[12.00b1] New icon sets

[pjj]

I think it will be more convenient to have this conversation in a separate thread, so...

I can easily read the image lists from file. So, we can have as many image sets as we want. The hard part is creating the lists in the first place. Adding over 100 images of different sizes to different image lists takes a while. And some images I may have to create on my own...

This is understandable (i.e. that this is hard), so perhaps some of us may be able to help you (or ourselves ) -- hence my post. I assume that you (will?) use sprite images, but for the testing purposes it will be so much easier to read individual icons from a directory. So, would it be feasible to e.g.:
1) check on program start if certain directory exists
2) if it does, read icons from it (or from a file placed inside it)
3) if some icons are missing, use default ones?

How big icons should be? 32x32? 48x48? And how about sets for a specified resolution: say, I have only 16x16 icons, that suit me well, can I use it, whereas someone with a bigger screen would have to stay with default one? I am asking because sometimes certain set exists with small icons only.

[Rickard Johansson]

I think a separate tool would be handy. A tool that is able to create new image list files, or open an existing image list file and modify it. It shouldn't be too hard to write and it would make it simple for users to create there own image lists.

(If I'm going to place the lists in files I can't include them in the program anymore. Which means I can't add or modify the lists myself. So I really need a tool...)

I'll make some changes in v12 beta 2. It will read an option for an image list set (16x16, 24x24, 32x32 and 48x48 versions). If a list is not found - the standard list is used.

[pjj]

Separate, dedicated tool sounds good! Now, since I have no idea how internals of icon support look like (would you please disclose some basic points?), I'm not sure it makes sense to suggest anything, so let me just reiterate: reading icons on program start seems easier to implement (no interim list, no special tool needed) and easier to do the testing; icons could be simply recognized by unique filenames.

Btw, do you plan to use sprites? You know, like

Btw2, possibility of having own icon sets is super-cool!

[Rickard Johansson]

Reading and adding icons one by one is a very slow process. Reading the entire list in one chunk is just as fast as having the list built into the program.

The images should be .png (or possibly .ico) files and use "True Color + Alpha (32-bits)".

[pjj]

"Very slow" means, like, five seconds during startup? Still good enough during testing phase, if you ask me. Bottom line: don't overengineer it

[Rickard Johansson]

I'll include the new image list editor tool in beta 2. Below is a screenshot of the tool and the info I added to the "Help->History.txt".

Toolbar image lists

ImageListEditor.png (23.37 KiB) Viewed 13076 times

The editor load the appropriate image list based on the DPI of the current monitor from disk. The standard lists are available in five sizes: 16x16, 20x20, 24x24, 32x32 and 48x48.

It is possible to create your own image lists used in toolbars, menus and panels throughout the program. In the program folder there is a tool called "ImageListEditor.exe". You can add this as a tool and start modify existing image lists or create new ones.

You can actually add images of any size you want. The added images are then resized (the resize function produce very good quality images).
But you still get the best quality if you use images (glyphs) of the same size as the image list use.

The image lists are available in "<AppData>\Roaming\RJ TextEd\ImageLists\". In the same folder is an option file "ImageLists.ini" which you can edit and add your own image list(s).

I would appreciate any contribution from users.

[pjj]