save-options-to-user-specific-file

Arguments: configuration

Returns or sets with setf the value of the save-options-to-user-specific-file configuration property. The current development configuration is the value of (configuration *ide-system*). (See configuration and *ide-system*.)

If the value of this IDE configuration option is true, as it is by default, then Common Graphics and IDE user options are saved into the user's home directory (or personal documents directory on Windows). If it is nil, then options are saved into the top-level directory of the Allegro CL installation (known as the allegro directory). In either case, the options will be saved into a file named allegro-ide-options.cl. (In release before 10.0, the file name was something more like allegro-prefs-9-0.cl.)

The full pathname that will be used can be found by calling ide:options-path, passing the value of this option as the user-specific argument.

The heuristic described above is intended to handle typical needs for user-specific options files or for avoiding a write-protected Allegro directory. If that default behavior is not adequate, then you can specify an explicit path by setting up an environment variable called "allegro_prefs" and whose value is the complete path namestring for the options file. This variable will take precedence in all cases. Example value: h:/important-files/allegro-prefs.cl. The path's directory should already exist. Environment variables are normally set up in the System area of the Windows Control Panel. The string case of environment variables is not important to Windows but Allegro CL expects lowercase so the variable name, allegro_prefs, must be lowercase. Its value may use either forward or backward slashes.

When starting the IDE, options are always loaded from the user-specific location if the file exists, and otherwise from allegro-ide-options.cl in the Allegro directory if that file exists. The reason is that options have not yet been loaded in order to determine where they were most recently saved. Therefore, to revert from using user-specific options files to using the global allegro-ide-options.cl file, you need to delete the user-specific files that have been saved. Except for this, the value of this option will be saved with the rest of the options and will continue to be used in subsequent IDE sessions after being specified once.

On Linux/Unix, the home directory is the value of the HOME environment variable as usual. On Windows, the home directory is considered to be the user's My Documents directory if it exists, or else the Personal directory. These directories are found by calling special-windows-directory with the keywords :my-documents and :personal.

Configuration options are typically saved when exiting the IDE (see save-options-on-exit), or by invoking the Tools | Save Options Now menu command.

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This page has had significant revisions compared to the 9.0 page.
Created 2019.8.20.