121 lines
5 KiB
Plaintext
121 lines
5 KiB
Plaintext
How to add new bitmaps to wxWidgets UI elements
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===============================================
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0. Introduction
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---------------
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Since the introduction of wxArtProvider class, it is no longer desired to
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hardcode art resources (e.g. icons and toolbar or button bitmaps) into the
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code. This was previously done either by including the bitmap in win32
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resource file (include/wx/msw/wx.rc) or by including XPM files in the code.
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wxArtProvider should be used instead, to allow users to customize the look of
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their wxWidgets app. This technote is a detailed description of steps needed
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when adding new bitmap/icon.
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1. Adding new resource
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----------------------
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(Please see wxArtProvider reference documentation for explanation of "art ID"
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and "art client" terms.)
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First of all, you have to add new wxArtID constant to include/wx/artprov.h.
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Look for "Art IDs" and add new definition to the list, e.g.
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#define wxART_MY_BITMAP wxART_MAKE_ART_ID(wxART_MY_BITMAP)
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Add it to interface/wx/artprov.h, too.
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It may happen that the intended use of the new resource doesn't fit into any
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of defined client categories (search for "Art clients" in the header). In case
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the new resource is part of a larger category, you need to define a new
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client. Just add it to the list of existing clients (and don't forget to
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update artprov.tex):
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#define wxART_MY_CLIENT wxART_MAKE_CLIENT_ID(wxART_MY_CLIENT)
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Alternatively, you may use wxART_OTHER when accessing the resource if the
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bitmap is standalone.
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Once the header is updated, it's time to add XPM file with the bitmap to
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$(wx)/art. Add it to $(wx)/art if it is platform-independent or to
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$(wx)/art/$(toolkit) if it is something specific to one of the toolkits. Note
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that "specific to one of the toolkits" doesn't mean that the bitmap is *used*
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by only one toolkit, but that it doesn't make sense for any of the others! For
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example, a GTK wxART_WARNING icon ($(wx)/art/gtk/warning.xpm) is specific to
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wxGTK, but new_dir.xpm makes sense even under wxMSW even though it is
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currently only used by the generic file dialog. Remember that wxArtProvider
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can be used by users, not only the library.
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Finally, wxDefaultArtProvider in $(wx)/src/common/artstd.cpp must be updated.
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This consists of two steps:
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a) add #include line for your XPM file, e.g. #include "../../art/my_bmp.xpm"
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b) add ART(...) line to wxDefaultArtProvider::CreateBitmap(). The first
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argument is wxArtID, the other is XPM file name (w/o extension), e.g.
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ART(wxART_MY_BITMAP, my_bmp)
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That's all. The bitmap is now available to wxArtProvider users.
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Note: there's no difference between icons and bitmaps, always treat them as
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bitmaps inside wx(Default)ArtProvider.
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1b. Adding Tango version of the resource.
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-----------------------------------------
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While all the bitmaps are provided in XPM format so that they are available in
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all builds of wxWidgets, we also provide most of them in PNG format with full
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transparency support that is not available in XPM. Another advantage of the PNG
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versions is that the icons used are those of the Tango project and so have the
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consistent look, unlike the XPM ones.
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So if you an icon exists in http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Icon_Gallery you
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should add it too. For this you need to:
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1. Convert the PNG to a C array of bytes suitable for inclusion in the code.
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This is done using misc/scripts/png2c.py script, e.g. if the variable "f"
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contains the name of the icon you want to add and you have installed Tango
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icons in a standard location under a Linux system:
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./misc/scripts/png2c.py -s /usr/share/icons/Tango/{16x16,24x24}/*/$f.png >
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art/tango/${f//-/_}.h
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Of course, the same command may be ran with different paths under Windows.
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Just remember to add both 16 and 24 pixel versions of the bitmap to the
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header and use the "-s" option to embed the image size in its array name.
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2. Add #include for the newly created file to src/common/arttango.cpp.
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3. Add an entry to s_allBitmaps array in the same file.
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2. Accessing the resource
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-------------------------
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The file that will use the bitmap needs to include "wx/artprov.h". The code to
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access the bitmap (or icon) is trivial:
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wxBitmap bmp = wxArtProvider::GetBitmap(wxART_MY_BITMAP, wxART_MY_CLIENT);
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// this would be "wxBitmap bmp(my_bmp_xpm);" before
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wxIcon icon = wxArtProvider::GetIcon(wxART_MY_ICON, wxART_MY_CLIENT);
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Substitute wxART_MY_CLIENT in the example with a suitable client ID. If the
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client is wxART_OTHER you may write only
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wxArtProvider::GetBitmap(wxART_MY_BITMAP).
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3. Providing a demo
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-------------------
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It is highly desirable to let the users know what stock bitmaps are available
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in wxWidgets. The "artprov" sample serves this purpose: it contains a browser
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dialog that displays all available art resources.
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It has to be updated to accommodate for new bitmaps. Fortunately, this is
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trivial: open $(wx)/samples/artprov/artbrows.cpp in text editor and
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ART_ICON(wxART_MY_BITMAP) line to the FillBitmaps() function.
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Similarly, if you add a new client, please update FillClients() by adding new
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client to the end of the list.
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=== EOF ===
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