Wallch

The list of wallpapers is not saved

Asked by 2xxilill

Wallch does not save the list of wallpaper. E.g. I would have to re-add all the photos into the list after each reboot. I did a google search and didn't quite find any others having the same problem.

I am running Ubuntu 11.04 (32-bit) and Wallch 2.1

Thank you very much :)

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Wallch Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Alex Solanos
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Best Alex Solanos (hakermania) said : 		#1

Hello 2xxilill, in order to save the photos, the program has to exit normally.
Do you exit the program normally? A normal shutdown of the program would be
a) To press normally the (X) button (if the application has the option NOT to minimize to tray)
Or b) To exit via File->Quit (Ctrl+Q)
Or c) Press the 'Stop' shortcut if the program is running in Non-Gui mode (means the window is not shown but the process of wallpaper-changing is running)

If you do close it this way (because the fact that you talked about 'rebooting' makes me think that it's questionable if you terminated the program normally or not) please tell me how to reproduce this problem.

Also, note that 'rebooting' without closing the application is same as force-quitting it.

Revision history for this message
2xxilill (2xxilill) said : 		#2

Thanks alexsol, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
2xxilill (2xxilill) said : 		#3

Thank you very much for your reply. And yes, it solved my problem.

However I would like to suggest to include a "save list now" button or just simply save the list after it is inputted. From a normal end-user's perspective, it is difficult to tell that if the GUI is anything related to the back-end service. To the user, the GUI is the program.

Normally, as an user changes some settings it is saved when the "preference" window (or similar, you get the point) is closed. The program itself could be minimalized, terminated, or force-quitted and the settings will still be saved.

In fact, what I did was adding the list of photos, then closing it properly once, and then from then on just leave it in the system tray and ignore it. Since Wallch launches everytime my computer starts now everything is seamless. Though everytime I shutdown the system (while Wallch is in tray) it is technically force-quitting it.

I hope I did a good job explaining what I am trying to say :) Sorry for the bunched up grammar (I just woke up LOL)

Thank you very much :) Looking forward to a Wallch update!

Revision history for this message
Alex Solanos (hakermania) said : 		#4

Thanks 2xilill, I have some notes for you:
       "or just simply save the list after it is inputted."
This would require also to re-save the list on ever change the user makes, what if the user presses 100 times the remove button? The program will have to write to a file 100 times? Wallch was made in such a way so as to be light-weighted and this is not such a good idea to keep this reputation.
      "it is difficult to tell that if the GUI is anything related to the back-end service"
It has nothing to do, really. The Gui has to save the configuration: what pictures you have into the list, what options you have chose (Preview, Change images randomly etc) while the 'back-end service' hasn't anything to save because doesn't provide user interaction (so it's not such a big deal to force quit the application if it's running in non-Gui mode).
      "Normally, as an user changes some settings it is saved when the "preference" window (or similar, you get the point) is closed."
Yes, to make you understand better, every dialog e.g. the Preferences dialog has its own 'Close Event', so we detect when it's about to close and we do the corresponding action (save the configuration), that's why when the preferences dialog closes and the program force quits the Preferences configuration has been saved. But, as you may understood, the Wallch's mainwindow has its own Close Event and it will not pass it until you close normally the application.

After all, if you like force-quitting the application you can always save your images as Wallch Albums and so there will not be any need to re-add them all, you'll just double-click on the album!

Revision history for this message
Alex Solanos (hakermania) said : 		#5

Hey 2xilill, I want to inform you that I found a way to save the list !

Actually, it saves the list 4 seconds after the last change you've made to it, and it's working fine without having to write the list to a file constantly!

I have already committed a 'fix' to this on revision #8 (http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~wallch/wallpaper-changer/trunk/changes) and it will be possibly available on a new update one of these days.