Annotation dialog garbled: has the location or format of "layout.dat" changed recently?

[Tobias Leupold]

E-Mail von Andreas Schleth via KPhotoAlbum vom Sonntag, 28. Dezember 2025, 
01:21:
> Hi everybody,
> 
> I have various databases for different purposes. So the layout of the 
> annotation dialog and the list of categories differ between these databases.
> 
> Recently - maybe for some months now - I find my annotation dialogs 
> garbled every now and then with the different boxes all over the place.
> 
> Just a few days ago I fixed one of the window layouts *and saved the 
> window layout* in the UI ...
> 
> ... but I did not check whether the file was updated (then).
> 
> OK, now (upon finding another garbled annotation dialog window) I 
> checked the files: the newest layout.dat is from March 14th 2025 ... m-|
> 
> So, where did my recent "save" go?
> 
> Did I miss some release notes or should I file a bug?
> 
> I am on a pretty recent git master.
> 
> Cheers, Andreas
> 

Hi Andreas,

the window state of all main windows (KPA itself and the annotation dialog) is 
saved to ~/.local/state/kphotoalbumstaterc -- like all others do since quite 
some time. This is the case since the Qt6/KF6 port. Before, we saved to a file 
inside the collection folder, layout.dat IIRC. But the problem was, besides 
the fact that everybody else did it via KDE Frameworks (as we also now do), 
that if you open KPA on another machine using that collection (e.g. shared via 
NFS) and have another screen resolution, you have a problem.

That layout.dat file is once migrated on the first KF6/Qt6 KPA startup, but 
then never used again.

Cheers, Tobias