Custom File Extension

[bitwise]

First year user of XLights, longtime follower.  I don't know if this request belongs in this forum but, I would like to see XLights use a custom file extension for their sequence files.  Currently, they are labeled .xml.  I cannot double click on a sequence to load it into XLights, I first have to open XLights and then press the open button.  Personally, I am accustomed to the Windows way of doing things in which you have a file on your desktop, you double click it, and it opens the program.

I am not suggesting changing the actual format inside the file (currently XML).  However, like the LOR software, they use an XML file for their sequences but label them .LMS so when they get double clicked, it opens the appropriate software.

Just my $0.02

[jnealand]

If you are in windows, you can click on start, then default programs, then associate a file type with a program.  Find xml file type and then associate with xlights, but I don't know if xlights will support that method or not and I don't have enough interest in it to alter my system.  Besides that would not work for me because the xlights program has to know what folder you want to use in setup and I have about a dozen folders with different configurations in each of them.  The program always defaults to the last one used which is not necessarily where you would want to be.

Also that is not the windows way of opening files,  that is just one way that windows allows you to open files.  There are a number of ways to open a file besides double clicking and using file open, such as send to.

[dkulp]

This is logged:

https://github.com/smeighan/xLights/issues/341

and we did discuss it a bit, but decided to defer till next year.   It's a bigger thing than you think as, at the time, xLights didn't even accept the command line parameters to allow opening a sequence like that.   Also, xLights is also a "single document" application.  Only one sequence can be open at a time.   What happens when you click on a second sequence to open?

[bitwise]

jnealand, I would rather not have XML files default to XLights as I am a programmer and use XML for many other things.  It would be annoying to have XML files open in XLights every time.  I understand that the double click method is only one of the workflows that Windows provides, but I use that workflow the most.  When you have a PDF on your desktop do you open Acrobat, click file > Open and point it to your desktop or do you just double click?

I get that the software is a "single document" software at the moment.  Maybe have it pop up a window that asks if you want to save what you have open right now before it opens the new file.  Or maybe allow multiple instances of the application.

Just my $0.02

[bitwise]

Besides that would not work for me because the xlights program has to know what folder you want to use in setup and I have about a dozen folders with different configurations in each of them.  The program always defaults to the last one used which is not necessarily where you would want to be.

I thought this was weird too.  Maybe it would be best to have the sequence XML file reference the correct setup so you don't have to switch between layouts in the background.  It would reference a model and network file just like it does a media file and iseq file.  When you press the "new" button, the wizard would ask for what set of configuration files it should use.  That way it would still not have to put all the same data in one file and just reference it elsewhere.

Also, I noticed it drops the iseq files in the root directory instead of the directory the sequence file is located in (like the fseq file).

Sorry for the list.  I'm new to this program this year and these are some of the quirks I have noticed.

[Gilrock]

I think everything was easier when we required you to have all your files in one directory and there was no paths involved.