Re: path="" (or not) in GSettings schemas

[Lanoxx <lanoxx gmx net>]

On 17/10/12 18:02, Ryan Lortie wrote:
> hi,
>
> One of the big design mistakes I made with GSettings is that this is 
> really weird:
>
>   <schema id="org.a11y.atspi" path="/org/a11y/atspi/">
>
> The requirement to specify a separate path is confusing.  It causes 
> people to think that maybe the path should have a prefix like /apps/. 
> If you manage to avoid this trap and do it properly then it is 
> completely redundant.
>
> Of course, it is possible to omit the path to create a relocatable 
> schema.
>
>   <schema id="org.a11y.atspi">
>
> That's the crux of the mistake.
>
> Relocatable schemas are somewhat rare in their use.  The 
> non-relocatable case is the 'ordinary one'.  Ideally, the syntax 
> (immediately) above should have been reserved to that common case.
>
> Changing this now is a no-go, of course.  There are existing 
> applications that use the above syntax to define relocatable schemas.
>
> I propose that we could bail ourselves out of this mess with a 
> two-step process, as follows:
>
> 1) Start looking for a relocatable='' attribute on <schema>.  If a
>    schema has no path and has not been marked as relocatable='yes' then
>    emit a warning (similar to what we do for path='/apps/*' already).
>
> 2) After a year or so, assume that schemas without relocatable='yes'
>    and with no path='' are schemas that wish to have a path
>    automatically assigned using the expected '.' to '/' mapping.
>
> In this way we turn:
>
>   <schema id='a.b.c' path='/a/b/c/'>       <!-- common case -->
>   <schema id='x.y.z'>                      <!-- uncommon case -->
>
> to:
>
>   <schema id='a.b.c'>                      <!-- common case -->
>   <schema id='x.y.z' relocatable='yes'>    <!-- uncommon case -->
>
>
> Even if we don't do #2, I think doing #1 might be useful.  I don't 
> have any evidence (even anecdotal) to support the idea that the 
> current situation is confusing but it seems that a helpful warning 
> explaining to the user that "<schema id='a.b.c'>" doesn't mean what 
> they think may be useful...
I remember one time when I was writing an applet and I forgot to set the 
path and then as a result my settings were not being saved. This cost me 
quite a big amount of time to figure out that the path was necessary in 
my specific case. So I think this is a nice proposal if it makes thing 
easier to use.
> Thoughts?
> _______________________________________________
> gtk-devel-list mailing list
> gtk-devel-list gnome org
> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gtk-devel-list