forums.silverfrost.com

[jjgermis]

Would like to add a figure in an application as shown below. This user then automatically sees the definition of the variables. Do I have to compile the figure as a resource to make it "part" of the program. Which ClearWin function would be the best to use?

[PaulLaidler]

Basically you need winio@ with %bm, %im or %gi. Probably the best option is to use %im with a jpeg image. Alternatively, if you get the latest beta download of salflibc.dll you could try %im with a png file. The main advantage is that these files use compressed data and so are much smaller than bmp files.

[LitusSaxonicum]

You have many choices. If you use %bm, you can pre-draw the bitmap and use it in the resources as you have done. %bm is good because if you want to, you can make the image clickable, like a fancy button. If you use %ic you again need to pre-draw the bitmap, but it will appear against a background of the window, whatever that is. You need to become very skilled with icon editors, and that is difficult. I would recommend %bm. And yes, you have to compile the image. You can do this is a RESOURCES section if your program uses few resources, but if you use many resources, it is better to put them all in a resource file (of type .rc) and pre-compile it with SRC

My alternative response would be to use a %gr area. In the first instance, I would put a bitmap in using IMPORT_IMAGE@, so it isn't much different to %bm, and still needs the image in the resources section. However, with a %gr you could rescale and redraw the image when the dimensions changed by putting a subroutine call to redraw the image into the callbacks for each dimension. In this case, you don't need a pre-drawn image (although it might be easy to have one for use at startup) and you will need a lot of programming. A %gr area will have the 3D look of the input boxes in your window, but if you want them for a %bm you will have to draw them yourself.

Eddie

[LitusSaxonicum]

Paul posted while I was writing. With lossy compressed file formats like JPEG you will get noticeable visual artifacts for a line drawing - they are fine for photos etc. PNG and GIF are better than JPEG for line drawings, and more equivalent to %bm. If you have a static image you specify it in your set of WINIO@ calls, if you change the image you do that in your callbacks.

E

[jjgermis]

Thanks - I will try the mentioned options!

ClearWin is really a fine addon. Until know I have use it for very simple calculations in a more or less "DOS-Box" environment. Here feedback from another application.

Recently we integrated this very simple tool in a larger and more complex design program. In oder to do so we just added an option to parse command line arguments. The cool idea behind this is that:

We can run the program parsing the input file and variables as a simple text-file (or whatever format is required). No GUI appears and the results are written to a file for further processing.

Should the user need the "old" tool for standalone calculations, one can invoke the GUI by neglecting any command line arguments.

And the best of all: The maintanance effort is the same - one program in two solutions.

[LitusSaxonicum]

I agree - Clearwin+ enables 'old dogs' to learn 'new tricks' (according to folk knowledge, they cannot!).

I am enormously envious that you can get a printer icon onto the caption bar. Even though the current Windows User Experience Guide says that you should not do it, it looks great. How do you do it?

Eddie

[jjgermis]

Hi Eddie

The printer icon is done automatically by a program called Hardcopy. I could not find any information in English. Anyway the website shows some screen shots.

[LitusSaxonicum]

The website comes up in English for me! Thanks.

Eddie