Transparency on butons & icons

[BigBen]

Hi all,

I work on a PC platform and don't have access to a Mac; problem is, I need to create some transparent buttons and icons for my solutions, and the only way to do this in FileMaker seems to be on the Mac side . Is there a (preferably free) utility or (preferably simple) trick that would allow me to get the same results for the PC version?

Thanks in advance!

Ben

[kenneth2k1]

Hello!

What exactly do you mean by "transparent?" as in the user can't see them? Or just an outline?

you can send the button backward in the arrangement so that they can't be seen but can be clicked. Perhaps more clarification is helpful.

Ken

[esopher]

Yes, you can do transparency in Windows with FMP5.5! It's tricky and I found it by accident.

A few things to note:

1. The transparent color is always white (RGB:255 255 255).

2. The image must be rotated in FMP and given a transparent fill in order for transparency to work.

Given these two rules, design your icons making sure that you only use white for the areas you want to appear transparent. Then, rotate your image 90' left before saving.

Load the image into a field or just insert it as a picture. Rotate the container once (so it is right-side up again), then set it's fill pattern to transparent.

That's it! You should now have transparent icons to place on your buttons.

-Eric S

[andygaunt]

Eric,

that is some accident.

Are you one of those people that presses random buttons to find the secret codes for playstation games, so you get unlimited health etc...?!?

Way to go on this one though.

PS. Do you have a cheat for Max Payne on the PalyStation 2 while you are at it!!!

[BigBen]

Eric,

When you say to "set it's fill pattern to transparent", I don't know how you do this, because this option is not available when I right-click on the imported GIF in FileMaker; only the Pen options are listed. Could you please clarify?

Thanks in advance,

Ben

[esopher]

quote:

---

When you say to "set it's fill pattern to transparent", I don't know how you do this, because this option is not available when I right-click on the imported GIF in FileMaker; only the Pen options are listed. Could you please clarify?

---

You had me worried for a moment. I hadn't tested this with inserted pictures. I was using a global container field when I stumbled on it.

No worries! After some testing, it seems even though the "Fill Pattern" menu doesn't appear in the pop-up menu, you can still use the Fill Pattern buttons in the status area/toolbox on the left side of your window. It also seems the rotate/transparent fill trick works fine with inserted pictures, not just container fields.

How did I find all this you ask? I was using a transparent GIF (which of course was not transparent in FMP) on a layout and decided it would look better if it was rotated 90'. After messing about, I decided to set several text fields' fills to transparent. I accidently selected the container field along with the other fields. I was shocked and overjoyed when my image suddenly became transparent.

I've searched high and low and cannot find this documented anywhere. Maybe a moderator or somebody with contacts at FMI can push this up the ranks and either get it documented or, better yet, fixed, in a future release. ??

Cheers

-Eric S

[BigBen]

Fantastic Eric! I can't tell you how much I appreciate this tip. I'm sure several other FM developers will use this trick also.

Thanks a million!

Ben

[BigBen]

By the way, Eric, I spoke of this to a friend of mine that is an FSA member, and this is what he wrote back:

quote:

---

Hi Benoit,

It

[joecollver]

This has to be the most backward, counter-intuitive way to make the transparent part of gif images actually transparent, but if it works I guess it'll work. I was just about to write a post asking why my transparent images weren't working right when I ran across this thread.

So... does anyone know why FMpro made it this way?

[CobaltSky]

It's because the native graphics handling in FMP is PICT format, and

in the early specification for the pict format, transparency was implemented as an alternative representation of a color value (generally white), in the absence of a fully operable masking system.

Anyone who worked with PICT based programs like SuperPaint, back in the 80s would be familiar with this curious (but not altogether unworkable once you grasp the principle) phenomenon

Interestingly, FMP appears to use a more advanced from of masking for its own internally generated vector graphical objects these days, but imported graphical elements frequently default to the 'lowest common denominator', where only 'quasi-transparency' (ie color-block masking) is supported.