Using 'Variables' in 'User Variables' in Export Persona

[Lorthiz]

Hello,

I have question about exporting multiple slices.

Use case is that I want to export multiple copies of the same slice but for each of them would use different scale.

I want to specify in pixels w*h*4(or scale) of each slice. That looks like a great place for using a user variable but it does not work as expected.

Can I only use string\text values here?

Also I tried using a simplified version where I use Width and Height, but they are not specified. Where can I 'specify' them?

[v_kyr]

That stuff in the export persona is very crippled. For example in APh (on OSX) I even can't type there for the fields under "User variables:" more than 1 character in, since it stops and blocks immediately further character input. Also applying path settings there (under Path components:) is sometimes tricky, yes it's mostly text input (though AFAI remember copy/paste works too there, or should at least) and follows the related OS directory path scheme.

Since those user variables aren't usable here on my side I can't check/test that further, but IMO that stuff is buggy. - So you have to read through some older forum topics about these things in order to get an idea what might work and what not here ...

• Slice size, in Export Persona, too big when using adjustment layer
• Export Persona help - user thread
• Setting a default export path *
• Add exported filename to slices
• etc.

Maybe no need to say, but most here is pretty much "try and error" since it's usage is badly not documented in detail at all (as so many other things too).

[R C-R]

9 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Since those user variables aren't usable here on my side I can't check/test that further, but IMO that stuff is buggy.

Buggy or just unfathomable due to lack of proper documentation (or more likely both) I cannot say, but like you I cannot find any way to enter more than one character for the variable's Name property. Entering more than one character for the Value property is possible but to do so I either need to double-click on that field again after entering each character to enter the next one, or as you said use copy/paste to do it in one step.

This user variable also does not seem to be a variable in any sense other than as a custom text string that can be included in the slice's file path name, & it is not 'global' in that it must be defined individually for each slice, so I really do not understand why I would want to use it instead of just typing the text string directly into the "Path components:" field. I would appreciate any insights into that anyone can offer.

Regardless, variables -- whether predefined or user -- seem to have nothing directly to do with the "scale" of the exported slice. I am not even sure in this context what "scale" refers to, other than maybe something related to the "Exported DPI" & "User scale" settings, but while if set the DPI will override the document DPI in the exported slice, I have no idea if or how the "User scale" is used.

On top of all that, in the Dark UI, because of the same low contrast issue I have complained about for years, it is almost impossible to clearly see the variable names in the "Path components:" field when I click into that field but do not click on any one of them:

I think this is part of the reason it can be tricky to use it -- unless I click on a variable to highlight it, I can't tell which one it is.

So at least for me the bottom line is I rarely use the path components options at all, & when I do it is just to set a DPI override for a slice.

[v_kyr]

2 hours ago, R C-R said:

Buggy or just unfathomable due to lack of proper documentation (or more likely both) I cannot say ...

IMO the whole panel and the UI functionality, so it's overall usability, is more a mess than anything else. Add to that the way of how documentation is handled. - All in all I wonder how such things can pass the quality assurance then at all and make it's way into a release version.

[R C-R]

11 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

IMO the whole panel and the UI functionality, so it's overall usability, is more a mess than anything else.

Agreed. I suppose some of the options are intended only for use with Xcode JSON file stuff, something I know next to nothing about, but even what should be relatively straightforward general purpose options like setting a DPI override or using the preset variables (which if I have it right are called "defined tokens" in the help topic) seem not just poorly documented but also just thrown in without much thought given to real world usability ... or even consistency with other UI features. 

[v_kyr]

We have to see maybe it gets fixed, rewritten or the like for v1.8 line then. - Also wished they wouldn't be so unspecific and lazy in documenting certain functions then (Export persona, Macros, Expressions, etc.), which in turn often gives me the impression they don't know themselves how to make use of, or setup certain things at all for those. Most of it is only mentioned rudimentary and superficial for important things in the help files, little of it is explained in detail. - QA should usually know, the better the documentation, the less people have to ask.