Apply layout of one set of dockwidgets to a different set

[bbc131]

I have the following use case, for which I couldn't find a nice solution.

My starting situation is as follows, I have an arbitrary number of MainWindows (MW_0, MW_1, ...). For each of those MainWindows, there is a fixed number of DockWidgets, say for example two, which all have an affinity to this one MainWindow. For simplicity I use the uniqueName of the DockWidgets as affinity-string.

For example there could be two MainWindows MW_0 and MW_1 and four DockWidgets: DW_0_A, DW_0_B with affinity to MW_0 and DW_1_A, DW_1_B with affinity to MW_1.

Now, this is what I would like to achieve: I want to save the layout of all DockWidgets belonging to for example MW_0, which are DW_0_A, DW_0_B. And in a second step, I would like to apply this saved layout to a different group of DockWidgets, for example DW_1_A, DW_1_B.

My first idea, was to use LayoutSaver::setAffinityNames and to change the affinities of the DockWidgets temporarily. This means just before I want to save or restore their layout I change the affinities, just to change it back again afterwards.

For example, if I want to save the layout of DW_0_A and DW_0_B, I would change their affinity string from "MW_0" to "MW_x", then I would create a LayoutSaver, set its affinity also to "MW_x", save the layout and then change the affinities of DW_0_A and DW_0_B back to "MW_0" again. This doesn't work, because one cannot change the affinities of a DockWidget.

void DockWidget::setAffinities(..)
...
    if (!d->affinities.isEmpty()) {
        KDDW_ERROR("Affinity is already set, refusing to change."
                   "Submit a feature request with a good justification.");
        return;
    }
...

I don't know if this case is a good justification to allow this, you tell me ;) But in my opinion, it would be kind of a hacky solution with this changing of affinities back and forth.

I found a different workaround, which is even more ugly: I modify the uniqueNames within the serialized layout. In combination with LayoutSaver::setAffinityNames, I can "transfer" the layout of one set of DockWidgets to another.