Trying to store user settings & default saved data location in a less confusing way.
On PC1,
Label1.Caption := TPath.GetDocumentsPath;
shows me C:\Users\Mike\Documents, on PC2 it shows C:\users\mike\OneDrive\Documents.
On PC2 I have two sets of \Documents files & folders which do not match each other, and finding a setting or document involves a search. I have had feedback from a user in Singapore who similarly reported struggling to find their data.
As my application by default stores user settings in a subfolder of \Documents and there are users all over the world with different implementations, I would like advice.
I assume I should accept whatever is supplied by TPath.GetDocumentsPath without trying to modify it?
I could raise a warning if my application can detect two \Documents folders.
Or should I set a default store somewhere else?
I use Local AppData folder to store settings that depends on the user and ProgramData to store the global settings (independent of user). Code extract:
var
CommonPath : array [0..MAX_PATH] of Char;
LocalPath : array [0..MAX_PATH] of Char;
LangFileName : String;
begin
SHGetFolderPath(0, CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA, 0, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, @CommonPath[0]);
SHGetFolderPath(0, CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA, 0, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, @LocalPath[0]);
FAppName := ChangeFileExt(ExtractFileName(Application.ExeName), '');
FCommonAppData := IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter(CommonPath) +
CompanyFolder + '\' + FAppName + '\';
FLocalAppData := IncludeTrailingPathDelimiter(LocalPath) +
CompanyFolder + '\' + FAppName + '\';
ForceDirectories(FCommonAppData);
ForceDirectories(FLocalAppData);
end;
The variables are in the protected stion in form's class:
FLocalAppData : String;
FCommonAppData : String;
FAppName : String;
And CompanyName is a constant whose value is obviously my company name.