My panel file is large enough, I occasionally have to diff things, to figure out what changed, and when something went wrong (I lose signal mast logic for unknown reasons) . The current model, as noted seems to change order if add something. It sounds like the new idea would make diffs much easier to see what was addred/subtracted, so I'm for it.
On Mon, Sep 2, 2019 at 8:35 PM Bob Jacobsen <rgj1927@...> wrote:
There¡¯s one local layout that I configure via files stored on GitHub (). I like the way that lets me control exactly what¡¯s going to be used for e.g. an operating session while I¡¯m working on something else.
The current code for writing panel files is an imperfect hybrid.? It¡¯ll preserve the order from one load-store cycle to the next _unless_ items were added and/or deleted.? Then, depending on exactly what was done, some reordering can happen.
The proposed new approach, writing in system name order, would be One Big Change the first time the file was stored with an updated JMRI version.? After that, it should be much more stable against arbitrary ordering changes.
Bob
> On Sep 2, 2019, at 12:40 PM, Heiko Rosemann <heiko.rosemann@...> wrote:
>
> I don't know if it applies to panel files, but in general please try to
> keep files the same if they stay the same. Makes working with version
> control systems so much easier if you can find the changes and don't
> have to sift through a hundred unrelated ordering changes to find a
> single actual change.
>
> Second best option would be a single big change once, worst would be
> random order, changing on every save.
>
> As I started this eMail, I don't know if this applies to panel files,
> aka if anyone actually uses git/svn/choose your pick to work with them.
>
> Just my two cents (€),
> Heiko
>
