I am sorry Allan, but the output folder for should NOT be a subfolder of WinBMD. It is like that for historical reasons but for the latest versions of Windows (say from XP onwards) it is a deprecated location. If users need to move their output folder it should be under (My )Documents which is where almost every other piece of software puts its output. This is why users would find it easier to find the files. There are many reasons for using (My )Documents, some quite technical, but a simple one is that it works for PCs with multiple users. If users, for example yourself, wish to have the output files elsewhere that is fine, but the default, and what we recommend, must be under (My )Documents. Barrie > -----Original Message----- > From: freebmd-syndicates-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:freebmd-syndicates-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of > Allan Raymond > Sent: 04 February 2009 14:06 > To: freebmd-syndicates@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: re Windows Wish List > > I'm also at a complete loss regarding all this discussion. > > If volunteers are unable to find the default Output folder > location for > WinBMD produced files which I happen to maintain should be in > a subfolder of > the WinBMD what chance have they got of understanding the > proposed new > WinBMD requirements. > > We seem to be creating a rod for our back, this discussion > started because > of a suggested requirement to assist volunteers in being able > to locate > their files to send to their Co-ordinators. > > If it was recommended that all files produced by WinBMD were > to be held in > the default subfolder on WinBMD aptly called Output folder > this problem > should resolve itself without all these changes to WinBMD. > > I keep saying I have WinBMD to work on Vista and have no > trouble finding > where the WinBMD files are held C:/WinBMD/Output. > > I believe I have found a solution to the problem why some > volunteers can't > get WinBMD on Vista and fingers crossed I have managed to get > two long > suffering Vista volunteers to get WinBMD to work following my simple > suggestion of C:/WinBMD/Output. > > Allan Raymond > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Nowl" <owl.news@zen.co.uk> > To: <FreeBMD-Syndicates@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 1:17 PM > Subject: Re: re Windows Wish List > > > Excuse me butting in. . . I've been following the exchanges > between Ian > and Barrie with great interest, as I do feel the current default Save > Path causes some problems. But I'm not following why we would want to > move users' existing files at all. > > I thought the idea was to define a new default location that > was easier > to find for new users and "better" from a programmers' point of view, > particularly with Vista. But shouldn't it apply only to new > users/fresh > installs, rather than upgrades? People who are already happily using > WinBMD surely already know where to find their files and/or > have defined > a custom Save Path and don't want it changed. > > Much of Ian and Barrie's discussion seems to be about the > difficulty of > discovering the path to a user's current output folder and > the mechanism > of moving it. Couldn't all this be avoided if the installer > checked for > an existing WinBMD, and if it found one, left the current settings in > place? > > I'm also wondering whether the installation would fail if, when asked > where they want their files moved, users chose their existing output > folder, since files can't be "moved" to the same place? Would they be > forced to choose another path and then switch back? > > I'm not a programmer, so may well be missing the point here > and am happy > to be corrected :-) > > -- > Nowl > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > FREEBMD-SYNDICATES-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body > of the message >

Although I would agree with what you say about it being desireable, I'm really unsure that moving output files below My Documents or wherever really achieves anything other than some users being able to locate their files, and for many their current location below WinBMD is easy to find and doesn't really affect anything. Also to suggest a technical desireability to have them below My Documents ignores all the other files which are located in the WinBMD folder, such as the ini file, the district and names files etc, all these are updated by WinBMD. If there is a technical need to have the output files elsewhere then surely that also holds true of these other files and yet I cannot think of a way to relocate the ini file (as the program needs to locate it in order to know where it is located) and moving the others is very difficult. All I'm really trying to say is that maybe the technical advantages of moving the output folder are not worth the technical difficulties of doing it automatically. I think we should go with amending the existing change folder routine to create the new folder, defaulting to below My Documents, and copy the files for the user It's easy, almost risk free to do and allows those users who want to leave it where it is to do so. Ian ----- Original Message ----- From: "Archer Barrie" <Barrie.Archer@uk.fujitsu.com> To: <freebmd-syndicates@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 7:35 AM Subject: RE: re Windows Wish List >I am sorry Allan, but the output folder for should NOT be a subfolder of > WinBMD. It is like that for historical reasons but for the latest > versions of Windows (say from