Settings & defaults

Every algorithm parameter that is left empty resolves through a four-tier chain (see Defaults & precedence):

explicit input → project variable → plugin setting → builtin default

The plugin ships three editing surfaces for those stored tiers, plus one for the per-layer variables. All of them show the inherited effective value as a placeholder, so an empty field always means “inherit from the next tier”.

Plugin Options page

Settings ▸ Options… ▸ Stratified Packager edits the plugin settings — the plugin-wide base values stored in the active QGIS user profile (QgsSettings, under plugins/stratified_packager). Only the parameters with a ✓ in the Setting column of the parameter table have a setting tier.

When the open project shadows a setting with a project variable, the page marks that field, so it is always clear which value a run would actually use.

Because settings are per-profile, qgis_process reads the default profile’s values unless it is pointed at another profile.

Project Properties page

Project ▸ Properties… ▸ Stratified Packager edits the project variables (stratified_packager_<parameter_name_in_lowercase>), stored inside the project file. An empty field inherits from the plugin setting (or the builtin default) and shows that inherited value as an inherit (= …) placeholder.

Two inputs are project-only (they reference project contents, so a plugin-wide default would make no sense): the stratification layer and the stratum name expression.

Per-layer pages

The layer variables (stratified_packager_exclude, …_matching_method, and the rest of the per-layer table) are stored on each layer and editable from two places:

• Layer Properties ▸ Stratified Packager — one layer at a time;

• the Configure layers for packaging dialog (plugin menu) — every layer of the project in one editable table.

Layer variables have no project or plugin tier: an unset variable simply uses its builtin default (auto, false, …), which the editors show as the placeholder.

Editing values by hand

All three tiers are ordinary QGIS storage, so they can also be edited without the plugin’s pages: project variables under Project ▸ Properties… ▸ Variables, layer variables under Layer Properties ▸ Variables, and settings in the profile’s configuration. The plugin validates stored values at run start and aborts loudly on an unusable one (for example, a boolean variable holding maybe) instead of guessing.