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Modifying OS/2 icon resources safely?
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RobertM
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1. Modifying OS/2 icon resources safely?
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last updated at 25 May, 2005 05:47 (2 times)
Hi,

A few questions that some of the brilliant minds out here can hopefully help me with:

Can anyone give me some direction on how to modify OS/2's icon resouces safely for things like (but not necessarily limited to) the following?

  • Multimedia data file icons such as .bmp, .gif, etc
  • System icons that some files won't accept a custom icon for (for instance some DLLs will not allow their icon to be changed when you drag-n-drop an icon to it's Icon page even if you uncheck all it's file attributes)
  • The template background object (sticky pad) so that I can make that match the color scheme of an icon set
  • etc

I know some utilities will on-the-fly draw other icons (like I think xWP), but I'd rather have a method that doesnt require that overhead (I'm finding in large folders with icons changed that way, it can often take a VERY long time for the folder to open or sometimes even lock the GUI itself)


Also, are there safe size recommendations (byte wise) that I should try to keep the icons themselves to? Perhaps should I be making a 640x480 set with 32x32 and 16x16 icons and a 1024x768, etc set with 40x40 and 20x20 icons instead of putting them in the same file?


And, finally, can someone tell me if those are the correct 4 icon sizes and the way the sets should be broken up for different resolutions?

I'm thinking from what work I've done on the icon sets I'm playing with that icon sizes (wrong dimensions that need to be scaled - or - too large - or - both) seem to consume a decent amount of system resources; (which is another reason for my first question - seems a lot less if the icon is already the default icon for an object type).


For any of these questions, if there's a reference or references online, I'll gladly dig through them and read them myself (so if so, feel free to just point me in the right direction instead of wasting time spelling it out for me unless you really want to ), but as of yet, I've searched all the Toolkit help files and Warp's online references and not found much of anything helpful.


As I'll be busy working some long hours the next 2 weeks, if I don't get back to any of you who post, accept my thanks in advance,


- Robert

Date: 25 May, 2005 on 05:33
tex
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2. Re:Modifying OS/2 icon resources safely?
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[quote]RobertM (25 May, 2005 05:47):
Hi,

A few questions that some of the brilliant minds out here can hopefully help me with:

Can anyone give me some direction on how to modify OS/2's icon resouces safely for things like (but not necessarily limited to) the following?

[html]<UL>
<LI>Multimedia data file icons such as .bmp, .gif, etc
<LI>System icons that some files won't accept a custom icon for <em>(for instance some DLLs will not allow their icon to be changed when you drag-n-drop an icon to it's Icon page even if you uncheck all it's file attributes)</em>
<LI>The template background object <em>(sticky pad)</em> so that I can make that match the color scheme of an icon set
<LI>etc
</UL>

Robert

The following is a toolkit for eCS icon themes. It may contain some information that you can use.

http://www.cs-club.org/~alex/os2/utils/it_kit.zip

David

Date: 25 May, 2005 on 12:04
RobertM
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3. Re:Modifying OS/2 icon resources safely?
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tex (25 May, 2005 12:04):

The following is a toolkit for eCS icon themes. It may contain some information that you can use.

http://www.cs-club.org/~alex/os2/utils/it_kit.zip

David


Thanks David, will look into it.

- Rob

Date: 25 May, 2005 on 21:53
davidfor
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4. Re:Modifying OS/2 icon resources safely?
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Rob,

Alex Taylor's Icon Toolkit is a good place to start. It lists all the icons that can be replaced, plus has some tools to build resource files to replace them in the DLLs. While it is aimed at being used with eCS and it's Icon Theme Manager, the information and resource files are usable with Warp 4. I don't know if a non-eCS version of the Icon Theme Manager exists.

There is also Martin Lafaix's Resource Manager package. This has functions to change resources in executables. It should be capable of changing the icons.

Some icons can also be changed via the INI files. The LXLite package includes a utility to do this for the main icons. Unfortunately, the last time I tried this, it didn't work. I'm assuming something has changed with recent fixpacks or eCS, as I did use it successfully sometime ago.

As to sizes, the icons supplied in OS/2 tend to be 16*16, 20*20, 32*32 and 40*40. And some are in both colour and black & white. But, I've also seen 48*48 icons in there. My memory tells me that OS/2 uses 16*16 and 32*32 for lower resolution, and 20*20 and 40*40 for higher resolutions is correct, but, it's been a while since I've seen the statement.

For more information, the source of XWorkplace should include something. Looking at its documentation may help as well. Asking a question like this in the newsgroups is always good as the knowledgeable OS/2 programmers tend to be there.

Lastly, are you creating new icons, or, working from a published set on the net? In either case, I'm sure the rest of us will be interested to see them.

---
David

Date: 26 May, 2005 on 03:36
BigWarpGuy
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5. Re:Modifying OS/2 icon resources safely?
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I have noticed that PMView is an option where one can save a picture or photo as an OS/2 icon. Does this work with the theme editor that was mentioned?

---
BigWarpGuy
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Date: 26 May, 2005 on 14:13
davidfor
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6. Re:Modifying OS/2 icon resources safely?
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The Icon Toolkit can use any valid OS/2 icon that has appropriate resolutions. So, you can use an icon that PMView has created.

---
David
Date: 27 May, 2005 on 01:44
Modifying OS/2 icon resources safely?
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