Is there a way to change icons built into a button bar?

If not, how can I built something similar button bar

with 3D icons in it?

Thanks in advance,

Roman

Roman,

The button bar cannot be changed as far as I know. It's take it or leave it. (On NT it leaves by itself.) Unless something changed from OI16 (which I am on) to OI32.

In my latest app I have made my own button bar, with many of the same buttons as the standard button bar, and some of my own. Each button is a separate button control with images (PUSHBMP). Each PUSHBMP has several images, for the various button states - not focus, focus, depressed, etc. I created the images in an image paint program. I'm certain others have done the same. If you're interested I can mail you the images.

For each button I have a corresponding menu item. Each button has a quickevent sending a MENU message to the corresponding menu item. So there's no extra programming to get it to work.

(My app is MDI based, with just one frame. The button bar is on the frame, so in my case the buttons only exist in one window.)

- Oystein -

Currently at

We're currently having some conceptual problems with the different schema used for NT/2K/XP because it makes it difficult to get the background colour perfect across platforms. So PushBMPs are currently under review at Sprezz towers.

It is possible to change the button bar as the picture below shows :-

this was a quick "partial" to show proof of concept. We don't use the button bar ourselves so it isn't worthwhile completing it as it'll take another 2-3 hours to get the images done to this size etc. If it's worth a couple of hundred dollars to anybody we'll happily spend the time!

The Sprezzatura Group

World Leaders in all things RevSoft

Sprezzatura,

We're currently having some conceptual problems with the different schema used for NT/2K/XP because it makes it difficult to get the background colour perfect across platforms. So PushBMPs are currently under review at Sprezz towers.

Amen. But are there any good alternatives?

- GDI? No.

- Startup process that gets the current background colour and changes all the relevant BMPs? Hmm. (Hmmm contd. We need to store a base version of the images, and convert to actual BMPs from there. The base version must be some format with transparency. Doesn't have to be a real image file format. Could be some proprietary format stored in database table rows or text files. And then convert from there to real BMPs. Some button images only need a simple form of transparency. Others could benefit from an alpha channel.)

Lo-tech version of the above: Prepare BMPs for the most common colour schemes and let a startup process decide which set to use.

What about transparent PNGs? Do they work in OI32? Are transparent PUSHPNGs possible?

It is possible to change the button bar as the picture below shows :-

I always got the impression the button bar was a black box to us. Hats off to you.

this was a quick "partial" to show proof of concept. We don't use the button bar ourselves so it isn't worthwhile completing it as it'll take another 2-3 hours to get the images done to this size etc.

Not worthwhile… Unless using a button bar and your knowledge about how to change it somehow could circumvent the background colour problem.

If it's worth a couple of hundred dollars to anybody we'll happily spend the time!

I just love to make those cute button images. Subcontract to me?

It does take a lot of time, though.

- Oystein -

Carl's working on a better solution as we speak - we need it for a current project. Never get enough of them - they spur us on to greater discoveries!

The Sprezzatura Group

World Leaders in all things RevSoft

We're currently having some conceptual problems with the different schema used for NT/2K/XP because it makes it difficult to get the background colour perfect across platforms. So PushBMPs are currently under review at Sprezz towers.

We'll be very interested in your research as well. We seem to have come to our limit in trying to succeed in getting PushBMP's to accurately reflect the system's background color theme.

- Startup process that gets the current background colour and changes all the relevant BMPs? Hmm. (Hmmm contd. We need to store a base version of the images, and convert to actual BMPs from there. The base version must be some format with transparency. Doesn't have to be a real image file format. Could be some proprietary format stored in database table rows or text files. And then convert from there to real BMPs. Some button images only need a simple form of transparency. Others could benefit from an alpha channel.)

Assuming this can be done, one problem is determining where these BMPs will get stored at runtime. Since different users on a network could easily have different colored themes, these BMPs would need to be unique for each user.

Lo-tech version of the above: Prepare BMPs for the most common colour schemes and let a startup process decide which set to use.

We've already done this using Win98 standard gray and Win2000 standard gray images. In the application that this was done for we are using a resource DLL. We made a second DLL with the alternate colored images and in our promoted CREATE event we dynamically swap all references to BITMAPs or PUSHBMPs to the appropriate DLL.

What about transparent PNGs? Do they work in OI32? Are transparent PUSHPNGs possible?

Tried this, doesn't work. I did some research into the ImageMan DLLs and have come to believe that they may not inherently support transparencies at all. I've presented my findings to Mike and am waiting to hear back from him when he has time to focus on it. If this is true, then there is a problem because Revelation can't simply expose an existing feature of the ImageMan DLLs - they'll have to introduce something new to get transparency support to work.

I always got the impression the button bar was a black box to us. Hats off to you.

I believe this is simply a resource in a DLL or EXE. A simple editor can make the changes for you.

Please note the below screen shot from a typical SRP application:

We try to emulate the look and feel of modern Window's applications. However, as you can tell, our color theme is Win9x gray. When users change their desktop themes or run on Win2000/XP, the buttons and other graphical elements stick out like a sore thumb. We are very anxious to find a resolution to this problem. (As an aside, one solution we are using is to create a groupbox on each form with a fixed background color of Win9x gray. During the CREATE event we resize the groupbox so the edges can't be seen. This provides a lockdown of the background color of our forms but it doesn't affect the menus.)

dbakke@srpcs.com

SRP Computer Solutions, Inc.

Good news and bad news.

OK we've worked out how to do this now and we reckon 5-10 days work in total for a generic routine.

BUT future OI releases will make this even easier so we're holding off on doing the work until then…

The Sprezzatura Group

[i]Celebrate CeBIT with Sprezz Local![/i]

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