XP onwards) it is a deprecated location. > If users need to move their output folder it should be under (My > )Documents which is where almost every other piece of software puts its > output. This is why users would find it easier to find the files. > > There are many reasons for using (My )Documents, some quite technical, > but a simple one is that it works for PCs with multiple users. If users, > for example yourself, wish to have the output files elsewhere that is > fine, but the default, and what we recommend, must be under (My > )Documents. > > Barrie > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: freebmd-syndicates-bounces@rootsweb.com >> [mailto:freebmd-syndicates-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of >> Allan Raymond >> Sent: 04 February 2009 14:06 >> To: freebmd-syndicates@rootsweb.com >> Subject: Re: re Windows Wish List >> >> I'm also at a complete loss regarding all this discussion. >> >> If volunteers are unable to find the default Output folder >> location for >> WinBMD produced files which I happen to maintain should be in >> a subfolder of >> the WinBMD what chance have they got of understanding the >> proposed new >> WinBMD requirements. >> >> We seem to be creating a rod for our back, this discussion >> started because >> of a suggested requirement to assist volunteers in being able >> to locate >> their files to send to their Co-ordinators. >> >> If it was recommended that all files produced by WinBMD were >> to be held in >> the default subfolder on WinBMD aptly called Output folder >> this problem >> should resolve itself without all these changes to WinBMD. >> >> I keep saying I have WinBMD to work on Vista and have no >> trouble finding >> where the WinBMD files are held C:/WinBMD/Output. >> >> I believe I have found a solution to the problem why some >> volunteers can't >> get WinBMD on Vista and fingers crossed I have managed to get >> two long >> suffering Vista volunteers to get WinBMD to work following my simple >> suggestion of C:/WinBMD/Output. >> >> Allan Raymond >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Nowl" <owl.news@zen.co.uk> >> To: <FreeBMD-Syndicates@rootsweb.com> >> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 1:17 PM >> Subject: Re: re Windows Wish List >> >> >> Excuse me butting in. . . I've been following the exchanges >> between Ian >> and Barrie with great interest, as I do feel the current default Save >> Path causes some problems. But I'm not following why we would want to >> move users' existing files at all. >> >> I thought the idea was to define a new default location that >> was easier >> to find for new users and "better" from a programmers' point of view, >> particularly with Vista. But shouldn't it apply only to new >> users/fresh >> installs, rather than upgrades? People who are already happily using >> WinBMD surely already know where to find their files and/or >> have defined >> a custom Save Path and don't want it changed. >> >> Much of Ian and Barrie's discussion seems to be about the >> difficulty of >> discovering the path to a user's current output folder and >> the mechanism >> of moving it. Couldn't all this be avoided if the installer >> checked for >> an existing WinBMD, and if it found one, left the current settings in >> place? >> >> I'm also wondering whether the installation would fail if, when asked >> where they want their files moved, users chose their existing output >> folder, since files can't be "moved" to the same place? Would they be >> forced to choose another path and then switch back? >> >> I'm not a programmer, so may well be missing the point here >> and am happy >> to be corrected :-) >> >> -- >> Nowl >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> FREEBMD-SYNDICATES-request@rootsweb.com with the word >> 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body >> of the message >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > FREEBMD-SYNDICATES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Ian Brooke wrote on Sun, 8 Feb 2009: >Also to suggest a technical desireability to have >them below My Documents ignores all the other files which are located in the >WinBMD folder, such as the ini file, the district and names files etc, all >these are updated by WinBMD. If there is a technical need to have the output >files elsewhere then surely that also holds true of these other files and >yet I cannot think of a way to relocate the ini file (as the program needs >to locate it in order to know where it is located) and moving the others is >very difficult. I just installed WinBMD on a new Vista PC yesterday, and deliberately chose to let in install into Program Files to see what would happen. The .ini, district, supp_district and name2 files do indeed get copied and "aliased" to a folder under the user's VirtualStore. It's useful to be aware of this in case you want to back up your settings; the current working copies are the ones in the VirtualStore, *not* the ones in WinBMD's Files folder. Changing the Save Path works absolutely fine still, so I think what you suggest below is the best solution for everyone. >All I'm really trying to say is that maybe the technical advantages of >moving the output folder are not worth the technical difficulties of >doing it automatically. I think we should go with amending the >existing change folder routine to create the new folder, defaulting to >below My Documents, and copy the files for the user It's easy, almost >risk free to do and allows those users who want to leave it where it is >to do so. -- Nowl