[Therion] Two scraps in the same .TH2

[Bruce Mutton]

Rodrigo

For me, all the reasons that Xavier and Tarquin have pointed out.  If a survey encompasses only say 20 m of passage, then it is likely only to contain a single scrap.  If it is 50 m of passage, then likely two…

My process typically has one th2 for a survey trip/file (there might be multiple ‘trips/files’ per day, for instance if we have the scenario of a vertical cave like that discussed recently on this forum, or if there are multiple teams surveying on the day).

To the reasons for multiple scraps per th2 I would add:

*	Scrap joins are fully automatic within the same th2, if they are drawn contiguously, so it is better than creating a new th2, where at best they will be semi-automatic.  See https://therion.speleo.sk/wiki/tips?s[]=scrap <https://therion.speleo.sk/wiki/tips?s%5b%5d=scrap&s%5b%5d=join#joining_scraps_together> &s[]=join#joining_scraps_together 
*	Many small scraps means that you are readily able to adjust the boundaries, with a degree of granularity, of sub-maps and maps in large multi-sheet caves (when exporting map outputs, not relevant when exporting atlas outputs).  I want to adjust the boundaries because I prefer to use ‘map outputs’ to manually emulate what might usually be done with ‘atlas outputs’.  I find maps are easier to control than atlas (counter-intuitive perhaps).  I adjust the boundaries because as exploration and the cave develops, parts of the cave that ‘naturally go with each other’ can change over time.
*	Another reason that escapes me now…

On the topic of alternatives to XTherion’s graphical editor.  It would be nice to have one, although after 15 years I am quite used to it, and only a couple of new (probably impossible for XTherion) features would make it superb!

 

For me a critical feature of Therion ecosystems is the ability to collaborate and retain project histories, such as with git.  A possible shortcoming of alternative editors is that so far each rearranges the content of the th2 file, without necessarily making any changes to the output.  ie open the file, make NO changes, save the file.  The ‘output’ of the file is the same, but internally objects and formatting are completely rearranged.  This obfuscates the ability of git to highlight for users changes that have been made in any particular commit.

This is a problem because each user on a project should have the freedom to use whatever editor they like – one using XTherion, one using Mapiah etc.

Also alternative editors need to be able to edit the th2 file ‘in place’ on the storage device.  Browser based editors have so far made a copy of the th2, and edit that in the browsers storage, making  the original th2 an orphan. This relyies on meticulous document management by users to compensate for that.

 

It would be great to see alternative editors – I’m just adding more constraints to the development brief!

 

Thanks for thinking about this.

Bruce

 

From: Therion <therion-bounces at speleo.sk> On Behalf Of Rodrigo Severo via Therion
Sent: Thursday, 30 January 2025 03:17
To: therion <therion at speleo.sk>
Cc: Rodrigo Severo <rsev at pm.me>
Subject: [Therion] Two scraps in the same .TH2

 

Hi,

 

A general question: can someone point me a reasonable situation where having 2 scraps in the same TH2 file makes sense/is important?

 

Regards,

 

Rodrigo

 

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