The UCSC DAS data provider has been disabled as far back as release-9.0.1 in the igbDefaultPrefs.json (9.0.1 was as far back as I tested). In release-9.1.6 we removed DAS v1 support (IGBF-2474) and also removed DAS from igbDefaultPrefs.json. The removal of the DAS v1 module in IGB caused a few features to fail in IGB (external view tab), and this is what we received user requests for (HELP-374). We then restored DAS v1 support in IGB for release-9.1.8 (IGBF-2793), but we kept the DAS data provider as disabled. We then switched the DAS data provider to be on by default in release-9.1.10 (IGBF-3068).
For testing, I went back to the release-9.1.0 branch (DAS disabled by default), enabled DAS, closed IGB, started release-9.1.2 branch (DAS disabled by default), and DAS remained enabled.
My conclusion is that if a data provider is enabled, switching the data provider to disabled in igbDefaultPrefs.json will not override the enabled status of the data provider when a user switches to a new version of IGB. The user help issues related to DAS were due to a previous reliance on DAS for the external view tab, that has since been updated to use the UCSC REST API endpoint (IGBF-2863).
My recommendation would be to remove the DAS data provider from igbDefaultPrefs.json. The UCSC REST API is providing all of the functionality that DAS provided, and we have only had das enabled by default for the last two releases (9.1.10 and 10.0.0). We can add documentation to the IGB user's guide for how to re-enable the DAS data provider, should a user need it.
The UCSC DAS data provider has been disabled as far back as release-9.0.1 in the igbDefaultPrefs.json (9.0.1 was as far back as I tested). In release-9.1.6 we removed DAS v1 support (
IGBF-2474) and also removed DAS from igbDefaultPrefs.json. The removal of the DAS v1 module in IGB caused a few features to fail in IGB (external view tab), and this is what we received user requests for (HELP-374). We then restored DAS v1 support in IGB for release-9.1.8 (IGBF-2793), but we kept the DAS data provider as disabled. We then switched the DAS data provider to be on by default in release-9.1.10 (IGBF-3068).For testing, I went back to the release-9.1.0 branch (DAS disabled by default), enabled DAS, closed IGB, started release-9.1.2 branch (DAS disabled by default), and DAS remained enabled.
My conclusion is that if a data provider is enabled, switching the data provider to disabled in igbDefaultPrefs.json will not override the enabled status of the data provider when a user switches to a new version of IGB. The user help issues related to DAS were due to a previous reliance on DAS for the external view tab, that has since been updated to use the UCSC REST API endpoint (
IGBF-2863).My recommendation would be to remove the DAS data provider from igbDefaultPrefs.json. The UCSC REST API is providing all of the functionality that DAS provided, and we have only had das enabled by default for the last two releases (9.1.10 and 10.0.0). We can add documentation to the IGB user's guide for how to re-enable the DAS data provider, should a user need it.