SHAPE has in the past saved various settings in two files, SCRPTR and DEFAULTS, both of which are in the same folder or directory as the wxSHAPE program or executable file. SCRPTR saves general settings which may be used for all data, such as frame sizes for printing and graphics file output and is always saved before exiting the program. DEFAULTS saves settings which are more particular for each data set - these may be used as the initial or default values for a new data set. The DEFAULTS file could be read or written through options in the Settings Menu, and at other times when starting a new data set or importing a file.
Starting with V6.3, this information is saved in a standard type of file which is specific to the platform (Windows, Mac or Linux), and this file is in a location specific to each user. Thus each user will have his or her settings preserved, even if only one copy of the SHAPE folder/directory and executable file is present. Further, these settings will be carried on as new versions of SHAPE are installed.
Specifically the new settings files will be in the following locations:
Windows: \Documents and Settings\username\SHAPE.ini
Linux: /home/username/.SHAPE (note the period - this is a hidden file)
where username is the name of the current user logged in.
The .ini, Preferences or config file has separate sections containing the SCRPTR information and the DEFAULTS information.
The SCRPTR and DEFAULTS files still exist. On startup, SHAPE looks first for the user-specific file, and if this is not present it reads the values from the SCRPTR and DEFAULTS files in the folder or directory containing the SHAPE executable file. Thereafter the user-specific file is written and used.
The Windows and Linux versions have separate Help server programs, and these write their own user-specific preferences files. These files will be in the above locations, and the program name is "wxHTMLHelpController" instead of "SHAPE". In the Macintosh version, there is no separate Help server program and the data for the Help windows (window sizes and location and fonts) is in the SHAPE Preferences file.
In the Settings menu, there are now options to read and write the "archive" SCRPTR and DEFAULTS files - this writes the values currently used by SHAPE. If there are multiple users of SHAPE, these files should probably be written only the the system administrator. All users may read the files to get the "standard" or archive values.