[Xfce-bugs] [Bug 16425] Desktop icons rearrange themselves after reboot.

[bugzilla-daemon at xfce.org]

https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16425

--- Comment #5 from alexxcons <alexxcons at xfce.org> ---
(In reply to Piotr from comment #4)
> You misunderstood my idea.
> Nothing should be overwritten. New setup will be saved to a new file ONLY
> when user move icons. Not at random moments like now.
> I don't care about file format so you can modify this whatever You like, as
> long as it works.
> 
> My proposal is only about when save, not where and how.
> Save positions ONLY when USER move icons. That's it.
Ok, thanks for clarification!  However you still need to think what would be
the consequence on the mentioned scenarios. It is possible to do like you
proposed, though you concept currently seems to be incomplete.

Lets just go through different scenarios having your proposal in mind.
Lets assume we have grid full of icons defined in our *.rc file, icon size
44px: Resolution 1024x768 and a single xfce4-panel which is 30px thick. This
would result in a "workarea" of 1024x738px and, possibly something like a 12x10
icon grid

1. Increase resolution. Eg 1024x768 -->1920×1080 (FullHD)
No problem on that. We need to expand the available grid to e.g. 14x12, but we
can draw the old items.

2. Decrease resolution:   Eg 1024x768 -->800x600 (e.g. use the fallback
monitor)
- if we keep the icon sizes and distances, our grid will shrink to e.g. 10x8.
Some items cannot be drawn.
- we could think about automatically shrinking the icon-size, e.g. to 32px, or
the distance between icons, so that we still can draw our full grid.

3. Add a new monitor
No problem on that. We need to expand the available grid to e.g. 28x12, but we
can draw the old items.

4. Remove the new monitor
We will not see any of the items we placed on  the new monitor .. same than the
current behavior, (*.rc file for theold resolution is loaded) so I assume it
should be fine.

5. Decrease Panel Size
Nothing special here, same as 1.

6. Increase Panel Size
Same as 2. either dont draw some of the icons, or shrink all of them
(Actually I think the current concept of "workarea" is real bad ... thats one
of the reasons why I opened Bug #15344 ... I would just draw all the icons, no
matter how thick the panel is, even if a panel is drawn on top of some icons ..
users can sort that out on thair own)

A have to admit, that for the most usecases your approach looks good.
So the question would be, in your proposal, how you want to proceed with items
which would fall off the screen ? You plan to display a shrinked grid ? Or just
dont draw them ?

The-use case which could cause trouble is 2. ...e g. if your monitor broke, and
your fallback monitor has a lower res .. than you would need to recover missing
items by editing the *.rc file .. though that is realy a connercase.
If its only about choosing a lower res. ,than I guess it is apppropriate that
the user goes back to the old res and re-places missing icons by hand.

> I think now some race condition occurs and that make a mess with icons. But
> that's just a guess.
Yes, for sure there is some problem with the current logic ... they question
is, what would be the best approach for the future.

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