[Subsurface-divelog/subsurface] PATCH: Update the single-dive per page print template (#839)

[Willem Ferguson]

On 19/11/2017 21:13, Lubomir I. Ivanov wrote:
>
> @willemferguson <https://github.com/willemferguson>
>
> even if the new template is an improvement over the old one i do not 
> question which one is better. we just need to name it differently and 
> here is why - as a summary of the template installation process:
>
>   * the user already has subsurface installed with templates copied to
>     his user folder
>     this is done only on the first subsurface run and from that point
>     on we do not touch the user templates
>     [1] he/she may or may not had made changes to those templates
>   * we update the bundled templates with subsurface
>   * user downloads the latest version of subsurface
>   * by downloading the latest version of subsurface where we modify
>     the existing template X, user would not see this new template as
>     we *do not* overwrite the existing templates which are already in
>     the user folder because of [1].
>
> this means that the users will not see a *new template* with the same 
> name, because we won't overwrite his existing one.
>
> like i've said in the other PR/thread, the only reasonable mechanic 
> for updating user templates without a complicated UI for that, is to 
> provide a ZIP file at the website with a link |Latest printing 
> templates|. the user then can decide if he/she wants to accept the 
> download and install it in his user folder.
>
> we can maintain the contents of the ZIP file in a separate GIT 
> repository. if new templates, with new names are introduced we can 
> include them in subsurface, as those will be copied to the user folder 
> the first time subsurface finds out that the user does not have them.
>
> does that explain the situation?
>
> —
>
Lubomir,

Effective communication is indeed difficult. What I read in your 
previous mail was totally different from what you had intended to 
communicate. My humble apologies for being rather reactive than being 
more understanding. I will try to read more carefully in future.

There is a principle at stake which is not healthy at all, and this is 
the perpetuation of old or faulty print templates. When a new version of 
Subsurface is run the first time, all existing (or call them system 
templates) templates should be installed in the user area. If anyone 
edits an existing template without saving it under a different name, 
these edits should not be considered as permanent.

A template could in principle be faulty and one would like to have a way 
of recovering from this. The template edit mechanism in Subsurface 
allows for exporting a template, but not for saving it under a different 
name. What happens if someone edits the html/css/django code and messes 
it up by saving a faulty template by hitting the Apply button? The 
original One Dive template has now been damaged, saved (and possibly 
exported), which leaves the existing One Dive template nonfunctional 
without a simple mechanism to get an undamaged version, even if a new 
version of Subsurface is installed. I am talking now of the average 
non-programmer who does not understand the inside workings of Subsurface 
and who has probably installed from the Linux repository or the 
Subsurface download site and who has no idea of where in the file 
structure the various resources are and does not even know of the 
.subsurface directory.

To improve the state of affairs, two changes are necessary:
1) when editing a print template within Subsurface, one should be forced 
to save it under a different name. Currently it overwrites the existing 
template. The Apply button in the print dialog for editing templates 
should therefore rather be Save As..
2) if you feel serious about a .zip file with a print template files, 
then the print dialog should have a button "Get latest print templates" 
that goes through the appropriate actions.
3) At install or upgrade time, all system print templates are written to 
the user area.

I hope my argument sounds reasonable.
Kind regards,
willem







-- 
This message and attachments are subject to a disclaimer.
Please refer to 
http://upnet.up.ac.za/services/it/documentation/docs/004167.pdf for full 
details.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.subsurface-divelog.org/pipermail/subsurface/attachments/20171120/bf5a4883/attachment.html>