Improve PresetForm usability

LaneDibello / Kotor-Randomizer

The Kotor Randomizer. A randomizer for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Intended for challenge runs and general fun.

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Improve PresetForm usability #45

Closed glasnonck closed 3 years ago

glasnonck commented 3 years ago

Summary

The PresetForm works alright, but it is a bit barebones. It would be nice to improve the layout and functionality of the form. Below is a list of improvement ideas. Discussion and other ideas would be good.

Don't use "Include ..." checkboxes to determine what to save. Use the currently active randomization categories instead.
Automatically update the list of presets or swap to a "Recent Preset" list.
Include other information for each preset.
- Active categories
- Preset version
- etc.
Add a way to open and update old presets. (2.1 -> 2.5)

glasnonck commented 3 years ago

As an extension to the last item, the presets should also be made backwards compatible so old configurations will still be usable. It would be fairly easy to turn it into something like an ini or json file format that has setting regions and/or labels for each setting. It would create a bit larger files than we do now, but I think the trade offs will be worth it.

glasnonck commented 3 years ago

The new WPF GUI added in commit dde699b includes a new method of saving and loading preset files that will allow old save files to work with future developments. Settings are saved to an XML file (extension .xkrp) which can have new elements or attributes added as new features are added to the randomizer.

There is no specific Presets View in the new GUI, and instead settings files are saved and loaded just like a text editor would. A menu at the top of the window contains the typical new, save, and open commands, and they work as you would expect. The default folder for preset files can be specified in the General View within the application.