[Qgis-user] Style file problem, no. It's a showstopper.

[Mats Elfström]

(also posted to the Forum)
Hi!
I would like to discuss the implementation of style files (qml format).
Based on experience from MapInfo, ArcGIS and so on, I expected this
feature to store the current cartography, line styles, labeling
settings and so on. I would then expect to be able to apply this style
to equivalent layers. Then I could give the same appearance to many
loaded individual shape files for instance.
:cry: It turns out it does not work this way, because the style.qml
file also stores the path to the data source and the layer name from
the legend and applies it to the other layer. This behavior is totally
unexpected and renders the style file feature useless.
Or am I missing the point?
I have tried too manually edit out the source and layer name tags from
the qml file but QGis then complains about their absence.
Please this is effectively stopping a QGis application which already
has a narrow time frame.
It gets worse, because that the drawing style settings are NOT loaded,
only the layer name and search path.
And loading a style file sometimes also breaks the project qgs file,
leaving a 0 kb file and destroys the whole setup.
I tried the default style option as well, seeing that this produces a
layer named file. Then I thought of copying that as I would a lyr file
for each layer. No Go.
The style file stores the source path once again, and my idea would
require manual editing of each style file - once more a non working
workaround.
Please somebody explain the logic behind the qml style files.
I'm afraid it's quite incomprehensible to me.

Cheers, Mats.E