ST-Computer Leser-CD 2001 January/LCD_01_2001.iso/system/designer/designer.doc

Text File | 2001-01-04 | 12.6 KB | 298 lines

NatFrame Window Designer v1.0b
------------------------------
(the docs for the last version of the designer incorrectly stated it was
v1.0, it should have been 0.9b)


Contents
--------
1. Introduction
2. Getting started (how to create a theme from scratch)
3. Detailed description
    3.1. Basic principles
    3.2. Menues
    3.3. Editor window
4. Known bugs
5. New things since last version
6. Copyright and disclaimer
7. Contact information


1. Introduction
---------------

This program helps creating theme-information files for the NatFrame
window replacement for MagiC 6.x, since the DAT files NatFrame uses are
quite extensive.

2. Getting started (how to create a theme from scratch)
-------------------------------------------------------
First of all, if there is something in this short description you don't
understand, read the part "Detailed description".

1. Make sure you have all the textures you are going to use, gathered in
the same directory. They may be of the format unpacked 24-bit Targa (.TGA)
or Rainbow's own raw format (.F16).

2. If the textures are in Targa format, select "Convert textures..." in
the File menu. A file selector will appear, and you should select the
directory where your textures are. This will convert all your Targa files
in that directory into F16 files, which are the only ones that NatFrame
can use. It's important that the Targa files are unpacked 24-bit,
otherwise the designer won't do anything with them.

3. Select "Load textures..." from the File menu. A file selector will
appear, and you should select the directory where your textures are. This
will load all your textures into memory (only F16 format is supported).

4. Now you're ready to start assigning textures to each window element.
Try experimenting yourself, or read section 3.3 "Editor window" if
something is not clear.


3. Detailed description
-----------------------

3.1  Basic principles
---------------------
NatFrame uses textures, images, instead of the old grey colours. But in
doing so, an information file is needed which tells NatFrame which
textures to put on which elements in the window. This file is a ".DAT"
file, and is too complex to edit by hand, so I made this designer. Or
maybe "assigner" is a more precise name, since you don't create the
textures with it, you just assign them to the window elements.

All the textures used in one theme must be in the same directory. This is
because the DAT file used by NatFrame doesn't contain the complete path
to each texture, only the filename itself. I decided to do so since it
both makes the DAT files a lot smaller, and it is a lot easier to move a
whole theme or give it away to a friend, if the textures are all in one
place.

Besides choice of textures each window element can also have different
ways of copying the textures onto the screen. For example there is one
mode which tiles the texture both horizontally and vertically, whereas
another only gives you horizontal repetition.

3.2  Menues
-----------
The "NatFrame" menu title is not important so only the "File" menu is
described here.

3.2.1  "New DAT"

       This frees any textures in memory and cleares the DAT file buffer.

3.2.2  "Open DAT..."

       Lets you open a DAT file, and will also load all textures used by
       it. If not all or no textures could be found in the same directory
       as the DAT file, you are given the choice to either select a
       different directory where all the textures should be, or load no
       textures at all. The later will ruin the texture assignments but
       will keep all other settings that can be applied to a window
       element.

3.2.3  "Save DAT"

       This will save an already named DAT file, without presenting a file
       selector. If this menu item is chosen when the current DAT file in
       memory has been created but not yet saved using "Save DAT as...", a
       file selector will appear anyway. This menu item is disabled if a
       texture directory has not yet been selected.

3.2.4  "Save DAT as..."

       This will present a file selector and let you save your DAT file
       under a new name. This menu item is disabled if a texture directory
       has not yet been selected.

3.2.5  "Load textures..."

       This lets you select and load textures from a directory. It is not
       possible to load textures from different directories. All earlier
       loaded textures will be destroyed if you chose OK in the file
       selector.

3.2.6  "Load additional textures"

       If you have opened an old DAT file and its textures, but want to
       add new ones, it is not possible to use "Load textures..." since it
       will destroy the textures that are already in memory. Instead you
       should use "Load additional textures". It will go through the
       selected directory and load all found textures that are not already
       in memory.

3.2.7  "Convert textures..."

       This lets you select a directory in which you want to convert all
       found unpacked 24-bit Targa images into the raw 16-bit format
       (.F16) used by NatFrame.

3.2.8  "Quit"

       The same as usual.


3.3  Editor window
-----------------
The editor window buttons are split into global and element specific
buttons. The global ones are at the top, outside the box with the title
"Current object". From there you can set things that are not individual
for each window element, like text colour. The element specific buttons
will change what they show depending on which element is selected in the
two windows below. The red outline shows which window element is selected.
Here follows a walkthrough of all the gadgets in the editor window.

3.3.1  Global settings

3.3.1.1  "Element size"

         This button lets you set the width and height of the window
         elements. What it looks like can be seen in the two WYSIWYG windows
         at the bottom of the editor window.

