SCOUG-HELP Mailing List Archives

<< Previous Message << >> Next Message >>

Date:	Tue, 1 Apr 2003 21:46:16 PST8
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Saving custom icons (was: Fresh vs. Fixpak)

Content Type: text/plain

=====================================================
If you are responding to someone asking for help who
may not be a member of this list, be sure to use the
REPLY TO ALL feature of your email program.
=====================================================

Steven Levine wrote:
>
> >there are a bunch of Save options. Do I want 1.2 or 2.0 (or
> >1.1 or Packed 2.0)? Do I save all layouts or just the custom
> >layout I created (for example "XGA/8514 Small Color Form")?
>
> The format is not as important as the form sizes.
> Warp4 is going to be able to read all the formats.

Do these numbers refer to the OS/2 version which first supported the
format?

I tried saving a couple of icons in both 1.2 and 2.0 and the file sizes
are different. PMView is able to open both of them. 2.0 must have some
capability that 1.2 doesn't have.

> You want to add the Devices that work best for your screen
> resolution and size. The easy way to preview and cycle
> though the available options with Device -> List -> View.

That's what I do.

By trial and error I found that using "XGA/8514 Small Color Form" was
what works here. (I use the "small icon" option to squeeze more icons
onto my 1600x1200 screen.)

I never played around with making unusual icon sizes because I never
could figure out (through experimentation) how OS/2 decided which icon
to display.

> www.wotsit.org probably will have
> the nice low level stuff you like.

I forgot about wotsit. But they only have one .ico information file and
it's for Windows ("This article describes, in detail, the format and use
of icons in 32-bit Windows"). Perhaps either the OS/2 1.2 or 2.0 format
is the same as this?

> Give the [iconedit] view option a try. You can
> see exactly what each device format looks like.

Yes. What I need is more info on how this all works as a system. If
there are several different icons stored within an icon resource (in an
extended attribute or in an icon .ico file), what determines which one
will be displayed? And if there isn't an exact match (on size and color
depth apparently), is an existing one selected and resized or recolored
on the fly?

For example, right now my custom icons are all 20x20 16-color.
Curiously, when I use IconEdit I choose XGA/8514 Small Color Form -- but
when I save to disk and then reopen in IconEdit they are still 20x20-16
but are now called Independent Color Form.

> It's PM, not the WPS that decides
> [which icon format to display].

Thanks.

> It goes through the list and uses the
> device option to select the best match.

The list being the various icons stored in the resource, yes?

What is the "device option"? Is the name ("XGA/8514 Small Color Form"
etc) actually stored in the icon resource?

How does PM determine what values it is looking for among the various
icons in the resource? Does PM look at an object's Properties?

> This will usually be the first match unless
> you have set the device size and resolution.
> AFAIK, 0 values match any system value.

Basically, here's the question: If I store my icons in disk files as
Ray suggests, and I *only* store them as 20x20 16-color, and if an
object points *only* to one of these icons, will the icon display no
matter what the object's properties might be changed to in the future?

- Peter

=====================================================

To unsubscribe from this list, send an email message
to "steward@scoug.com". In the body of the message,
put the command "unsubscribe scoug-help".

For problems, contact the list owner at
"rollin@scoug.com".

=====================================================

Return to [ 01 | April | 2003 ]

SCOUG, Warp Expo West, and Warpfest are trademarks of the Southern California OS/2 User Group. OS/2, Workplace Shell, and IBM are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. All other trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.