Selective Auto Restore to DirOpus Defaults from DEAROpus + Own Changes

Help & Support
1

This is, may well, not be possible.

However, it would
save staff & customers a lot of work & hassle if it can be done, I think.

So, I'll float the idea & ask:

Is there a 1 command, 'fire & forget' way to

Purge one's Directory Opus configuration of DEAR Opus whilst leaving the customer's personal changes & tweaks in place :question:

--

IE. I actually found out about DirOpus through finding DEAROpus!
It's pitch is, basically, 'here is amazingly powerful tool but if you're an Average Joe you'll probably never use 70%+ of its high-end features. You might well get confused. So, I (DEAROpus guy) think I've made a more user friendly starting point with my DEAROpus packs of toolbars, icons, settings etc. Enjoy'

I, & doubtless many others, thought
"Yep, that sounds about what I need. At least until I master the basics"

Leo recently suggested I reset back to defaults. He was kind & complimentary about DEAROpus, saying it had many good things in it. However, having its defaults & not DirOpus' was causing confusion, making it harder for him to help me etc.

Problem is this - I installed DirOpus & DEAROPus config on the first day.
I spent the next 60 days tweaking the way various small things worked, as I came across them day-today, to how I wanted them.

So we have 3 configurations
A - DirOpus defaults
B - DEAROpus defaults
C - My modifications of DEAROpus

Can A, B, C be compared automatically to restore to DirOpus defaults everything DEAROpus changed but NOT what I personally changed.

Eg. If setting #12-405a is not the DirOpus default NOR the DEAROpus default leave it alone (the customer made that change and wants to keep it)

Meanwhile, if setting #05-102b is still the DEAROpus default it would be automatically reset to the DirOpus default.

--

It's an attempt to make solving problems easier on all of us but without losing everything customers have personalized.

Obviously, if a personally made change was later discovered to be causing a problem it could still be fixed & changed by the customer with guidance.

I am hoping this would just give Leo, Jon & ?
(sorry, I don't know the complete triad)
a much simpler picture to work with whilst not going back to bare bones defaults across the board & strip customers of all their changes in 1 go

--

Does that make sense?
Is what I'm proposing possible?
Is it a good idea or would it just create more havoc?

Honestly, I don't know but I thought I'd throw it out there.

Any good?

Thanks,
S

2

There's no automatic way to merge two configurations. Your best approach would depend on what "tweaks" you've actually made. For toolbars, you could make copies of your current set, then reset them to the defaults, have both the old and new toolbars turned on at the same time and drag buttons across from one to the other. You can also reset individual Preferences pages to the defaults, without resetting everything.

3

Is there a way I could output all of the configuration settings to text files

Then, I could throw all 3 into Beyond Compare & pin-point what was different between DirOpus, DEAROpus & 'My' Opus

4

Ok.

Maybe just terminological confusion but I don't think I'm talking about 'merging' configs per se.

I talking about selectively purging back to defaults Config A (DirOpus standard). Return to Config A anything from Config B (DEAROpus) that is not the same as Config C (My personal config).

That would remove all DEAROpus changes but not the 20 or so tweaks customers had personally made.

Like I said, I doubted it would even be possible. If it can be done, I thought it may help you & Leo to unpick systems of people like me. IE. Those who began with DEAROpus & built their own castle of mods on that sand, as it were.

If it's more work than the problem its putatively solving then let's not bother.

Your call.

Thanks,

PS. Jon, did you get my email
(sent about 8hrs back)?

5

It's semantics really. "Selectively purging" is the same as "selectively merging with the default configuration". There's no way to do either automatically.

The configuration settings are already text files (XML) so you can do this if you wish. How easy it would be again will depend on what parts of the configuration you're talking about.