Oops, I'm creating confusion. I meant to say that relative paths are the solution to #2 & #3. You're right, #1 isn't fixed at all.

Regarding #2, I see what you're saying now. You're suggestion of defaulting the file-chooser to the drawing's working directory is good one. I think an even better solution would be to default the extension's CWD to the drawing's working directory. Then the extension script could choose to open the file-chooser in that directory by default.

That solution would also help matters before somebody implements a file-chooser -- you just specify a relative path (or filename with no path) in the text input box. The extension script would almost always do the "Right Thing" without any special code.

It strikes me this would be a relatively simple & worthwhile change to Inkscape (though I don't know how complicated the relevant code is). Who is familiar with that part the codebase?

 - Bryan

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 08:34, Craig Marshall <craig9@...400...> wrote:
Thanks for your message, I didn't know about the recent improvements
to relative pathnames for exporting and embedding. That makes things
much better.

I do disagree with you about relative paths fixing issues 1 & 2
though, It solves issue 3 perfectly (having to respecify pathnames
when exporting after the svg has moved), but it doesn't help at all
with 1 & 2.

Just to restate more concisely:

Problem 1: For selecting a directory in an inkscape extension, the
best available widget I have found is a textbox, meaning the user has
to type it in. I think the extension interface is important to
inkscape, and it's not just developers and command-line whizzes that
use it, people would find it more consistent and user-friendly to be
able to select a directory visually.

Problem 2: Even with the cool relative paths for exporting, etc.,
there is still no improvement for extension developers. They still
don't know where the file lives, and still can't use relative paths
for partial exporting, etc. I just tried passing through a relative
pathname to my extension, and it then exports the file to the location
of the script, not the SVG file. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Thanks,
Craig

On 16 August 2010 22:18, Bryan Hoyt | Brush Technology
<bryan@...2310...> wrote:
> I believe relative paths are the solution to #1 & #2.
> I've been quite pleased with the recent changes to Inkscape that allow
> useful relative paths in the export dialog -- previously, relative paths
> were taken to be relative to the CWD, which could be different any time you
> run Inkscape, different on different machines or for different users, etc,
> etc. Now, relative paths are taken to be relative to the document's path.
> Works like a charm! Makes it very convenient to move the file, or zip up a
> project folder to send to other people, or use an SVG file in a repository.
> I believe both export hints & image references use the same logic now, IIRC.
> One feature which might help with all this is for any file chooser dialog
> (including for extensions) to return the pathname as a relative path when it
> makes sense.
>  - Bryan
>
> On Mon, Aug 16, 2010 at 22:56, Craig Marshall <craig9@...400...> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'd like to make a couple of requests for features (or perhaps
>> explanations/pointers to why they can't be included).
>>
>> 1) It would be really cool to have a proper directory selection (or
>> popup directory chooser) as an option on the inkex dialog. This way
>> the user doesn't have to memorise their favourite directories etc.,
>> they can browse to them, or use favourites, etc.
>>
>> 2) Someone on #inkscape mentioned that the filename/directory
>> information was excluded from the SVG for security reasons, but this
>> class of information is still freely included in the form of export
>> hints. It's inconsistent for one, and inconvenient for another. I've
>> just been developing an extension where it would have been much nicer
>> to export the necessary files to the same directory by default. A
>> possible workaround if 1) is ever implemented, would be to optionally
>> default the directory chooser to the drawing's working directory,
>> thereby bypassing the security problem.
>>
>> 3) Possibly related to 2. Whenever I export a document from inkscape,
>> then move the file (I have a bunch of folders/hierarchies and the
>> files move depending on various states), if I then need to export
>> again, I have to tell it where to export to, and it's a bit of a pain,
>> it would be nice for an option to always export to the working
>> directory.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Craig
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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>
> Bryan Hoyt, Web Development Manager  --  Brush Technology
> Ph: +64 3 942 7833     Mobile: +64 21 238 7955
> Web: brush.co.nz
>



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PS. Check out the Brush newsletter: Subscribe or read our previous newsletters

Bryan Hoyt, Web Development Manager  --  Brush Technology
Ph: +64 3 942 7833     Mobile: +64 21 238 7955
Web: brush.co.nz