3.3.1.2  "Element text"

         This toggles the display of text on the window buttons on and
         off. It will not do anything to the title and info bar texts.
         This is useful if you have textures for each of the small buttons
         which already contain some sort of symbol.

3.3.1.3  "Text color"

         In this box you can choose which colours will be used for element
         text on topped and untopped windows respectively. The result can
         be seen in the two WYSIWYG windows below.

3.3.2  Object specific settings

3.3.2.1  Texture selection and offset settings

         For each of the four modes a window element can be in (selected/
         unselected combined with topped/untopped window) there is a
         texture selection box and an "offset" box to the right of it. The
         texture selection box simply lets you select which texture should
         be used by the selected window element in the specific mode. The
         offset box lets you set start and end offsets for the selected
         texture when using certain draw type modes (see "Draw type
         selection" below). Note that the offset is set for the texture
         itself, not for the selected window element, so this setting is
         "global" for each texture.

3.3.2.2  Draw type selection

         There is a number of different ways the textures can be copied
         onto the screen. Some of them are disabled since I haven't
         implemented them yet (or never will, because I haven't needed
         them). Here follows a description:

3.3.2.2.1  Horizontally and vertically repeating

           This mode will repeat the texture in both directions if the
           texture is smaller than the window element that is to be drawn.

3.3.2.2.2  Horizontally and vertically repeating with complete 3D border

           This mode looks the same as the above, except a 3D border will
           be drawn around (inside, not outside) the window element. You
           can easily draw your own 3D border on textures which will only
           be used on window elements which will never change its size,
           like the "closer" button for example. But for window elements
           that may change in size, like the title bar, its necessary to
           use this feature to get a 3D border that follows the element
           dynamically, just like we're used to. This is accomplished by
           having a lightened and a darkened copy of each texture, to draw
           the light and dark 3D edges. You don't have to create these
           copies, but NatFrame and the designer will do it for you.

3.3.2.2.3  Horizontally and vertically repeating with 3D border

           This is the same as the above, but the 3D border changes to fit
           the window elements next to the one to be drawn. Try loading
           some onecoloured textures and switching between this mode and
           the one just above, to get the idea.

3.3.2.2.4  Horizontally repeating with end offsets

           This mode only repeats the texture horizontally, and there is
           no 3D border. The difference lies in the end offsets, which let
           you have a section in the left and right of the texture which
           always are to be drawn to the left and right in the window
           element. The rest of the texture in between is repeated as
           necessary. The size of these end offsets can be set for each
           texture using the "offset" buttons (see 3.3.2.1 "Texture
           selection and offset settings").

3.3.2.2.5  Vertically repeating with end offsets

           The same as above, but the texture is repeated vertically and
           the offsets are from the top and bottom of the texture.

3.3.2.2.6  Rescaled to fit

           This mode scales the texture so that it covers the window
           element exactly once. This mode might be slower than the others
           due to the calculations that have to be done to scale the
           texture, but there is one thing you can do to make it faster;
           if you for example want to use this mode on the title bar of
           the window, make sure that the texture has the same height as
           the title bar. This will be faster because NVDI won't have to
           scale the texture vertically as well as horizontally, since the
           texture already has the same height as the object it is used
           on.

3.3.2.3  The WYSIWYG windows

         These two windows show you what your windows will look like. You
         can select which window element to edit by left-clicking on it
         with the mouse. If you right-click on a window element, a list of
         all loaded textures will pop up, so another one can be chosen
         quickly. The "selected elements" boxes in the middle of each
         window will select/unselect all elements in each window. This way
         you can see what the elements will look like when they are
         selected too. The small text in the left window shows which
         window element is currently being edited.


4. Known bugs
-------------
If you change the draw type for a window element to "horizontally
repeating with end offsets" and either of the end offsets for the texture
in use is greater or equal to the width of the texture, the computer will
freeze. I've tried to fix this bug by checking this before changing draw
types, but it doesn't quite work, even if the problem doesn't show every
time. So be careful...


5. New things since last version
--------------------------------
Since version 0.9b, I have added support for the rescaled texture draw
type, plus some other smaller things like a small text line in the editor
window which shows which object is currently being edited.


6. Copyright and disclaimer
---------------------------
NatFrame and this designer program is copyright 2000-2001 Torbjörn Gildå.
Both may be spread freely as long as no profit is made from it, though
they may be included on coverdisks together with magazines.

I, Torbjörn Gildå, can not be held responsible for any damages that may
occur when using NatFrame or the designer, though they are tested and
should work fine.


7. Contact information
----------------------
email: [e-mail] (Torbjörn Gildå)
       [e-mail]  (Henrik Gildå)
homepage: nature.atari.org

Please contact me if you have created a nice theme and want to share it,
or you have any questions.



/Torbjörn Gildå        4 Jan 2001