vesc_tool
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vedderb
UI / User Experience: We need an isDirty flag/feature
A frequent source of confusion for new and experienced users stems from the disconnect between what's shown in the tool vs what's configured in the firmware. It would be a huge help if we had isDirtyMotor and isDirtyApp flags which get set to true whenever the user changes a parameter (or loads an XML) and gets set back to false until the appropriate Write button has been pressed and a write to the VESC has been successful.
While the dirty flag is true we could show the appropriate A/M-arrow-down button highlighted in Red (similar to the green state of the RT/etc buttons)
Having an altered settings highlight and maybe a list of settings that will be changed upon write in the full tool would be a nice feature I think and maybe not so hard to implement. It would require that any time a connection is made to read fresh settings, which I think is maybe not a bad thing anyways.
Reading fresh settings when connecting would indeed be welcome, just today I accidentally wrote stale app settings to my VESC because I forgot to hit the "App-read" button first
A thought on this, the same "dirty" icon/color should show up in the "write mcconf/app conf" buttons if any setting for the respective button is dirty. This also helps with pressing the write buttons a bunch of times cause you forgot if you changed a setting or not.
One trap I see with this is if you are using Bluetooth and computer to change settings alternately at the same time. One may not refresh to say the settings are dirty.
I also use PC+Phone simultaneously but I'd say this could be considered a separate issue, affecting only a minority of users.
The most important thing really is for the average user, particularly new users, to be made aware when a change they've made in the tool has not yet been written to their VESC. This is causing lots of confusion, especially when hitting "Apply" in the wizards, not realizing that that only applies the settings to the tool, not the VESC.
Having the is-dirty icon/color will help enormously with this problem.