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LitusSaxonicum · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:21 pm Post subject: Unrecognised format code %bb

v 6.10 certainly isn't having anything to do with %bb ...

Eddie

PaulLaidler · Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 10:25 pm Post subject:

I will have to check but %bb may have been added after 6.10.

What does your winio@ look like and what is the runtime failure message?

LitusSaxonicum · Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:19 am Post subject:

Problem solved, old salflibc.dll in the path.

Eddie

LitusSaxonicum · Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:21 pm Post subject:

... well actually, my error is solved. I see why Paul replaced %bi, because it isn't very elegant, scaling up the icon, and the %bt button itself when provided with a %bi ignores the XP manifest command. %bb, %tt and %bt all obey the manifest.

However a %bb button has a different vertical depth to either a %tt OR %bt button, so they can't be mixed in a row with a %bb just highlighting a special option. In addition, %tt buttons have a limited range of widths and %bt and %bb buttons auto fit for width unless a width is given (as in %12bt). In both, the text is centred. However, the icon in a %bb button is left-justified, which to my eye doesn't look perfect when a series of length-matched %bb buttons are used, where the buttons are wider than strictly necessary to try to match the Win7 style. (I would have expected icon and text to be centred together). On the other hand, when the buttons are autosized they look great!

The %bb code really does expect a 16x16 icon, as a bigger icon gets misplaced. Within that 16x16 space, the non transparent areas need to be the same height for a series of %bb button to look right, and as some transparent border is required, this does not give a great deal of space in which to let one's artistic abilities loose in! The icon in a %bb button is not greyed out when the button is greyed.

FTN95.CHM doesn't cover %bb, nor is it described in CWPLUS.ENH - it is the only part of the system to be described exclusively in a Knowledgebase item on this site. Most of the above account is not listed, you have to experiment.

Eddie

PaulLaidler · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:17 am Post subject:

Thanks for the feedback. I will take another look at this when I can.

LitusSaxonicum · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 3:58 pm Post subject:

Hi Paul,

None of it is a show-stopper, but sometimes finding out such details are easier for users than the originator!

E

LitusSaxonicum · Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 4:27 pm Post subject:

Paul,
If you do have time to look at the %bb button again, can I suggest looking at the icon size (16x16 or 24x24) and then adjusting the %bb button height to be the same as a %bt button for the larger icon? Using a standard font, Windows 7 and using the XP manifest, the %bb button is 24 pixels high (22 excluding the bounding box line), and a %bt button is 30 pixels high overall.
I don’t think that would break any existing code, as using a 24x24 icon in a %bb produces an ugly result at present, and I doubt if anyone does so. However, a 24x24 icon is much more readily identifiable – one needs to be a consummate artist to do the smaller icon sizes well.
I have no idea what happens to these button sizes if the font size is changed, but I suspect that as the icon size is fixed, any change in button size is likely to give an ugly result.
The grave modifier is not available (to shift the icon so that it and the text were centred together in a wide button) as it is used to denote the default button, and if it were possible to do this stylistic modification, then some other mechanism would be needed.
Eddie

[EDIT] ... and of course I discovered that if no icon is found, then the %bb button looks like a halfway house between %bt and %tt, so it is possible to get buttons with and without icons to line up ...

PaulLaidler · Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 6:04 pm Post subject:

I have had another go at %bb so that it now handles 24x24 and 32x32 icons as well as 16x16.

The results can be tested in a beta version of salflibc.dll that can be downloaded from http://www.silverfrost.com/beta/salflibc.exe

This is a self-extracting archive and this DLL supersedes the latest release.

LitusSaxonicum · Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 6:16 pm Post subject:

Many thanks

Eddie