Hi Markus,
If you add comments to a launch file outside the Toolbox or change
its order, they will be lost during the next Toolbox save.
But you can add a widget to your gui can't you? A widget to enter
a piece of comment.
It is
incorrect, that the launch files replace the cfg files.
They replace the *.cfg files in the sense that it is in the *.launch files that the
use cases are now kept. But I understand they have other information as well.
A launch file is
a superset of a .cfg file content-wise. It e.g. also contains settings
about the mode in which TLC gets executed.
I have understood that but most of the information is mainly default values
if you remove them from the *.launch files, you make them more readable
for the user. I want to emphasize that we need to understand what is related to
the use case outside from your gui. Your gui is very beautiful but text-oriented
information when you are a scientist, an engineer, a technician and so on
is important.
If you want an analogy, all the sources, makefiles, README, tests related to a
software can be read with a simple editor as you know. It should be the same
with what is related to use cases in your implementation.
They act as input to generate
a cfg file to the *.toolbox/Model_Name/ directory with which TLC
eventually gets launched.
I have understood that. But that way *.cfg files have become temporary
and unessential files and their true sources are now the launch files and the launch files should be
stored at the same level as the *.tla file just as was the case with the *.cfg files.
As a rule I think you should separate drastically the essential files
from the temporary and ancillary files. (Because that way we only git
the meaninful files --and use cases are meaningful files-- and throw away
the files that are for the machine but not for the human being.) For instance
put all the files we can throw away in *.toolbox directories and *.tla and *.launch
files in the root.
What is your real use case that you read and write launch files outside
the Toolbox? Applying regular expressions sounds as if you want to
mass-edit launch files.
Yes that's the point. You may want to make a slightly different *.tla file and a new
project without having to enter all the use cases once again but only modifying
them a bit. You may also want to change the name of a constant in all use
cases without entering again the data that can be sometimes complex
(lists, structures etc.)
Then what I propose is:
1) Add a widget to give us the possibility to add a comment.
2) Put the launch files at the same level as the *.tla files.
3) Don't put default values in the launch files.
4) Make clear all what can be regenerated by separated them out
so that we don't need to git ancillary files (after all we never preserve
object or log files in a project.) What I propose is *.tla and *.launch in
the root directory and the rest in *.toolbox directories.
--
FL