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Re: can't change PATH preference under Windows? [message #49572 is a reply to message #49501] Wed, 02 August 2006 19:06 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Jeff N. is currently offline  Jeff N.
Messages: 120
Registered: April 2005
Senior Member
Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let everyone know that I found the problem. Turns out
that some damned fool (and by "some" damned fool I mean me) edited the
idl.pref file found in the resource\pref folder, which I presume is a
file that can contain customizations for all users, as opposed to the
idl.pref file in my .idl directory. Everything works great now, and
thank you all for your help!

Jeff


Jeff N. wrote:
> Doug:
>
> Help, /preferences gives me:
> IDL_PATH DISTFILE = '+h:\progs\idl;<IDL_DEFAULT>'
> IDL_PATH_CACHE_DISABLE USERFILE = True(1)
>
> The user file being referred to by IDL_PATH_CACHE_DISABLE is my
> idl.pref file in the .idl variable (which, actually, I don't remember
> setting). I have, on the other hand, previously set IDL_PATH to the
> value it has now, but I did that with the GUI (File, Preferences,Path).
> I'm not sure what DISTFILE is referring to, but it's clearly referring
> to a start up file of some sort.
>
> Here's the contents of idl.pref:
>
> IDL_PATH_CACHE_DISABLE : True
> IDL_WDE_START_DIR : C:\Documents and Settings\jeffn\Desktop
>
>
> and here's what I get when I try pref_set:
> IDL> PREF_SET, "IDL_PATH", "junk"
> PREF_SET: Preference value is read only because it has a current
> effective source (distribution file) with a higher priority than the
> user preference file: IDL_PATH.
> Execution halted at: $MAIN$
>
> This error message from PREF_SET is actually how I found out about this
> problem, I encountered it the first time I tried to run a startup batch
> file that sets my path based on whether or not an external hard drive
> is present.
>
> See anything that might help? Thanks for helping all of you!
> Jeff
>
>
> Doug Edmundson wrote:
>> Jeff N. wrote:
>>> Hi folks,
>>>
>>> I'm using IDL 6.2 with WinXP. I've somehow managed to make it so that
>>> IDL won't let me change my path preferences using the preferences
>>> dialog box - my path folders are desensitized. According to the help
>>> file, this desensitization occurs when "higher priority" items set
>>> preferences, and these higher priority items are command line arguments
>>> or environment variables (so if, for ex., an environment variable sets
>>> the preference, the preference can't be changed during the session).
>>> The problem is that I'm currently using neither of these....but I have
>>> used command line arguments before. So my guess is that IDL still
>>> somehow thinks a command line argument is being used when it isn't.
>>> I've tried a simple computer restart as well as starting IDL with
>>> different means (a desktop shortcut, clicking on the executable itself,
>>> and using the windows command line). Nothing seemed to work. Does
>>> anyone have any suggestions as to how I could get myself out of this? I
>>> *really* need to customize my path very soon! :)
>>>
>>> Jeff
>>>
>>
>> Jeff,
>>
>> What happens if you try...
>>
>> (1) HELP, /PREFERENCES, [/FULL]
>> (2) PREF_SET, "IDL_PATH", "junk" (don't do /COMMIT)
>>
>> They'll give clues as to what IDL is thinking. You can also look in the
>> .idl directory and poke around the preference files, comparing them with
>> the machines that work.
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> Doug
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