Thanks to Alan for the very helpful advice. I will ask our System
Administrator if it is expressly permitted for me to have multiple user
accounts on my machine. In the meantime, I think I will carry around bits
of paper (or text files) with sets of windowing preferences to be applied
manually, and mention saving multiple windowing preferences as a Wishes and
Grumbles item at the 10th UK Stata User Meeting.
Having said that, it is of course not Stata's fault that Microsoft
partially downgraded from the relatively user-friendly .ini file system to
the Registry system in the transition from Windows 3x to Windows 95.
Best wishes (and thanks again)
Roger
At 23:33 11/06/2004, Alan Riley wrote:
Roger Newson ([email protected]) asked about mutliple
sets of Stata windowing preferences:
> I would like to be able to save multiple sets of Stata windowing
> preferences under Windows.
> ...
> Unfortunately, in the Getting Started documentation for Stata 8 under
> Windows (-[GSW] 18 Setting font and window preferences-) it is stated:
> "Note: Only one set of preferences can be saved". However, I have also
> been looking at the FAQ at
>
> http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/win/preferences.html
>
> in which Kyle Willman & Jeremy Wernow of StataCorp explain how to export
> and import Stata 7 windowing preferences under Windows NT using the
Windows
> NT Registry Editor. This looks like a way to store multiple windowing
> preferences in Windows .reg files, for import using the Windows -regedit-
> Registry Editor. Unfortunately, they state: "This FAQ is for users of
Stata
> 7. It is not relevant for Stata 8."
Although that FAQ talks specifically about Stata 7, it can be generalized
to Stata 8. However, I should point out that registry-editing under
Windows is inherently dangerous and should only be used as a last resort.
A slip-up while editing the registry can potentially render a Windows
computer unusable.
With that said, Roger could try the same tricks mentioned in the above
FAQ, substituting '8' for '7'. We have followed a similar structure
in the registry for Stata 8's preferences.
Let me suggest an alternate approach, however. Stata is smart enough
to store its preferences on a per-user basis. If I wanted to work
with one set of preferences most of the time under my regular account,
but I sometimes wanted to use Stata (and other software perhaps) for
presentations on a screen with a different resolution, I would set
up two user accounts for myself. The first one (let's call it just
"alan") would be my normal account used on a day-to-day basis. The
second one might be "alanproj" (think 'projector' for presentations).
Stata, and many other applications, could then be set up with
preferences specific to each account. Switching between them is
as easy as logging out of one account and logging into the other.
Depending on Roger's needs, this might be a safer alternative to
editing the registry.
--Alan
([email protected])
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--
Roger Newson
Lecturer in Medical Statistics
Department of Public Health Sciences
King's College London
5th Floor, Capital House
42 Weston Street
London SE1 3QD
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7848 6648 International +44 20 7848 6648
Fax: 020 7848 6620 International +44 20 7848 6620
or 020 7848 6605 International +44 20 7848 6605
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.kcl-phs.org.uk/rogernewson
Opinions expressed are those of the author, not the institution.
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