Block Color Config

I happened to see a boosted post on Mastodon, where someone mentioned that most programs handle their configs badly, basically generating full configs, maybe with commented out options and defaults, which upon updates will be rendered worthless if they change. I responded to how I handle my configs, and suggested an alternative solution, which I implemented.

The first version of PixelMap 0.x had all configs statically added to the program, meaning they cannot be changed after the program is compiled. Later on I designed a block color format, where a config file could be added and therefore change the colors of the created images. PixelMap 1.x had the block color file added per default, but if it wasn’t provided, defaults were transparent, meaning the resulting image could be completely transparent.

What I suggested, and also added, was on top of the current default config stored internally of the program, that if a config file was provided, it would overload only the blocks specified. This means that you can use default, and only change what you want to change, like hiding some blocks, or marking them with a specific color. In addition to this, I also added so you could specifically tell the program to output the default config as a file, later to be modified to your liking.

This was such a small change, but it sure will make it immensely easier for both me and the user to keep track of block color.