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JefferyS
Senior Member
USA
32 Posts |
 Posted - May 20 2008 : 7:07:30 PM
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I would like to start backing up VA for two reasons. One, to restore VA in case of file loss/corruption, etc..
And to be able to move the same settings to another computer.
My backup program can backup registry entries too.
Edit: One more question, can the Export button be assigned to a different folder to export to?
Thanks,
JefferyS |
Edited by - JefferyS on May 20 2008 7:09:30 PM |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18940 Posts |
Posted - May 21 2008 : 09:37:06 AM
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The best way to back up VA is to simply back up the settings, which are stored in the registry, can can be exported as you have found.
You can back up VA's files themselves, but VA needs to be properly registered with the IDE before it will work. This is something that our installer takes care of when you install VA.
The other thing is VA's symbol database, but this needs to be rebuilt if you make any radical changes to your IDE configuration or the solution you are working on. Normally rebuilding this only takes a few minutes and can be triggered by
VA Options -> Performance -> Rebuild symbol databases
although this also happens when you install a new version of VA, so you should not normally need do do this manually.
Currently there is no way to change the directory VA settings are explored to, but they come from the registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Whole Tomato\
so you may wish to just back this up directly from the registry. Backing up the installer for your current VA version, along with your VA license key would also be sensible  |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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MrDoomMaster
Tomato Guru
251 Posts |
Posted - May 24 2008 : 2:46:23 PM
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Wouldn't it be worth it to create a built in feature for this? Allow VAX to export and import settings. This is better for several reasons:
1) It is safer. Less interaction with the registry equals less potential screw ups.
2) Quicker. A simple export to a file, such as settings.vax, is quick and easy. Importing it is just as simple.
3) Portable between versions of VAX and Visual Studio. When saving settings via the registry directly, I've run into problems where I cannot get settings to work from vs8 to vs9. By having a feature to import/export from within the VAX settings dialog, you can add code to support backwards compatibility.
I highly recommend this feature and I'm a bit surprised this feature does not exist. |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18940 Posts |
Posted - May 26 2008 : 12:00:06 PM
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This is an interesting question.
Why do you say that an import / export is safer? Currently there is no need to ever run regedit. You simply get a file from VA, which you then import by running it. I am not saying this is safe, but I am wondering how importing / exporting a text file is actually safer. We could sanity check all of the options, but since they are stored in the registry in a well documented location this won't stop you setting them to "bad" values by hand.
Speed, again I don't see how a text file would be quicker. Exporting the settings with the export button is instant for me. Importing them is nearly as fast.
The different IDE's, this is a more interesting question. The reason you are seeing this is that most VA settings are IDE specific. So the question is actually should VA try to import / copy settings from VS2005 to VS2008?
For include directories the answer is definitely No, since these are clearly IDE specific. For colouring and other "general" settings, the answer is less clear. It really depends on what you are doing. Are you working on the same programming language, and types of project in both IDE's? Or are you working in different programming languages in different IDE's?
If you are doing the "same" things in both IDE's then I can see you wanting the same settings. But if you are doing different things then there is a good chance you will want different settings. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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MrDoomMaster
Tomato Guru
251 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2008 : 12:27:26 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by feline
This is an interesting question.
Why do you say that an import / export is safer? Currently there is no need to ever run regedit. You simply get a file from VA, which you then import by running it. I am not saying this is safe, but I am wondering how importing / exporting a text file is actually safer. We could sanity check all of the options, but since they are stored in the registry in a well documented location this won't stop you setting them to "bad" values by hand.
Speed, again I don't see how a text file would be quicker. Exporting the settings with the export button is instant for me. Importing them is nearly as fast.
The different IDE's, this is a more interesting question. The reason you are seeing this is that most VA settings are IDE specific. So the question is actually should VA try to import / copy settings from VS2005 to VS2008?
For include directories the answer is definitely No, since these are clearly IDE specific. For colouring and other "general" settings, the answer is less clear. It really depends on what you are doing. Are you working on the same programming language, and types of project in both IDE's? Or are you working in different programming languages in different IDE's?
If you are doing the "same" things in both IDE's then I can see you wanting the same settings. But if you are doing different things then there is a good chance you will want different settings.
What file do I get from VAX? The only way I've ever known to backup VAX is to copy the registry settings. Is there some documentation on backing up settings you can reference me to? If not, mind elaborating a little? |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18940 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2008 : 4:52:46 PM
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*ah* I had assumed you knew about this, my mistake, apologies for that. There is a button:
VA Options -> Performance -> Export Settings
This just exports a registry file, but it tells you where the file is and its name. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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MrDoomMaster
Tomato Guru
251 Posts |
Posted - May 27 2008 : 5:03:34 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by feline
*ah* I had assumed you knew about this, my mistake, apologies for that. There is a button:
VA Options -> Performance -> Export Settings
This just exports a registry file, but it tells you where the file is and its name.
Ah, thank you very much. I was actually looking through the settings dialog for such a feature before I made my original post about this, I obviously overlooked it though.
Thanks again! |
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What do I backup in VA
