PSP and passing on customizations

[ehume]

Does PSP still fail to allow old customizations to coexist with the new features that come with new versions?

I know you can migrate an older Workspace to a newer version of PSP. But then you shut yourself out of any new features in PSP. As f'rinstances, we added UIs in PSPx10 that were not present in PSPx9. And because of the new tab, there was a new option -- that of whether or not to start PSP in the editor tab.

When I opened my PSPx9 workspace in PSPx10, those new options were gone. Also, we had a choice of size for scrollbars and icons in PSPx10 we did not have in PSPx9. But the Workspace I migrated to PSP 2018 did not include those new options.

So, should this be on the wishlist for PSP 2021?

[JoeB]

While it is possible to open a workspace from a previous version in a newer version you will not get all of the options available in the newer version plus you might find that not everything from the older version works exactly as it did in the older version. I don't know if it is even possible to make workspace portability work 100% given how there is often a lot of coding that inter-connects with various options, and some of those connections might have been modified in newer versions.

[ehume]

While it is possible to open a workspace from a previous version in a newer version you will not get all of the options available in the newer version plus you might find that not everything from the older version works exactly as it did in the older version. I don't know if it is even possible to make workspace portability work 100% given how there is often a lot of coding that inter-connects with various options, and some of those connections might have been modified in newer versions.

You are correct. While we could use our old workspaces, we will not get the new features. Whether or not it is "possible to make workspace portability work 100%," does this issue deserve a place in the wishlist for PSP 2021?

[LeviFiction]

The problem is the method by which they import workspaces. They are just doing a registry backup and then restoring the registry over the old values. While it's not technically impossible to only import positive flags when they exist, if they make major changes to the UI then values that used to match no longer do. And they just load them in, they are non-discriminate about it. It's why we can get corrupted workspaces in the first place.

In order to allow us to properly import only specific changes, they would have to design a format or language that activates very specific features in the code as if we were re-designing the UI in real time. A macro or script if you will that emulated our changes on the code level. A highly difficult concept to execute. But the benefit would be that instead of overwriting the whole UI with old values, it would instead only activate the values that were changed from the default values.

[ehume]

The problem is the method by which they import workspaces. They are just doing a registry backup and then restoring the registry over the old values. While it's not technically impossible to only import positive flags when they exist, if they make major changes to the UI then values that used to match no longer do. And they just load them in, they are non-discriminate about it. It's why we can get corrupted workspaces in the first place.

In order to allow us to properly import only specific changes, they would have to design a format or language that activates very specific features in the code as if we were re-designing the UI in real time. A macro or script if you will that emulated our changes on the code level. A highly difficult concept to execute. But the benefit would be that instead of overwriting the whole UI with old values, it would instead only activate the values that were changed from the default values.

OK. So it would be difficult. So we write down our customizations, replicating them in the new version by hand, one by one. Good thing we essentially do it once. But still, it is an impediment to upgrading; a small speed bump. But we are not likely to see it in a version of PSP in the near future.

[JoeB]

OK. So it would be difficult. So we write down our customizations, replicating them in the new version by hand, one by one. Good thing we essentially do it once. But still, it is an impediment to upgrading; a small speed bump. But we are not likely to see it in a version of PSP in the near future.

Definitely not! Corel doesn't seem capable of even implementing something much simpler, such as giving us the option of using the new Crop tool or selecting the previous legacy crop tool that rotated the crop rectangle and not the image.

[ehume]

OK. So it would be difficult. So we write down our customizations, replicating them in the new version by hand, one by one. Good thing we essentially do it once. But still, it is an impediment to upgrading; a small speed bump. But we are not likely to see it in a version of PSP in the near future.

Definitely not! Corel doesn't seem capable of even implementing something much simpler, such as giving us the option of using the new Crop tool or selecting the previous legacy crop tool that rotated the crop rectangle and not the image.

Lucky I still have PSPx9, which preserves the old rotate-the-box crop tool.