[tools] settings/config file

[András Belicza <ic...@gmail.com>]

Hi!

I'm developing the Harmony policytool tool, and 1 question emerged to me.
There might be reasonable settings that one might want to put in a config
file in order so Harmony users can change it (only in config file) without
having to recompile the whole Harmony project.

Where can I put such config file for policytool?
It would be a single text file like 'policytool.cfg' in which I would put
some options/properties which could drive/control the running of policytool.
For example font type, font size, GUI window location etc. Currently I'm
having these in the Java sources.
And how can I reach that file? E.g. same directory as policytool.exe or
relative to a system variable like $JAVA_HOME or $HARMONY_HOME?

Or should I just leave these options gathered in one central Java source
file?

Thanks,
    András Belicza

Re: [tools] settings/config file

[András Belicza <ic...@gmail.com>]

I think I'll just stick to put these settigns to a centralized Java class.
We can switch to another solution easily then if necessary later on.

Thanks,
    András

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 5:16 PM, Sian January <si...@googlemail.com>
wrote:

> Hi András,
>
> In general I would say if it's something the user would want to change then
> they should be able to do it via the GUI rather than having to edit a file
> (e.g clicking "Window" > "Preferences" or similar).  You might need to use
> a
> file under the covers to store the information, and in that case I think
> you
> would probably put it somewhere in the user's home directory since an
> installation of Java can be used by multiple users.
>
> An alternative is to define a -X option, which would save you having to
> store the preferences in a file, but the user would have to specify the
> option every time they start the tool.
>
> However it might be easier for you to avoid this entirely, as Sun's
> policytool does.  For the specific examples you mentioned it might be best
> to just choose intelligent defaults, e.g. use the System font size and
> choose a good default for the window location.  That's probably what I
> would
> do personally (at least for the two examples that you mentioned).
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Sian
>
>
> On 17/06/2008, András Belicza <ic...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi!
> >
> > I'm developing the Harmony policytool tool, and 1 question emerged to me.
> > There might be reasonable settings that one might want to put in a config
> > file in order so Harmony users can change it (only in config file)
> without
> > having to recompile the whole Harmony project.
> >
> > Where can I put such config file for policytool?
> > It would be a single text file like 'policytool.cfg' in which I would put
> > some options/properties which could drive/control the running of
> policytool.
> > For example font type, font size, GUI window location etc. Currently I'm
> > having these in the Java sources.
> > And how can I reach that file? E.g. same directory as policytool.exe or
> > relative to a system variable like $JAVA_HOME or $HARMONY_HOME?
> >
> > Or should I just leave these options gathered in one central Java source
> > file?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >    András Belicza
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Unless stated otherwise above:
> IBM United Kingdom Limited - Registered in England and Wales with number
> 741598.
> Registered office: PO Box 41, North Harbour, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3AU
>

Re: [tools] settings/config file

[Sian January <si...@googlemail.com>]

Hi András,

In general I would say if it's something the user would want to change then
they should be able to do it via the GUI rather than having to edit a file
(e.g clicking "Window" > "Preferences" or similar).  You might need to use a
file under the covers to store the information, and in that case I think you
would probably put it somewhere in the user's home directory since an
installation of Java can be used by multiple users.

An alternative is to define a -X option, which would save you having to
store the preferences in a file, but the user would have to specify the
option every time they start the tool.

However it might be easier for you to avoid this entirely, as Sun's
policytool does.  For the specific examples you mentioned it might be best
to just choose intelligent defaults, e.g. use the System font size and
choose a good default for the window location.  That's probably what I would
do personally (at least for the two examples that you mentioned).


Regards,

Sian


On 17/06/2008, András Belicza <ic...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I'm developing the Harmony policytool tool, and 1 question emerged to me.
> There might be reasonable settings that one might want to put in a config
> file in order so Harmony users can change it (only in config file) without
> having to recompile the whole Harmony project.
>
> Where can I put such config file for policytool?
> It would be a single text file like 'policytool.cfg' in which I would put
> some options/properties which could drive/control the running of
policytool.
> For example font type, font size, GUI window location etc. Currently I'm
> having these in the Java sources.
> And how can I reach that file? E.g. same directory as policytool.exe or
> relative to a system variable like $JAVA_HOME or $HARMONY_HOME?
>
> Or should I just leave these options gathered in one central Java source
> file?
>
> Thanks,
>    András Belicza
>



-- 
Unless stated otherwise above:
IBM United Kingdom Limited - Registered in England and Wales with number
741598.
Registered office: PO Box 41, North Harbour, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3AU