Dialog button with image.bmp --not working

JRL · Post by **JRL** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:45 pm

I think this used to work, am I doing something wrong?

I've got a dialog with a button. Dialog help says that I can call a bmp file that will display on the button. Instead I just get a totally grey button. I've got a bmp file that is a solid purple color. It is 75 pixels wide and 25 pixels tall. I made it using Microsoft Paint and I believe that it is a 24 bit bitmap. Here is a sample dialog.

Code: Select all

Dialog>Dialog1
   Caption=Dialog1
   Width=445
   Height=250
   Top=149
   Left=46
   Button=OK,168,144,75,25,3,C:\purple.bmp,This is a hint
EndDialog>Dialog1

Show>dialog1,r1

Wait>0,5

Me_again · Post by **Me_again** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:14 pm

Hi!

What OS and UI are you using? I tried this in XP with windows classic. I can see that it is affecting the button, because when the .bmp is added to the button command the text moves to the right as though it's allocating real estate for it (my .bmp was maybe 20x20), but the .bmp itself isn't displayed. I'll try it later with XP with the XP UI and see if that makes a difference.

JRL · Post by **JRL** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:24 pm

Using XP with the "Classic" interface (I'm old so I like the classics)

Yes if I make the bmp small it pushes the text to the right of the button. On the other hand, if I make the bmp large, the button disappears although it still functions.

Me_again · Post by **Me_again** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 10:59 pm

I tried on XP/XP (barf) but unfortunately it's the same, moves the text but doesn't display so there's something else going on.

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:36 pm

Ok, this had me scratching my head. I have a whole bunch of bitmaps that work fine, but when I tried to create one with Paint as you had I got the same problem. Then I discovered something I didn't know:

"The lower left pixel of the bitmap is reserved for the "transparent" color. Any pixel in the bitmap which matches that lower left pixel will be transparent."

So if the entire image is the same colour it won't appear - it will appear transparent. What you want to do is give your bitmaps a border if you want a solid colour. If you draw an image "inside" your bitmap, you'll see that image on the button and the "background" will be transparent.

I'll update the help file with this information.

Captive · Post by **Captive** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 6:17 pm

mtettmar wrote:"The lower left pixel of the bitmap is reserved for the "transparent" color. Any pixel in the bitmap which matches that lower left pixel will be transparent."

Ahh, could this also affect the ScreenCapture routine?

Post by **Marcus Tettmar** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 6:25 pm

No, it has nothing at all to do with ScreenCapture.

Me_again · Post by **Me_again** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:05 pm

Wow, that's an obscure one. But sure enough, I edited just that pixel and the .bmp shows. Is this an internal windows thing, or are there likely to be other situations/apps where a single color .bmp won't show?

JRL · Post by **JRL** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:33 pm

Thank you Marcus. Very impressive that you figured this one out.

jpuziano · Post by **jpuziano** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:15 pm

My compliments as well Marcus... and quite timely as I expect the upcoming ability to include image data within the macro itself will result in a lot more users putting images on dialog buttons (I know it will for me anyway).

And thanks in advance for updating the Help file with details about the special significance of the lower left corner pixel. Not knowing that has probably discouraged some from putting images on buttons. Having that info right in the Help File is the handiest and best place for it to be.

All the best and take care

Me_again · Post by **Me_again** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:26 pm

If you have a bunch of .bmp's to modify then imagemagick works great in combination with macroscheduler.

//change the lower left pixel to a color unlikely to be in the image

Let>RP_WAIT=1
//create a 1x1 pixel .bmp
RunProgram>c:\imag\convert -size 1x1 xc:#FF00FF c:\test\fuschia.bmp
//place it on the original .bmp
RunProgram>c:\imag\composite -gravity southwest c:\test\fuschia.bmp c:\test\square.bmp c:\test\comp.bmp

Or:

//add an invisible border (avoids having a missing lower left pixel)

RunProgram>c:\imag\convert -bordercolor #FF00FF -border 1x1 c:\test\square1.bmp c:\test\square1.bmp

Or if you want a visible border, you need to add an invisible one outside:

Let>RP_WAIT=1
//add a 3 pixel visible red border
RunProgram>c:\imag\convert -bordercolor #FF0000 -border 3x3 c:\test\square.bmp c:\test\square1.bmp
//add 1 pixel fuschia outer border which will be transparent
RunProgram>c:\imag\convert -bordercolor #FF00FF -border 1x1 c:\test\square1.bmp c:\test\square1.bmp

jpuziano · Post by **jpuziano** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 8:53 pm

Hi Me_again,

Thanks for sharing that; added to snippets for later use.