A "Work-in-progress" branch for this feature can be found here:

https://github.com/josephsnyder/Slicer/tree/recent-data-list

These changes have been incorporated into a WIP branch here:

https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/tree/recent-loaded-files

Jc or Julien,
Would you review the changes on this branch, as well as the comments I made?

I think some of these hunks are not necessary to be staged for commit.
Thanks

[1] https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/b5a40272c0ad080b54ff6f04b7efb77800f0d9bf

More recent branch:

https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/bf945ef7a69120a07943c68bbb98f32c719b908c

Jc's comments:

https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/71f630e2705ab6fab8c540fad924db98e21042ce

Now the "Clear" button works as expected.

https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/87e376ee826ac115e4952ff77376ad71e69e409b

Jc's and Julien's comments have been addressed here:

https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/d1691f95ea0ffec7dc8251a6f3facd7bff272e7f

Please test if you like it.

Note: Remember to clear your Slicer.ini before trying this out. Also when testing the mechanisms to clear and change the size of the "Recently Loaded Files" menu, keep in mind that choosing the option to restart will not call the necessary methods to update the application settings. Selecting "no" to the restart, exiting the program, and starting it again will have this effect. However, this should be easily fixable in the next revision.

Added the aforementioned 'gray out' when there are no recently loaded files. Also addresses several other comments.

https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/01c7dc7badec53b954f049dcb992e1b554fea022

Latest update:
https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/1fb292e439acb4d76a6182fc3a9573e3fc56ef76

Upon playing with the option to decrease the number of files shown, it appears that indeed the most "recently loaded files" are not always what is shown. Fix is on the way.

This appears to fix that problem:

https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/d3f921452a09cf8b258866108ed4ddf938bba426

Let me know when you are ready for a demo :)

This fix will update all these settings live instead of waiting for a restart:

https://github.com/chrismullins/Slicer/commit/c1bdd41bab0a6ae5c88993367a9305260562b05f

I fixed few stuff. On your side, could you verify things work as expected. See https://github.com/jcfr/Slicer/compare/1669-recently-loaded-files

Fixed in r20685
See http://viewvc.slicer.org/viewvc.cgi/Slicer4?view=revision&revision=20685
and http://viewvc.slicer.org/viewvc.cgi/Slicer4?view=revision&revision=20686

Dear issue reporter,

Good news :) Slicer developers SOLVED the problem you reported - YOU now need to VERIFY and CLOSE this issue.

When changing the number of entries for the most recent files menu, it is said that the option needs a restart to be taken into account.
This is not really true (it works if you increase the number), and when it is true ( 2 items decreased to 1) it should be fixed without a restart (general panel fires a signal that is listened by the main window)
Maybe having a special value of 0 could hide the menu.
I would also suggest to support more than 10 entries, increase to 100 ? I tend to always feel limited by the most recent max number, I love to have all my history available :-)

Do these settings really update live for you? My workflow is as follows:
1) I set the number of recently loaded files to keep to 2.
2) I load a directory of 10+ files. Only the most recent 2 are shown.
3) I increase the number of files to 10.
Now, only the most recent 2 are still shown.

Regardless, I will try to make the settings update live. Also I will increase the maximum available files to 100.

I have the same workflow as you.
That's why I believe it should update live.
j.

Rename "Clear Menu" into "Clear history"
Would be nice if each entry could have the date (and hour) when it was loaded for the last time as a tooltip.

See r22377 - http://viewvc.slicer.org/viewvc.cgi/Slicer4?view=revision&revision=22377

ENH: In Recently loaded menu, rename "Clear Menu" into "Clear History"

See r22378 - http://viewvc.slicer.org/viewvc.cgi/Slicer4?view=revision&revision=22378

ENH: Increase maximum size for Recently loaded menu

Closing resolved issues that have not been updated in more than 3 months