Contents
- Index
- Previous
- Next
Preferences
The Preferences dialog (reached via the File->Preferences menu item) allows the user to pick settings that will be in effect when the program starts. The settings are:
Recorder Type (alto, soprano/tenor, or bass);
which of the Octave Buttons is pressed (1, 2, or 3);
which of the Enharmonics menu choices is checked;
which file will be displayed (automatically loaded) at startup. See Autoload for more information.
whether the Display Trill Fingers Checkbox is checked or not;
whether the Show Large Text Panel checkbox is checked or not;
whether a single click of an Info button (see Info Buttons) brings up the Infobox dialog.
Here is a snapshot of the dialog, showing the default settings:

You should pick the options you want and click the OK button to have them saved. The next time you start the program, these options will be in effect. Note that changing these options does not affect the current settings of the program while it is running. It affects the settings that will be in effect the next time you run it.
This Preferences facility makes it unnecessary to create an Autoload file just for the purpose of starting with a particular recorder type. If you have been doing this, you should delete the rcdauto.txt file and use the Preferences settings instead.
Generally speaking, it is no longer advisable to have an External file (see External Files - General Description) set a Recorder Type. All supplied external files have been changed to comment-out the record that does this. There are cases where it would be appropriate for an external file to set the recorder type - for example, an external file showing fingerings for a particular model of bass recorder.
Startup Order
The program first checks for the existence of the file containing Preferences settings established during a prior running of the program. This file is RCDIGITS.INI and is located in the same directory as the program executable. If the file exists, it is read in and the program's display is set using these preferences. If it does not exist, default settings are used.
Next, the program loads whichever file is specified in the Initial File Display option - see Autoload for more info.
Thus, an RCDAUTO.TXT file's settings take affect after the Preferences settings. For example, if an RCDAUTO.TXT file sets the recorder type to soprano, this will override a Preferences setting that says to start with alto. Another example: often external files will force the Display Trills checkbox to be checked (e.g. NORMTRIL.TXT). If this file were used, this would override the Preferences setting for Display Trills.
Preference Creation
The RCDIGITS.INI file containing the preferences you picked using the Preferences Dialog is established when the OK button is clicked. A fresh one is created each time this happens. So, if for some reason this RCDIGITS.INI file gets corrupted (i.e. you get an error message that the file cannot be used), you can rebuild a correct one by just repicking your preferences and clicking OK. If, after doing this, you continue to get messages on startup that the INI file is corrupted, please contact Support and Feedback.
When a newer version of Recorder Digits is installed over an older version on your system, this Preference file is not overwritten - thus a newer installation will not cause you to lose the preferences you set with the prior version.
If the Preferences Dialog has never been invoked by you and OK pressed, no RCDIGITS.INI file will have been created, and default startup values will be used.