code: private String computeStartGalleryPreselection(HttpServletRequest request, String galleryType) {
  
          // first check presence of the setting in request parameter
          String preSelection = request.getParameter(PARAM_STARTGALLERY_PREFIX + galleryType);
          if (CmsStringUtil.isNotEmptyOrWhitespaceOnly(preSelection)) {
              return CmsEncoder.decode(preSelection);
          } else {
              // no value found in request, check current user settings (not the member!)
              CmsUserSettings userSettings = new CmsUserSettings(getSettings().getUser());
              return userSettings.getStartGallery(galleryType);
  
          }
      }
docs: Returns the preferred editor preselection value either from the request, if not present, from the user settings.<p>
  
  @param request the current http servlet request
  @param galleryType the preferred gallery type
  @return the preferred editor preselection value or null, if none found