Allow external collections

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External collections is a variable stored in the profile that contains the information of an existing absolute path in the file system. This path should contain directories with Icestudio collections.

External collections form

Edit > Preferences > External collections.

If the path does not exists the variable won't be set and an error alert will be shown.

When a new valid path is added you can confirm the form and it will try to load the collections inside this path.

Select external collections

When the application starts, internal and externals collections are loaded. To avoid performance issues there is a limit of 5 levels in the search exploration of the directories.

In Select > Collections three sections appear: default collection, internal collections and external collections.

For data security reasons only internal collections can be removed (to avoid accidental removal of external files).

Edit external collections

When an external collection block or example is opened, the working dir is loaded to allow saving that file in its path. When an internal collection block or example is opened, the working dir is reset to avoid editing internal collection files by mistake.

Finally, when a file inside a collection is saved, the collection is refreshed. Note that this can be done always by pressing Tools > Collections > Reload.