User Configuration

Multiple Layers of User Configuration are supported in MG-Picker

1.Manual configuration is set in the user preference dialog by going to Windows/Preferences.. menu in designer mode. (Ctrl+K)

2.The server configuration is set in an external text configuration file.

3.Environment variables.

Priorities of different configuration layers ( 1 as the highest, 4 as the lowest):

1.Server settings with a "!" prefix on the configuration key name.

2.User manual configuration in UI.

3.Server settings without a "!" prefix on the configuration key name.

4.Environment variables.

Tips on Manual User Settings:

Besides manually setting these preferences on UI, you can also use Python/MEL API to query and set all of them.

These config API is available as long as the plug-in is loaded, it does not require the UI to be loaded.

# Query all config keys and values in string forms:

cmds.MGPicker(q=True, config=True)

# To query one single config:

cmds.MGPicker(q=True, config=("recentPickerFiles", ""))

# To set one single config:

cmds.MGPicker(e=True, config=(configKey, configStringKey))

Tips on server config:

•The server config file, by default, is a text file called "ServerConfig.txt" in the "MGPicker_ServerConfig" folder that is shipped with the MG-Picker program files.

•The server config file is of the form "key = value", to add comment out a line, you start the line with "#".

•By default, the user config will have higher priority than the ones in server config, but if you use "!key = value", then it will override the user config.

•You can use the API to query all the configs to know all the possible keys you can set in the server config:

cmds.MGPicker(q=True, config=True)

•You can use the environment variable "MGPICKER_SERVER_CONFIG_FILE_PATH" to override the default server config file path, the default server config file will be ignored.

•Environment variables are supported in the value. Use them in form of $variable, ${variable}, %variable% or __variable__.

•There are some predefined constants that are not environment variables, but you can use them in the same way as environment variables in the value.
UserAppDir : The directory for the user application directory used by hostApp, like Maya.
UserScriptDir: The directory for the user script directory used by hostApp, like Maya.

Various Environment variables Supported:

The environment variables supported by MG-Picker are listed below:

Environment Variable Name	Note
MGPICKER_SERVER_CONFIG_FILE_PATH	To override the default MGPicker_ServerConfig/ServerConfig.txt server config file path.
MGPICKER_PROGRAM_FILE_DIR	The directory of the MG-Picker program files that contains the "MGPicker_Program" folder. It is optional, but handy for the studio to distribute the tool.
MGPICKER_LOADER_PY_MODULES	This contains all the user Python module paths that bring in the picker loaders, separated by ";".
MGPICKER_FLOAT_LIC_CONNECTOR_DIR	The directory that contains the floating license connector executable.
MGPICKER_AUTO_CONNECT_FLOAT_LIC	A "0" or "1" value to denote whether, on picker start up, we should try to connect to a floating license automatically if the floating license was set up.

* Note that the env variable "MGPICKER_USER_CONFIG_DIR" is no longer supported, as the user configuration folder is always OS_user_data_folder/MGLAND/MG-PickerStudio.