GUI Repeating Background Image

[Spardacus]

Hi there-

Forgive me if this has been addressed before. I did some searching and couldn't find a topic on it.

I have created a GUI that allows the user to choose between a right taskbar or a top taskbar "controller" (popups that do not allow user resizing once open). These taskbars resize according to the useable desktop space.

To style the right taskbar a little, I've created a background image set.

As I currently have it, I created a general background image that is absurdly tall to compensate for any very high screen resolutions set at (0,0).  I then added a top image at (0,0) and a bottom image at (0, (_GetworkingAreaHeight( )-$image_height)) that effectively lay on top, completing the look.

And it works. But I can't help but think that as taskbars, I could use a smaller image that repeats itself to create the main backgrounds.

Has anyone created any GUI backgrounds with 1px images that repeat and point me in the right direction?

Thanks so much.

[MikahS]

I would look at GDI+ for this.

Edited February 6, 2015 by MikahS

[Valuater]

Thats kind of what I did with Xskin...

it lays out smaller images to create a full sized GUI...

8)

[Spardacus]

Thanks for the replies MikahS and Valuater -   

Looks like I have some more to look into. I'll start with _GUICtrlListView_SetBkImage and see what I come up with

I'll be back after some reading and testing. Thanks again

[MikahS]

 

_GUICtrlListView_SetBkImage

 

This function is for listviews and was a mistake on my part to recommend, the GDI+ library is what I do recommend though.

[Spardacus]

I got the repeating to work with _GUICtrlListView_SetBkImage, so thanks for that!

Now oddly I cannot seem to use $GUI_DISABLE to stop it from interfering with the controls on the rest of the GUI. I would typically use something like this to set the background image and disable it.

    GUICtrlCreatePic('C:Documents and SettingsAdminDesktopRightTaskbarBk.jpg', 0, 0, 0, 0)

    GUICtrlSetState(-1, $GUI_DISABLE)

 

Any ideas?

[Spardacus]

Ah, I see that now. I suppose then that I shouldn't be using the list view for this.. ?

[MikahS]

Ah, I see that now. I suppose then that I shouldn't be using the list view for this.. ?

 

That is why it probably interfering with the other controls. I do not have extensive knowledge on GDI, so I cannot help you there.

I'm sure someone will pop in with more knowledge on the subject than me.

[Spardacus]

Well, I looked around in the Help file regarding GDI+ and saw some pretty neat functions. I'm still pretty new to this and have picked up a lot in the last month, but I fear I'm not far enough in yet to know where to start. Same goes for what you sent Valuater - thanks so much for the example, just as of right now I'm still trying to dissect what I'm looking at so I can understand it. 

I made a workaround for the time being. All I did was create a Do statement that repeats GUICtrlCreatePic with the same image and places it 20px below each consecutive placement (in this case the image is 20px tall) until it reaches or exceeds the working area height. Then I just included the $GUI_Disable inside to disable each placement. Looks like there is also a GDI+ function that can pull the image dimensions automatically rather than set a defined height, but I didn't want to bastardize this any more than it already is. 

 

  $BkImage = filename  

  $BkHeight = 0

  $BkWorkingHeight = _GetworkingAreaHeight( )

 

  Do

       GUICtrlCreatePic ($BkImage, 0, $BkHeight, 0, 0)

       GUICtrlSetState(-1, $GUI_DISABLE)

       $BkHeight = $BkHeight + 20

  Until ($BkHeight >= $BkWorkingHeight)

 

 

1. Is this a totally horrible way to accomplish this for now i.e. cause any negative effects I haven't noticed yet?

 

2. I am still open to learning a better way to repeat images to create backgrounds if I can handle the learning curve - whether it be GDI+ or another method. Sifting through the help file and these forums got me started from nothing and I appreciate the help!