Hi Alan C > Just modified dialog.dll to include 12 of your icons, and modified the > code that allows you to get at icons to check relative paths > for whether relative to pp installation folder. Works fine.
I guess that means they are not needed in PowerPro's own default.icl. Therefore, in the thread "Re: association for saved clip files", I suggested to Bruce to use a smaller default.icl which does not include the extra icons for dialog plugin. Do feel free to comment in that thread if I have misunderstood and you do want icons for dialog.dll to be in default.icl. In that case, Bruce could distribute my default45c.icl instead of the default45b.icl which I recommended to him. > So that makes for the interesting possibility of loading a few useful > icons into various other plugins. > I doubt that would be all that useful for plugins like com, vars, ddl, > dde, reg, ini -- those are mostly just tools that would use to > build useful stuff, and perhaps one wouldn't really want or need icons > somehow related to that e.g. you happened to use com to build your script. > But maybe net, pop3, smtp, crypto, odbc, sqlite, aspell...perhaps > users would find it useful to build dialogs that used those plugins, > and would find it useful to have icons related to their functionality. > So, if you ever fancy making up some relevant icons for them, > I'll add them. I'm willing, if other icons will be useful. I don't know what specific icons would actually be wanted by users, because I don't use those plugins myself. So it's easier for me if I get _specific_ requests, with a brief description of where/how this particular icon will be used, and preferably also suggesting what symbol(s) or images would make a strong mental association with this particular feature or dialog or plugin. Because icons are all about instant recognition, it's best to use the most commonly used symbols for the subject, instead of being original. So I guess pop3 and smtp should use an image of an envelope. Some users might want a different icon for each. Pop3.dll is about fetching and smtp.dll is about sending so I guess pop3 could have an envelope with arrow pointing left and smtp could have an envelope with arrow pointing right. Or maybe it's a down arrow for pop3 and an up arrow for smtp send. And what for crypto? A padlock maybe? I'll upload some draft designs for a few of the dlls you mention... but I never use sql or odbc and have no mental image for a database symbol. The sqlite home page has an ugly icon which is just the characters SQL-ite crammed into a 16x16 square. Is there a most popular symbol for databases? Can you point me to a web page which shows one? _________________________________________________________________ As a separate issue, you'd need to consider the best place to store such icons. Icons are used in three kinds of places: [A] on a bar button or menu item, created by the user. The user specifies the icon in pproconf's item editing dialog or with a cl.seticon() command. [B] to represent a window (such as a dialog window) on the TaskBar, active bars, task lists, etc. This also appears in the window's own caption (aka title bar) if it has one. The dll which makes the dialog must be programmed to tell the OS which icon to use for this window. [C] embedded in the body of the dialog window (not in its caption bar). This is usually larger than 16x16. For example if you specify an icon for miscplugin.messagebox() it shows the 16x16 of that in the TaskBar and in the message box's caption -- and also displays the 32x32 in the message box's body. On the other hand, with msgbox.dll plugin, if you specify an icon it is embedded in the dialog body but not used in the caption nor in the taskbar. In case A, if any plugin's dll contains icon(s), users can set it for a bar button as "c:\pathto\plugin.dll",3. Or they can use any other icon, such as from an icl or ico file. If you wish, the plugin writer can include optional user icons, as you have done in dialog.dll. Even if they are not used by the dll itself for uses B and C, they can be provided for use A. In cases B and C, it seems to me that it's best for the dll which actually creates the window to include at least a default icon in that .dll file itself. The dll should tell the OS to use its included default for any dialogs or other windows it creates, if the user does not specify one. That stops non-specific generic icons being used on the Taskbar etc. Anyway, I wrote all the above to set the ground for this question: If I make an icon for each of "pop3, smtp, crypto" which you mentioned, should they go into pop3.dll, smtp.dll and crypto.dll respectively, or should they all go into dialog.dll ? I guess they might be used for A (the user's own bar buttons) and their main purpose is for B (the Taskbar etc) if chosen by the user as allowed by dialog.dll. I think the answer is: if a plugin such as pop3, smtp, crypto makes its own windows (not made by dialog.dll) then it needs to contain its own default icon for use B (the Taskbar etc). On the other hand, if smtp.dll never makes its own windows, but you are thinking of situations where the user has asked dialog.dll to create a dialog window which happens to be about smtp, then the icon we provide for the user to optionally specify for his "dialog about smtp" belongs in dialog.dll rather than smtp.dll. It will be easier for the user to select an icon if all the optional icons for dialog.dll are in one place. Anyway, where to store them is your decision. I'll just paint whatever specific icons you, or users, ask for. Alan M ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Check out the new improvements in Yahoo! Groups email. http://us.click.yahoo.com/6pRQfA/fOaOAA/yQLSAA/JV_rlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Attention: PowerPro's Web site has moved: http://www.ppro.org Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/power-pro/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
