[Github-comments] [geany/geany] Improve user experience when creating new projects (PR #3018)

[xiota]

> the current experience of opening projects is terrible.

I'm *not* saying the current experience is great/can't be improved.  The issue is that Geany currently allows new-project workflows that this PR completely eliminates.  I've made suggestions that would avoid that problem.

> it's a necessity if you want to set the other 2 values correctly.

Setting project basepath first is not a "necessity".

* Geany currently allows the fields to be completed in any order.
* The project name and base path can be changed independently from Project Preferences (showing that they are not related).
* The file can be located anywhere, moved in a file manager, symlinked, whatever, like any other file, independently of the project base path.

> But again, this is how other editors work...

Other editors doing things a certain way doesn't mean Geany must also.  Geany does lots of things differently from other editors.  If other editors are so great, why use Geany in the first place?

> what people in #2245 suggested - open project as if it were a directory.

#2245 (and #1171) suggest opening folders as if they were projects.  This PR is not close to doing that.  For instance, what happens if a user drag/drops a folder into Geany?  What happens if a user runs `geany /path/to/folder/`?  These could be implemented without touching the New Project workflow.

> If you press cancel in the first dialog or select a whatever directory, you can customize everything in the second dialog.

That is not obvious at all.  Cancel usually aborts a process entirely.  So another strike against this PR.  Users who start the new project creation process have to cancel twice to truly cancel the process.

> > What (technically) prevents this PR from being implemented as a plugin?
>
> Geany API doesn't contain a function to open project and I don't think this function should be added.

Why not?  It could be useful for some project-based plugin, like Workbench.

> Open project properties in the last step is just a convenience thing I added but I don't find essential and can be dropped if disliked by others.
> If desired, I could leave "Project->New.." as it behaves now and add "Project->New from folder..." with this new behavior.

New menu item (*Project / New from folder...*) plus no second dialog after folder selection is preferable to the implementation of this PR.


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