Improvements are needed as to how the default gcode out file behaviour is handled, including how and when the file is prompted and the default gcode folder displayed.
This one has come up a couple of times...
http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4325.0http://www.cambam.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7470.0There were some changes made in the latest V1.0 rc-1 release, but its not quite there yet.
Here are a couple of changes I am proposing to add to the next update, so any comments and feedback is welcome.
Proposal 1Remove the drawing template logic that currently clears the Machining - Out File property when creating a new drawing from the template.
I think this is just a carry over from the days before the {$cbfile.name} macro and relative file path checking were added. Before those were added, anything in the template's gcode outfile property was likely not wanted.
Taking out this code will allow storing default gcode paths in the template files.
I think this is a better option that adding a single default gcode path in the system config.
(although this hasn't been totally ruled out)
So you could have different templates with Out File values such as ...
gcode\{$cbfile.name}.nc
X:\laser\{$cbfile.name}\{$cbfile.name}.nc
X:\mill\{$cbfile.name}\{$cbfile.name}.nc
\\plasma-machine\gcode\{$cbfile.name}\{$cbfile.name}.nc
etc
Proposal 2A system config setting [GCode Generation] -
GCode Out File Prompt - If Exists / Always / Never
If Exists (like it behaves now)
Always (sounds like some people would appreciate this)
Never (just overwrite existing files without prompting - unless the target folder doesn't exist)
Proposal 3Add a prompt to 'Create output folder: <folder name> ?' if the target path does not already exist.
This is useful if your template out file property is something like:
X:\gcode\{$cbfile.name}\{$cbfile.name}.nc
...it would get a bit tedious creating this sub folder manually each time.
These changes allow, a default gcode name to be stored in the drawing template, with alternative targets for different templates.
If the out file property contains a sub folder that does not exist, prompt to create this.
The amount of filename prompting should be configurable and the default folder paths shown should in most cases be in the required location.
Have I missed anything?
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