Checking desktop icon layout on startup?

[injtsvetkov]

Hi Phil,
I have recently used the "Restore desktop icon layout" feature, but unfortunately as I had forgotten when was the last time I saved the layout, the end result was a bit disappointing . It's totally my fault, but I was thinking whether it would be possible to make it periodically check if the layout has changed since the last time it was saved e.g. on every startup or maybe an option (which could be enabled/disabled) in settings to check on every 'x' days.
If the above is not possible, than maybe an option to register when it was saved and show a pop-up reminder every 'x' days to remind you to save it yourself, or even an option to automatically save the layout every 'x' days.

Thank you!
Iliya

[phil]

I dont like the idea of auto-saving because my desktop keeps changing the icon layout (Thanks to dual monitors on Windows 10 and remote desktop swapping it!) so if it saved at the wrong time, I would loose my icon positions. A reminder could work - but then many people dont use this option so it would have to be something you turn on - and then, well why not just ask Windows to remind you

I suppose it could look if the icon layout has changed.... In a way, XMBC is the wrong place to do icon saving and restoring but I put the options in there perhaps in a bad move because it was useful to me when there were no other tools to easily save/restore positions. There are many things it could do better - like detect RDP session and disable the option (or have a different layout saved for RDP sessions) and also the ability to save different layouts per resolution/number of monitors etc. but as soon as I think about that, it gets rather complicated!!!!

I'll have a think about it and see what I can do without too much work!

[injtsvetkov]

I'll have a think about it and see what I can do without too much work!

Yea, that's exactly what I meant. No need for complicated options, just something simple that won't be too much of a hassle. Yea, I suppose that there are plenty of other tools for that purpose, but installing a separate app for that while XMBC already has it... it's a shame . Either way the feature is already there and it's so simple and easy to use. I just thought that to use it effectively you need to somehow keep track of what you saved and when did you save it. Otherwise, if you save the layout now and after a couple of months when you (or someone else) accidentally get things scrambled, you just can't be sure whether it is worth to restore it as you have already forgotten when was the last time you saved it and what was there when you did . Further more, even if you have that info, indeed it could turn out that the saved layout you've got is too old to do you any good. That's why I suggested some kind of reminder, but as you mentioned, you can always use windows or some other app to remind you so it seems that's not much of a solution either.
It seems that the only thing that makes sense is checking for changes in the layout since the last save and maybe a pop-up tip to ask you if you want to save it now . That way you can chose not to save it if say the changes are temporary or are caused by an RDP session or another monitor added or else...