[Stellarium-pubdevel] Observer class / multiple locations

[Matthew G. <mat...@gm...>]

Looking at the observer class, we have Observer::save which takes both a 
file name and a section name.  I think up till now we always save to the 
main config.ini file and use the section name "init_location".

I recall someone asking (either in the forums or a feature request) to 
support multiple locations.  e.g. they might want to have preset locations 
for "home",  "dark site", "work", etc.

I have to disrupt the Observer class anyway to change from InitParser to 
QSettings, and I'd like to implement something like this.

My questions:

1. Is anyone against the feature?  If so, could it be implemented in a way 
to make you happy, and how?

2. How to arrange it?  I can imagine users wanting to share their locations 
with others.  To facilitate this, I think it would be better to have a 
directory (at the same level as landscapes).  This could contain mutliple 
files.  Each file might have many locations (one per file section).  e.g.

.../locations/bob_locations.ini
.../locations/conny_locations.ini
.../locations/eso_locations.ini

Thus, it would be easy to package up my extra locations in a .zip file 
including any landscapes which the location refers to, and distribute it to 
others (who unzip in their user directory).  One constraint would be that I 
choose a filename in the locations directory which is likely to be unique. 

The specification of this is a lot more writing than the code to implement 
it...  there just needs to be an agreement about where to find the file(s).

3. It would be nice to include light pollution settings in a location 
definition.  Is there a reason not to do that?

4. Do you think it would be better implemented by allowing the user to 
select a new config.ini file at runtime - a "config profile switcher" of 
sorts?  In this approach, different profiles could be used for different 
locations and then any setting could be changed, not just those in the 
location section.


Matthew