Choose which workbeches load at start up [Feature Request]

[M4x]

Could someone explain to me why this might be useful please? The only reason I can think of would be to load draft WB if you're using draft tools in other workbenches for example. I think normally you've to load the draft WB before using those tools.

[kisolre]

Could someone explain

I have a toolbar with Part/Check geometry; Draft/Clone; Sketcher/Validate sketch; Part/Create shapes and primitives. I rarely use Part/Draft for anything else so opening them each time by hand was a hassle before Autoload.

[M4x]

Okay, I.see I got it right but underestimated the amount of custom toolbars

[openBrain]

To me the problem here isn't that it's possible or not to load workbenches on startup, but just that custom toolbars aren't correctly loaded.

[chennes]

To me the problem here isn't that it's possible or not to load workbenches on startup, but just that custom toolbars aren't correctly loaded.

Right - having to manually choose workbenches that get loaded at startup is sort of a workaround for the problem that when a custom toolbar is loaded it doesn't automatically load the workbenches that it relies upon. I have not looked into what that would require. That said, I'm poking at the autoload right now since it's a pretty easy modification to the existing interface.

[openBrain]

I have not looked into what that would require.

Me too. I just wanted the problem to be clearly stated. First step for a good solution to be found.

[Zolko]

a workaround for the problem that when a custom toolbar is loaded it doesn't automatically load the workbenches that it relies upon.

I don't think that a command "knows" in what workbench it is defined. So if you include a command into a custom toolbar, the toolbar can't know where its commands come from. If this is confirmed, then the only solution is for the user to pre-load the necessary workbenches.

[openBrain]

If this is confirmed, then the only solution is for the user to pre-load the necessary workbenches.

There are at least 2 other solutions :
* Add a mechanism so UI core knows which workbench a command belongs to, and can load it
* Load all active workbenches at startup

[adrianinsaval]

At the time of creation of the custom toolbar the commands are categorized by workbench so I think it's possible to store that data, for commands that were added to a toolbar before this is implemented in FreeCAD that data could be stored the first time the command's workbench is loaded. Something to keep in mind is that you can create global custom toolbars or workbench specific ones, how should the autoload behave when the custom toolbar is workbench specific? I think the required workbench for the command should be loaded when we open the workbench were the toolbar will show and not at startup (unless the workbench is needed for a global toolbar of course)

[chennes]

Going back to the workaround for a moment (since I've gotten other requests for this feature), here's a possible UI for the Workbench preferences page:

Screen Shot 2021-08-06 at 5.42.12 PM.png (30.46 KiB) Viewed 1665 times