when the user later attempts to save ("File -> Save")
then Blender just overwrites the opened blend file (or
creates a new version within the same folder.)

So Users need to remember that their work is based
on a demo file which they better should not overwrite.

* Our workaround:

We create startup files and put them into the distribution.
Startup files do not memorize from where they have been
started and thus they behave exactly as we want them to
behave.

* from our specific point of view:

It is fully sufficient to get a way to tell blender
right after the file has been loaded:

"Ask for a new file location when the user wants to File -> Save"


>> -------------------------------------------------------
>> 3.) Add a checkbox to the File -> Save as... panel:
>> -------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>       [ ] include preferences
>>
>> This checkmark will allow us (creators/tutors/users)
>> to createstartup blend files without need to go over this loop:
>>
>> - save current startup file
>> - store as default
>> - move new startup file to other location
>> - restore old startup file
> I would like to understand the use cases for this option.
>
> The user preferences right now also contain settings that are system
> specific, like settings to make Blender work well with their graphics
> card, or a key configuration to make Blender work with their tablet,
> etc. I'm not sure you want those things included.

Here is our use case for this:

Sometimes i want to ensure that a user gets basically the same settings
as we have used within a tutorial. But instead of describing every time
what specific settings we used in a particular video, i would like to just
publish the tutorial_setup.blend file.

Of course we try to keep with the factory settings or at least close to
them. But sometimes it is helpful when we can deliver a "Demo" setup.

>
> Brecht.
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