Config change rollback.

[Hal Armstrong]

Config change rollback.

Just as one can undo edits, I wish (even for a limited time) you could undo config changes gone bad.

[Graeme]

Config change rollback.

Just as one can undo edits, I wish (even for a limited time) you could undo config changes gone bad.

In tools -> options -> application options -> exit, try setting "save configuration" to "always prompt before saving".  When you exit slick it will ask you if you want to save your configuration changes or not.  You can save your configuration at any time using the save-config command.  If you really wanted, you could also make your own version of the save-config command that first made a backup of your configuration folder (specific files), then saved the config data.

[geneg1]

Excellent, thank you!

[mjdl]

Easier management of user configurations

Sometimes I want to try to change the appearance of Slickedit 17 UI dialogs etc. by editing them, but I find backing out of unwanted/failed changes extraordinarily difficult--there is no version control of what gets dumped into the binary state file that controls the program's appearance, it's often a completely brittle situation. So most of the time I use the -sc option to start a fresh configuration folder, and then I apply hotfixes etc. to bring the new instance up to the current level, and from there I can mess things up without any regrets.

This process is all a bit much for small changes, so I'm wondering if Slickedit could emulate the Mozilla programs in this regard: starting Slickedit with the option -profilemanager would bring up a small dialog with a list of selectable current named configurations created by the profilemanager as well as the option to rapidly create a new profile. Nothing would change with the existing -sc option (equivalent to the Mozilla -profile option), which would not add anything to the profile manager's list, and there would only be one new startup option -P, which would start Slickedit with a named profile.
Maybe the Mozilla -no-remote option might also be useful for those wanting to run multiple instances of Slickedit with potentially different user configurations for each instance:

When Firefox is running and you try to open another Firefox process, a new window is opened instead, in the already running process. In Firefox 2 and above, you can use the -no-remote command line option to start a new Firefox process that is invisible to the first process. By using -no-remote along with the -P option to select a different profile, you can open multiple instances of Firefox at the same time, using separate profiles.

I use these Mozilla options all the time: I have profiles for locked-down (e.g. banking) browsing, regular browsing, etc. And the -no-remote option on the special browsing profiles ensures that new instances of the browser invoked by me or other programs will open in my regular browsing profile, not in any currently open special browsing profile(s).

[Clark]

Eventually we will be making drastic changes to the whole configuration system. The new system will fix the fragility problem you are describing as well as provide features never seen before in any product. At this point, we're done patching the configuration system. The current system was designed for really slow computers when storing tons of text (say xml options) was out of the questions. The macro storage design was also designed for really slow computers. It won't be easy, but I'm confident we can design a new config system that is faster for editor start up (by reducing file I/O) and provide a lot more power and simplicity.

[jorick]

SlickEdit saving the configuration (options, open files, windows locations) immediately instead of on shutdown.  That way I don't have to close all windows and reopen the ones I had up when my system crashes.

[hs2]

@jorick: 'save-config' command could be your friend - HS2

[jorick]

I want it automatic.  A brainless fool like me keeps forgetting about it.

[jporkkahtc]

SlickEdit saving the configuration (options, open files, windows locations) immediately instead of on shutdown.  That way I don't have to close all windows and reopen the ones I had up when my system crashes.

Already there: Options -> Application Options ->Exit -> SaveConfiguration  == "Save config immediately"

[jorick]

Looks like I have it set already.  If that's the case, it should have the added functionality of saving which files were open when the crash occurred.  Currently, after a crash, it opens a completely different set of files than what I had before the crash.

[jporkkahtc]

Looks like I have it set already.  If that's the case, it should have the added functionality of saving which files were open when the crash occurred.  Currently, after a crash, it opens a completely different set of files than what I had before the crash.

Try calling the function save_config() or save_window_config().
Looks like that will save the current state - including settings *and* the set of open files.