Re: [htdig] Re: Htdig bug report problems

[Gilles D. <gr...@sc...>]

According to Andrew M. Bishop:
> Gilles Detillieux <gr...@sc...> writes:
> > OK, this I find rather confusing.  You stated that "the ideal solution
> > would be to make the image_url_prefix configuration file variable
> > available to the header and footer templates", to which Geoff told you
> > how to do exactly that, but then you say this is not what you want to do?
> > How can htsearch make any variable available to the templates without
> > having to edit the templates to use this variable?
> 
> This is easy to clarify.
> 
> *I* don't want to do this, I want a *default* htdig installation to do
> it automatically.

I hope you realize that generally requests like this don't carry a lot of
weight.  We try to make ht://Dig as configurable as we can, but obviously
we can't find a set of defaults that will work for everybody right out of
the box.  In this particular case, I'd say the request would be reasonable
if there were a built-in template variable that passed image_url_prefix
to the template without any changes needed to htdig.conf.  As it is,
though, it would require adding a default allow_in_form attribute setting
to support what you ask, and I don't like that idea.  For one thing,
putting the image_url_prefix in allow_in_form by default would mean
that the image_url_prefix could be overridden by a CGI input parameter,
and I don't know if all users would like this behaviour by default.

> > The only drawback is that your WWWOFFLE templates won't take advantage
> > of new htsearch template features as they become available, unless you
> > periodically update your templates.
> 
> Exactly the problem, if I don't release a new WWWOFFLE version but
> there is a significant new htdig version with wonderful new features
> in the header and footer templates all of the WWWOFFLE users lose
> out.  If I can use the standard template files without editing them
> then the users get the new features at no extra work.

Well, in the past 3 years there's been very little in terms of whizbang
new features added to templates - mostly we've brought them a bit more
into compliance with HTML 4.0.

> > I don't follow you here.  The whole point of making the value of
> > the image_url_prefix configuration file attribute accessible as a
> > template file variable is so that different config files, with different
> > settings of this attribute, can share this same template file.
> 
> Yes, Yes, Yes!  But why do the default files not do this?  Why do I
> have to edit them myself?

Well, I guess the blunt answer is that the ht://Dig developers aren't
here to do your editing for you.  While you've argued that what you're
requesting would be useful to others, you're still the first person, to my
recollection, to request such a feature in htsearch, so we can't really
rank this as a high demand item.  So, if the developers make this change
in the default configuration, we'd be doing it pretty much just for you.

> All that needs to be done is to replace the compile time variable in
> the template files with one controlled by the configuration file.  It
> obviously is technically feasible since it is what you are asking me
> and all other htdig users to do manually.

No, I'm asking you to do this manually.  Of "all other htdig users", I can
recall no other such request for this feature.  So, the question really
boils down to whether this feature eases configuration significantly
enough for enough users that it's worth investing the time to make and
document the code changes necessary to do it in an acceptable manner
for distribution.  It's been my impression, based on what I've read on
the mailing list in the past few years, that only a fairly small minority
of users feel the need to change image_url_prefix from the default.

-- 
Gilles R. Detillieux              E-mail: <gr...@sc...>
Spinal Cord Research Centre       WWW:    http://www.scrc.umanitoba.ca/
Dept. Physiology, U. of Manitoba  Winnipeg, MB  R3E 3J7  (Canada)