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Preferences class comment
Last updated at 8:40 am UTC on 10 May 2017
A general mechanism to store preference choices. The default setup treats any symbol as a potential boolean flag; flags unknown to the preference dictionary are always answered as false.

To open the control panel:
		PreferenceBrowser open
To read how to use the panel (and how to make a preference be per-project):
		 Preferences giveHelpWithPreferences

All messages are on the class side. There are two kinds of preference definition,

Preference Pragmas

Preferences can be local to a class or system of classes using preference pragmas.
Look at senders of #preference:category:description:type: and #preference:categoryList:description:type: for examples:
	(self systemNavigation browseAllSelect:
		[:m|
		#(preference:category:description:type: preference:categoryList:description:type:) anySatisfy:
			[:s| (m pragmaAt: s) notNil]])

With a preference pragma, the preference is typically kept in a class variable, local to the class whose method(s) contain(s) the pragma. Good style is to put the preference pragma in the accessor for the variable; see for example BitBlt class>>#subPixelRenderColorFonts. The pragma serves to declare the preference to Preferences.


Preference-local Preferences


To query a a preference:
	Preferences logDebuggerStackToFile
or some people prefer the more verbose
	Preferences valueOfFlag: #logDebuggerStackToFile

You can make up a new preference any time. Do not define a new message in Preferences class. Accessor methods are compiled automatically when you add a preference, either as as illustrated below, or by using

To add a non-pragma preference (e.g. in the Postscript of a fileout):
	Preferences
		addPreference: #samplePreference
		categories: #(general browsing)
		default: true
		balloonHelp: 'This is an example of a preference added by a do-it'
		projectLocal: false
		changeInformee: nil
		changeSelector: nil.

To change a preference programatically:
	Preferences disable: #logDebuggerStackToFile.
Or to turn it on,
	Preferences enable: #logDebuggerStackToFile.