npp-(minimalist) is SO VERY CLOSE to having GREAT session mgmt..
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tl;dr – Does anyone know how to sweet-talk Don Ho (or another contributor) to add the setting “Remember non-primary sessions for next launch”, or, even better, to make [non-primary session file saved upon exit] the behind-the-scenes default?
- I do know that SessionMgr-1.4.2-plugin exists (and seems to be well thought of)
- however, me, now: npp.7.5.9.bin.minimalist.x64 and minimalist ==> no plug-in support
- painful to realize that I’ve quit non-primary instance without … once again … explicitly saving session
- painful, after remembering & deciding to save, to issue “File | Save Session…” and then realize I failed to check that active file is in same directory as the session file [this has been discussed in an older post]
This is my first post; I hope it’s not rude to the community to lobby for features that have already been raised (although I don’t think my gripe/request in context of using the minimalist exe has been raised).
I’d be interested in seeing quotes from contributors for adding this feature; wondering if it’s a $10 or $200 job from the POV of an experienced npp dev jockey.
Best to all, and thanks, Don Ho, etc, for this terrific software.
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So after typing all the above, a light went on: I can make duplicates of the entire npp.7.5.9.bin.minimalist.x64 directory structure, and have hermetically isolated npp apps (with respective shortcuts), each managing (beautifully) its own primary session. There might be headaches and annoyances relating to managing settings in multiple places, migrating after upgrades, and such, but it is an option.
Still, as I state in the title, being so close, but not quite fully, to terrific multi sess mgmt – out of the box, sans plug-ins – seems to me a blemish on the mighty & grand npp, and one with a fairly easy remedy.
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I implemented the “multiple independent npp exe + settings directories”, and after dealing with some problems, it now seems to be working fine.
The two shortcuts needed to have the -multiInst cmd line argument so I could have both instances running simult’y, and ability to freely start them in either order.
At first the instances shared things like closed files history and search phrases history. I had to approximately figure out the settings files storage and fetching rules to disentangle them. It was a consequence of my having ‘settings on cloud’ (Settings|Prefs|Cloud) feature enabled (and pointing to a local subdirectory, not an internet storage site). The two instances were using a reference to the same ‘cloud’ subdir. In one of my indep. instance directories, when i changed to ‘no cloud’, on next restart I saw a bunch of settings & styles were no longer in effect; i had to do some manual xml file overwriting to recover. (I was a bit lucky, as I hadn’t backed everything up into a dedicated do-not-touch backup).
Both instances still point to the same projects (in workspace) file, but I’m fine with that for now.
I learned stuff I didn’t realize about the relationship between shortcuts in (Win 7 pro) Start menu vs. taskbar: changes to the former don’t automagically xfer to latter; gotta (taskbar) unpin and repin.
It took a while but things seem ok now.
I’ll close by repeating: terrific multi sess mgmt out of the box is a good thing, and, npp would have it with only a minor change.
