Re: Naming RFC: Properties, property sets, presets

[Fr. Samuel Springuel]

So, if I've taken in the whole conversation, then the situation you have is as 
follows:

1) property sets define a list of properties and give them default values (so 
that you never have a valid property without a current value)

2) a “preset” can change the values of properties in a property set, but 
*cannot create new properties*.  In this case the “preset” is a reusable local 
definition for the values of the properties in the property set.


Further your inheritance rules look something like this (where you go down the 
list until you find a value for the property in question):

1) local property setting (done in a \with block)
2) value of the property from the named “preset”
3) if the named “preset” has a parent, then the value of the property from the 
parent
4) recurse #3 on the parent until you run out of parents
5) the default value given to the property when the property set was created

If you get to the end of the list without finding a value for the property, 
then you necessarily have an invalid property (i.e. one which has not been 
defined).

> On 13 Jul, 2020, at 1:38 AM, Urs Liska <lists@openlilylib.org> wrote:
> 
> My favourites so far are "configuration" and "flavor".

Given the above, I would go with “configuration.”  I also would suggest that 
“default” be a restricted name which refers exclusively to the set of values 
given to the properties when the property set is created.  I.e. it should not 
be possible for the user to define a configuration named “default” because it 
already exists (it’s defined by \definePropertySet).  Changing the default 
configuration is only possible using the \setProperty function.  This is 
syntactically cumbersome, but it serves to emphasize what the values given at 
the time of a property set’s creation actually are.

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Fr. Samuel, OSB
(R. Padraic Springuel)
St. Anselm’s Abbey
4501 South Dakota Ave, NE
Washington, DC, 20017
202-269-2300
(c) 202-853-7036

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