initial, default and protected values

When creating a new setting one can specify a initial value:

name = "noiser_2000"
...

self.settings.New("port", str, initial="COM10") 

However, you might find that after you started the app the port is now set to “COM7”. Then probably your *app.py file contains a line that loads "default_settings.ini" file.

...
if __name__ == "__main__":
    app = FancyApp(sys.argv)
    app.settings_load_ini("default_settings.ini")
    sys.exit(app.exec_())

with the default_settings.ini file contains the lines:

[noiser_2000]
port = COM7

so loaded values override initial values. However, there is one exemption, that is when a setting is protected

self.settings.New("z_target_position", float, initial=0.0, protected=True) 

Proceted settings were introduced such that loading a file does not accidentally set a value to a dangereous level, like driving a stage into a 10k optical objective.