Improving Ortho4XP (bug fixes, functionality, etc.)

[shred86]

My intent is to not stray too far from the original Ortho4XP application but I do think there's small improvements we could make that can hopefully get merged into the official version. I'm starting this discussion to have a place to discuss issues or ideas that we can improve upon.

[shred86]

I think working with configuration files can be confusing and is an area that could be improved upon. A couple of examples:

1. When you select a tile, the configuration for that tile (if it exists) does not load automatically. I think it's more intuitive if it loaded by default.
2. Global configuration doesn't automatically get created when opening the app for the first time. If one isn't found, we should just set defaults and create the configuration file immediately. Otherwise, although it's a niche case, you can find yourself doing some work, try to reload the global configuration defaults but they don't load because the file doesn't exist.
3. It's not easy to identify if you're looking at the global configuration or tile configuration in the Ortho4XP config window. This might require a bigger change but I think the two should really be separate.
4. I'm not sure why the default_website (Imagery setting) and default_zl (Zoomlevel) are not written to global config but instead, to .last_gui_params.txt which is only saved if you use the application's close button (power button). I'm sure there's a reason, but I just can't figure it out yet.

[w8sl]

I think Artesim, who created progressive_zl, tried to solve some of these problems (1) It reads zone list from .dsf and displays all info with colors with one button press!
There is no chance progressive_zl feature gets merged to the official master even if it is technically possible, as I have proved on my fork, but it may continue as a separate branch as it is now.

Nr 2 is a problem indeed - especially with progressive_zl, as it causes error when opening the preview window. I have kind of solved it, by placing .cfg file in the repo. From what I see it is not possible to manipulate with configuration file without opening the configuration window.