Merge pull request #27 from WandererFan/preferencesAndGlossary

add glossary and preferences chapter

Author: WandererFan

technical/developerglossary.md

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+---
+title: "Developer's Glossary"
+description:
+    "Some terms that a developer may run across."
+layout: default
+---
+# {{page.title}}
+
+{{page.description}}
+
+Note that there may be subtle differences in how some terms are used by deveopers vs how they are used by users.
+
+
+* Binding: the mechanism for linking C++ functionality to and from Python.
+* CI (Continuous Integration): the mechanism by which Pull Requests are automatically built and unit tested.
+* Feature: generally, an object derived from App::DocumentObject.  Also used to refer to a single step in the evolution of a PartDesign Body.
+* LibPack: a library of FreeCAD dependencies used on the Windows platform.
+* Preference: an entry in user.cfg.  Also called a parameter.
+* Quarter: a widget which uses the Qt QGraphicsView to display Coin3d scenegraphs.
+* Pull Request: how a contributor indicates that they have a change to be merged
+* ViewProvider: an object that provides painting services for a Feature.  The ViewProvider is notified of changes in a Features properties and, if the change affects the visual representation of the Feature, updates the display.  Note that in some modules (ex TechDraw with the Qt GraphicsFramework) there is another layer of functionality that manages the painting.
+
+
+
+
+## See Also
+
+* [FreeCAD glossary wiki entry](https://wiki.freecad.org/Glossary)
+* [Contributing](https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)

technical/index.md

@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ layout: default
 
 {{page.description}}
 
+
 ## The Basics
+- [Developer's Glossary](./developerglossary.md)
 - [Source Tree Basics](./SourceTreeBasics.md)
 - [The Application Module](./TheApplicationModule.md)
 - [The Source Code in More Depth](https://wiki.freecad.org/The_FreeCAD_source_code)
@@ -26,6 +28,7 @@ layout: default
     file in the root of the source tree.
 - [Creating a WorkBench](https://wiki.freecad.org/Workbench_creation)
 - The [PowerUser's hub](https://wiki.freecad.org/Power_users_hub) in the FreeCAD wiki contains good information about Python scripting and workbench creation
+- [Accessing User Preferences](./preferences.md)
 - [Create a Python Binding for C++ Class](./CreatePythonBindingForCpp.md)
 - [Checklist for Adding a Feature to a Workbench in C++](./ChecklistForNewFeatureC++.md)
 

technical/preferences.md

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+---
+title: Handling Preferences
+description:
+  How to retrieve and update user preferences
+layout: default
+---
+# {{page.title}}
+
+{{page.description}}
+
+The user.cfg Xml file contains a hierarchical list of all the preferences used by FreeCAD.
+
+Each module has its own branch of the hierarchy starting under Preferences/Mod.
+
+There are two ways of updating preferences: 
+* the Tools > Edit parameters menu entry
+    * this is a general purpose preference editor that can change any parameter in the hierarchy. This editor does not perform any validation or suggest valid values.
+* custom preference dialogs
+    * [a sample dialog](https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/blob/master/src/Mod/Part/Gui/DlgSettingsMeasure.cpp)
+    * these dialogs use [custom FreeCAD widgets](https://wiki.freecad.org/Compile_on_Windows/en#Qt_Designer_plugin) to update preference values.  Each preference widget has two special properties: prefEntry and prefPath.  prefPath is the identifies the branch of the preference hierarchy and prefEntry identifies the leaf node to be updated.
+    * two entries are needed in the dialog for each preference value - onSave() in saveSettings and onRestore() in loadSettings().
+    
+Preference values are retrieved (and sometimes set) using functions from [Base/Parameter.cpp](https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/blob/master/src/Base/Parameter.cpp).
+
+
+
+
+## See also
+* [Preference Editor wiki entry](https://wiki.freecad.org/Preferences_Editor)