dticonfile(special file)

NAME
dticonfile — icon conventions for XCDE icons

SYNOPSIS

The conventions used within the XCDE for icon
sizes, naming, location, and usage are specified.

DESCRIPTION

Both X Pixmap and X Bitmap icon file formats are used within the XCDE. X Pixmap (XPM) icons are multi-color images based on the XPM format developed by Arnaud Le Hors. A pixmap file is an ASCII file that can be read and modified by hand, in addition to using color pixmap editors (like the XCDE Icon Editor). X Bitmap (XBM) icons are monochrome (two-color) images based on the official X11 Bitmap File Format. Bitmap files are ASCII files; however, the data is simply a binary representation of the bitmap, and as such is not easily read or modified by hand. The XCDE icon editor can create and modify XBM icons. The icon editor has the ability to write out any icon in either the XPM or XBM file format. For a more detailed description of these file formats and the icon editor, see the dtbmfile(4), dtpmfile(4) and dticon(1) man pages.

  File Naming

XCDE icon file names are typically in one of the following forms:

basename.format
basename.size.format

The basename is the logical name of the icon. The basenames for icons that are installed with XCDE begin with either Dt or Fp. Dt is the default prefix for all XCDE icons. The Fp prefix is used for icons that appear in the front panel when an icon other than the default Dt icon is desired. In this case, the basename is the same.

If an additional icon is needed for the client iconImage (iconified client window icon), a third prefix, Ic, is used.

The format is pm for a pixmap file and bm for a bitmap file. Size is a single letter: l for large, m for medium, s for small and t for tiny. Many of the logical icons are provided in multiple sizes for both color and monochrome. This allows XCDE to use the optimal color and size combination for the specific task and configuration the user is running. Many bitmap icons have a mask associated with the icon. These are named basename.size_m.format. All icons are named so that the longest filename associated with that icon is 14 bytes or less; this allows it to be used on a short filename system. The longest filename can be described as Dtxxxxx_m.l.pm, where xxxxx is the logical icon name.

  Example

This is an example of icon files that might be associated with the icon foo. The single logical icon foo contains tiny, small, medium and large bitmap icons (with mask) and pixmap icons.

Dtfoo.t.pm
Dtfoo.t.bm
Dtfoo.t_m.bm
Dtfoo.s.pm
Dtfoo.s.bm
Dtfoo.s_m.bm
Dtfoo.m.pm
Dtfoo.m.bm
Dtfoo.m_m.bm
Dtfoo.l.pm
Dtfoo.l.bm
Dtfoo.l_m.bm

  Icon Sizes

Icons of the following sizes and with the following suffixes are supported:

Large
    48×48 icon with .l suffix

Medium
    32×32 icon with .m suffix

Small
    24×24 icon with .s suffix

Tiny
    16×16 icon with .t suffix

The icon sizes used varies for different components, and is dependent on the display hardware.

  Table Of Icon Sizes Used
XCDE ComponentHiRes,MedResLoRes(vga)
Front Panel48×4832×32
FP Subpanels32×3224×24
FP Inset FP24×2416×16
WMgr ClientIcon48×4832×32
File Mgr (Large)32×3232×32
File Mgr (Small)16×1616×16
tgroup dispwid="6.07in"

  Icon Colors

These colors are used in XCDE icons. The dynamic colors use color cells from one of the color sets in the user's color palette (except none, which requires no color cell).

The eight icon color names are already included in the rgb.txt file. The eight icon gray color names should be added to each XCDE vendor's rgb.txt.
Color Name (rgb.txt)Symbolic Name (&<icon>.pm)
&< dynamic >none
&< dynamic >background
&< dynamic >selectColor
&< dynamic >topShadowColor
&< dynamic >bottomShadowColor
blackiconColor1
whiteiconColor2
rediconColor3
greeniconColor4
blueiconColor5
yellowiconColor6
cyaniconColor7
magentaiconColor8
iconGray1iconGray1
iconGray2iconGray2
iconGray3iconGray3
iconGray4iconGray4
iconGray5iconGray5
iconGray6iconGray6
iconGray7iconGray7
iconGray8iconGray8
tgroup dispwid="4.17in"

  Icon File Locations

XCDE has default locations where it looks to find system and user icon files. See the dtappintegrate(1) manual page for detailed information on where to install icons. See the dtsearchpath(1) manual page for information on the icon lookup path.

