Groups > XML output

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pentool
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Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:11 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Groups > XML output

Post by pentool »

I've just found MainType. God Almighty! Where have you been so far! I've tried almost all font managers on the market today. Every one of them had a problem, or it was missing a key feature, or it was clumsy, or it was full of bugs or the interface was horrible.

I've been playing with MainType for about 30 or so minutes and I said THIS IS IT! Finally! The REAL thing. I'm very excited to discover this new proggy. So far it looks very promising! Has many features, nice and clean, easy to use interface.

So first, I'd like to repeat the request from one of the users, that in the Groups section, instead of moving or copying a font, let it create a shortcut to already existing font(s). Or at least have the option to add a font to a group as a shortcut instead of moving or copying it.

When I work on a project, I like to create a group for the fonts I use on that project. This way I don't have to make numerous duplicate copies of a font, just simply create a new Group that use shortcuts to the actual used fonts. If I decide to delete the project I can just delete the Group without worrying that an actual font might be deleted. This way only the shortcut(s) would be deleted and the original font(s) will still be intact.

Now back to the original title of my post. I was wondering that at a future release would it be possible to add a feature that would export or save the list of groups (or just selected groups) to either an XML file or whatever file (text, binary, etc). Reason for this, is that if I have a long list of groups (I love groups), then I don't have to scroll through a huge list of them. I could just save out whichever ones I don't use. I could save this along with the project I'm working on. Then later, if I need to work on the project again, I could just load the group(s) back. And since the groups would (ideally) contain shortcuts or references to existing fonts, the output file would be small. This way I could save group(s) information along with my project as opposed to saving the actual fonts with it. Am I making sense...?

--LES
Dave Crosby
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Post by Dave Crosby »

Hi Les!
Am I making sense...?

:D Yeah Man! We are like two feet in one shoe! (Am I making sense...? )

Try LOADING! For my last project, I Loaded the fonts I needed for that project. End of project, turn off the computer, and the loaded fonts unload automatically!
:oops: Caution: Don't move a loaded font to another file in the midst of a project or it can't be found to unload.
Aut nunc aut nunquam
pentool
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:11 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by pentool »

I'm ALWAYS loading! But that's just not the same.
Erwin Denissen
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Post by Erwin Denissen »

Hi Les,

Yes you are making sense. An import/ export groups feature would do the trick, but I'll have to think about this some more. Should an export include all fonts? If not, what to do when a font is no longer available, or what to do when a new (or older) version is available?
Erwin Denissen
High-Logic
Proven Font Technology
pentool
Posts: 54
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:11 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by pentool »

Well, I'm thinking that the exported file would include only absolute path references to the selected Group(s). Should I say, path references to the fonts contained within the selected Group(s). If you select the root Group (at the very top) then all child nodes and its fonts would be exported. If I select a particular node, then only that node - and its children, if applicable - would be exported. When you import the file, first you would select a Group node where you want to import the file back into. The selected Group would become the parent of the Group(s) you about to import from the file.

This way, if the file contain only references to fonts (as opposed to copies of the actual font files) it doesn't matter where (which node) the Group(s) and its contents are imported back, since they contain only pointers (references) to font files.

I'm kinda suggesting not to have 'move' or 'copy' functionality for the Groups feature. Let the user move or copy his/her fonts from within explorer if they want to make copies of them.

This way you can always load the exported Groups file back. If the font is no longer at the location as specified by the exported file, well, that's the user's problem because he/she was the one who moved or deleted it.

If the Group(s) would contain only references to the absolute path of the font, as opposed to moving or copying the actual font file, the path references could be internal to the program and would not require actual shortcuts in Explorer. Then you could just export these references in a text file or XML or whatever.

PS: I'm just saying XML because it's a hip buzzword nowadays, but I don't really care what kind of file it is.

--LES
Erwin Denissen
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Post by Erwin Denissen »

Les,

Thanks for the suggestions.
Erwin Denissen
High-Logic
Proven Font Technology
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