> I suppose this is wrong. Now, with Constructor 1.5b7 does one
> still need
> to use the "/-c-1/" type of naming for a compressed
> black/white bitmap?
> If so, how does one name a 4 bit and 8bit image?
You're correct. You do not need this older naming convention with this
newest version of Constructor. You name the 4- and 8-bit images with bitmap
IDs and make them part of the family.
> Is there a step-by-step howto for using bitmap families? I've looked
> through the KB and the Constructor doc, and I've tried messing around
> Constructor, but I've never managed to get a color bitmap
> from a bitmap
> family to appear in POSE with the color ROM.
You might check out the Help files in Constructor. Also, this is the best
explanation I've seen for the steps involved in creating the Bitmap Family
(written up by Jun-Kiat Lam).
-----------------------------------------------------------
To add a bitmap family to the form
1. Create the bitmaps you want to use for the bitmap family. They MUST all
be of the same size. Ideally, for compatibility between color, greyscale and
black and white devices you should have bitmaps for 1-bit, 2-bit, 4-bit and
8-bit bitmaps. You can set the bitmap depth in the Colors menu in
Constructor (bring the bitmap editor forward to see the menu).
2. Create a Bitmap Family. Double-click on it to open the bitmap and specify
the bitmap family size in the Properties window. The bitmap family MUST be
of the same size as the bitmaps created for it, or Constructor will
complain.
3. Add the bitmaps to the bitmap family. Select Family Items and press
Ctrl-K. Notice that each family item added is of increasing Depth. Add the
appropriate bitmap ID to the appropriate Family Item e.g. for the 1-bit
Family Item, you would use the bitmap ID of the 1-bit (black and white)
bitmap you created for the bitmap family.
4. In the Form Editor, drag a Form Bitmap from the Catalog onto the form.
You will see a grey box added to the form. Click on the grey box to bring up
the form bitmap's properties. In the Bitmap ID field, add the ID of the
bitmap family.
5. Save the RSRC project. You can now add this resource file to a Palm OS
3.5 project and it will display the bitmap family properly.
Notes and Tips:
1. To use bitmap families and icon families, you MUST use the Palm OS 3.5
SDK, its libraries and plugins (Constructor 1.5 and the PalmRez Post Linker
that comes with it). No other SDK supports bitmap/icon families.
2. Because Bitmap Families are treated like bitmaps, if you have a Bitmap
Family and a Bitmap with the same resource ID e.g. both with ID 1000,
PalmRez will generate an error. This is because PalmRez sees two resources
of the same type having the same ID. You should use a different numbering
convention for Bitmap Families and Bitmaps.
3. When adding the form bitmap to the form, it can be difficult to see what
the bitmap family will look like in the final result since Constructor does
not display the whole full-sized bitmap if a Bitmap Family ID is used in the
form bitmap's Bitmap ID field. This is because the Bitmap Family is actually
a pointer to up to four different bitmaps which are drawn at runtime -
Constructor cannot know which bitmap should be displayed. To work around
this and allow you to see how the bitmap will actually appear, use the ID of
one of the normal bitmaps instead during development, and then switch to the
Bitmap Family ID when you are ready to build.
4. You can use the Transparency setting in the Bitmap Family's Family Items
settings to set a color to be 'invisible' i.e. not see when drawn on the
device. This works best with color bitmaps.
-----------------------------------------------
The only image I
> managed to
> get up is the 1 bit one (among the other bitdepth in the
> bitmap family),
> and only when it has the same resourceID as the bitmap family.
This is displaying the Bitmap (not the family). See Notes and Tips #2 for
further explanation.
-hkmlt
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