  Icon Usage In XCDE

Icons are used in a variety of ways within XCDE. Following are examples of some of the general areas in which users can use icons to customize XCDE configurations. A system administrator can also do this on a system- or network-wide basis. For more detailed information on any of these topics, see the documentation for that component or configuration file.

  Actions And Data Types

An icon is associated with an action or data type using the ICON keyword in the action or data type definition (located in .dt files). If XCDE naming conventions are followed, there is no need to specify the path or icon suffix. The size and format used is determined at runtime based on the system configuration.

  Example

ACTION    IslandPaintOpenDoc
{
    ICON           Ipaint
    WINDOW_TYPE    NO_STDIO
    EXEC_HOST      MyMachine
    EXEC_STRING    /usr/bin/IslandPaint %(File)Arg_1"File to open:"
}

  Client Icons

An icon is associated with a client's iconified window through the iconImage window manager resource as follows:

Dtwm*clientName*iconImage: IconFilename

The icon may be a pixmap or bitmap format icon. Some clients do not allow their default icon to be overridden.

  Example

Dtwm*IslandPaint*clientIcon: IslandPaint.bm

  Front Panel

Icons can be displayed as controls in the front panel using the ICON keyword in control definitions. Either pixmap- or bitmap-format icons can be used. For controls that are of type icon with MONITOR_TYPE set to file or mail, an alternate image can be specified using the keyword ALTERNATE_ICON. The alternate icon is used when the file size has grown. Controls of type busy can also have an alternate icon, which is cycled with the ICON to give a blinking effect. For controls that allow a PUSH_ACTION or a DROP_ACTION, push or drop animation can be defined using multiple icons that create animation visual effects.

  Example

CONTROL DirectoryTerm
{
    TYPE             icon
    IMAGE            directoryTerm
    DROP_ACTION      f.action StartDirectoryTerm
    PUSH_ACTION      f.action StartDirectoryTerm
    PUSH_ANIMATION   DirAnimation
}
ANIMATION DirAnimation
{
    ANIMATION   frame1  300
    ANIMATION   frame2
    ...
}

  Backdrops

The backdrop icons show up in a list in the Backdrop Dialog of the Style Manager. The user can select a single backdrop per workspace to be used as the background for that workspace. This is a visual clue to help the user distinguish one workspace from another. Backdrops are available in both monochrome (bitmap) and color (pixmap) format (all backdrops are unique; there are not bitmap and pixmap versions of the same backdrop). Although backdrops use the same file format as other icons, they are not used like what is typically referred to as an icon. They would be more accurately described as an image. The image is repeated (tiled) to fill the entire background of a workspace. This is not typically done with an icon. The XCDE comes with a set of standard backdrops. Some are monochrome and some are in color. Custom backdrops can be added to system-installed backdrops using the Style Manager and Window Manager backdropDirectories resource. Backdrops can be either bitmap or pixmap format. A system administrator can add system-wide backdrops to the system-wide default backdrop directory, /usr/dt/backdrops/C.

  Example

*backdropDirectories: /users/julie/.dt/icons/myBackdrops

  File Manager As Icon Browser

The File Manager can be used as an icon browser. In this mode, when you change to a directory that contains icons ( .bm or .pm files), each icon is displayed next to the icon file name. To enable icon browsing, copy the file /usr/dt/contrib/types/IconBrowse.dt into your $HOME/.dt/types directory. Then reload the action database by executing the ReloadActions action. For large icons, or on systems with little memory, this could cause delays on some directories. To disable icon browsing, remove personal copies of the IconBrowse.dt file and reload the Caretaction database again.

  Design Recommendations

In order to allow colorful icons while minimizing the number of colors used by the XCDE, it is recommended that the colors used be limited to those available in the Icon Editor. These include the dynamic Motif widget colors, as well as a set of static colors and static gray colors. The dynamic colors include foreground, background, top shadow, bottom shadow, select and a transparent color. The static colors include black, white, red, blue, green, yellow, magenta and cyan. The static gray colors are eight varying shades of gray, from nearly black to nearly white.

SEE ALSO

dtpmfile(4), dtbmfile(4), dticon(1), dtfpfile(4), dtdtfile(4), dtactionfile(4), dtdtsfile(4), dtstyle(1), dtenvvar(5), xmgeticonfilename(3).