Bo Peng wrote: > I do not know what is so complicated about AUTO embedding.
The fact that you have two versions of each included file, and that both LyX and the user need to keep track which is the "master" version. Whatever logic you implement in LyX to handle this will be difficult to grasp for the user (who maybe uses this feature only once per month). If a file is either embedded or not then you have a very simple rule that is easy to implement and easily understood. > You > continue to edit your document in the latex, external, pure-text, svn > way, and if you need to send your file to others, you enable embedding > and sent it. The recipient can view and modify your file without these > supporting files. When you get the revision back, you unpack the file > and continue to use your svn repository. This is the sole purpose why > I design this embedding feature. The procedure would be exactly the same without auto, see below. > Removing the AUTO feature make > lyx/embedding difficult to use, as in the case of word/embedding. I don't buy that. Without auto, you do this: - work on the .lyx and the external files the usual way - if you want to send it to a colleague, switch embedding on and send the file - when you get it back, switch embedding off and possibly confirm the overwriting of some files, on a case by case basis or all at once. Or you could choose to have embedding permanently on and never use external files (this would also be possible with auto IIUC). Pretty easy IMHO. Or if you want to keep some files embedded permanently, but not others: Implement a fancy dialog for switching embedding on and off for e.g. all .png files (but I'd consider this a special case that should not make the normal users suffer). With auto, I never know when LyX will overwrite external files with the embedded version or vice versa. For example, when I close LyX, edit an external .png file with gimp, and open LyX again, how should LyX know that in this case it should use the external file instead of the embedded one, because I did not receive a modified file from a colleage? It cannot know, so I have to tell it (by switching embedding off). And if I edit an external file while my colleague has the embedded file I do not want it to get overwritten by the embedded version, so 'auto' cannot be completely automatic and needs also a confirmation. But then where is the advantage of auto? > If you makes clear distinction between embedded and external. Your > .lyx file has to be in either zipped or plain format because there is > no easy way to convert between them without loss of information. Which information is lost? > This > will be troublesome, as you have complained, when you svn your .lyx > file. This is an orthogonal issue. A text archive format would enable me to put the whole archive in svn, and I would never forget to add external figures to svn. But this has nothing to do with auto. > Also, as I have said, lead to completely DIFFERENT ways to > handle .lyx file. You either go the MS/Word way, or the transitional > lyx way. The auto feature makes the differences minimal. I don't understand. Please note that I like the embedding feature, and this is meant to be a constructive criticism. Georg
