Requesters: size and position

[AMIGASYSTEM]

@magorium

Thank you I will try the utilities and let's see if I can do what I wish, it is about the System Palette, in the utltimes deadwood ISO, now it is present Palette Preferences !

What I am interested in, the only thing that is missing in my system, is changing the color of the requests, do the utilities you mentioned do this?

SetPenColor is present in my system, can you write me an example on how to use it?

CliColor, it works but it creates graphic artifacts, then if you close the Shell it erases the color setting !

[magorium]

Thank you I will try the utilities and let's see if I can do what I wish, it is about the System Palette, in the utltimes deadwood ISO, now it is present Palette Preferences !

You mean that there is now actually a palette preference program available for AROS by default ?

If so, then how (and where) are the settings stored when you save ? or isn't there anything saved at all ?

What I am interested in, the only thing that is missing in my system, is changing the color of the requests, do the utilities you mentioned do this?

Yes they can do that for you, or at least my SetPenColor utility can.

However, and please take this as a friendly note, i do not think you (already) realize what "changing the color of the requests" actually entails and/or means.

ASL is using intuition. Intuition is using standard workbench pen colors. Changing any of these default colors impact every other program that makes use of intuition. In theory you can mess up all colors of ZUNE/MUI as well.

Ergo, this means that if you change the colors that ASL uses for it's requesters is that you are also changing the color for f.i. the classic workbench icons, all other intuition related gadgets, the colors used in the amiga-shell etc.

Sometimes changing the colors can work out in a good way but often in a bad way, e.g. you have to know what you are doing.

SetPenColor is present in my system, can you write me an example on how to use it?

See https://ae.amigalife.org/index.php?topic=550.0

colors are given in rgb hex color value in amiga format (bgr)

CliColor, it works but it creates graphic artifacts, then if you close the Shell it erases the color setting !

I am not entirely sure how  CliColor works exactly and if it is focused on shell only.

fwiw: SetPenColor makes the same artifacts, that is why you need to use it inside a s-s, before the "graphical system" (Workbench) is started. For testing purposes though, you can just use the setpencolor utility inside a shell for all of the colors you wish to chnage and then test it with starting a program that opens a ASL requester. That way you can verify your SetPenColor parameters first. If anything goes horribly wrong, f.e. you made all pens black so you can't see anything anymore then a simple reboot will fix that (but do so before adding SetPenColor to a s-s).

[AMIGASYSTEM]

You mean that there is now actually a palette preference program available for AROS by default ?

If so, then how (and where) are the settings stored when you save ? or isn't there anything saved at all ?

It normally saves a file named "palette.prefs," in the path Env-Archive/SYS/palette.prefs, which is basically the same as Palette Prefs of OS3 and AROS 68k.

On the Shell, playing by intuition with the "Shell-Startup", I managed to get a "Black" Shell with the "White" Prompt (see screenshot), nice but it doesn't update the executed command texts, to see them you have to, widen the Shell.

I was not able to create a "White" Shell, I tried the value 37 but I get a neutral Shell in "Gray"

However, and please take this as a friendly note, i do not think you (already) realize what "changing the color of the requests" actually entails and/or means.

If this results in creating other problems I can do without, I just wanted to create something like MOS where everything is "White," Request, Shell and more.

[magorium]

It normally saves a file named "palette.prefs," in the path Env-Archive/SYS/palette.prefs, which is basically the same as Palette Prefs of OS3 and AROS 68k.

All right, thank you for the information. that is pretty nice to have (i know about the guru issue, it was expected).

I was not able to create a "White" Shell, I tried the value 37 but I get a neutral Shell in "Gray"

1. Identify which color you want to change
1a. start program that is able to show an ASL requester
1b. open the requester
1c. Observe which color of the ASL requester you want to change

2. identify which pen number belongs to the color you want to change
2a. start rtpalette
2b. in rtpallete look for the color that matches the color of the ASL requester you want to change
2c. the pen numbers belonging to the colors in the rtpalette are numbered from 0 to n

3. Change the pen color with rtpallete
3a. now that you have located the color you wish to change, press the color
   from the color boxes of rtpalette and change the sliders to change the color
3b. If you have determined/set the right color then make note of the decimal numbers
  (from top to bottom they are red, green and blue values in decimal)
3c. don't forget to press ok to actually apply the changes of the colors.

4. test/verify
4a. close ASL requester
4b. close the program that showed the ASL requester
4c. start the program again
4d. open the ASL requester again
4e. the colors that you changed should now be reflected on the ASL requester

Now that you have done so you know the pen number and accompanied color values.

Convert the decimal RGB color values to hexadecimal (there are online tools for that, fe https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/number/decimal-to-hex.html)

Let's say you used rtpallete to change pen number 0 to have the decimal values
(top to bottom) 13 (red), 151 (green), 128 (blue)

The corresponding hexadecimal values are:
#13  = $0D (red)
#151 = $97 (green)
#128 = $80 (blue)

SetPencolor expects a bgr color value in the form $bbggrr so for our example this becomes $90970D

To change the color with SetPencolor then you can use:
SetPenColor SCREEN="workbench" PEN=0 COLOR=$90970D

You use SetPenColor for each pen number you wish to change the color for.

If this results in creating other problems I can do without, I just wanted to create something like MOS where everything is "White," Request, Shell and more.

It is simply a matter of how the classic workbench and AROS works. There is no difference in that regards. As said, if you know what you are doing then it can't hurt, but do not be surprised if changing the intuition pens has some side effect(s) that you not anticipated on. E.g. on classic you also had that issue with classic icons not matching magic WB colors (just to name an example).

[AMIGASYSTEM]

It works, but as you had mentioned then you also change other things that should not change.

Everything looks great, but if those Directories (Became White) you change color, the Fonts on the Workbench and some backgrounds of some GUIs will also be changed, so that's not good.

I'll try to guess, you would probably need to have a palette with multiple colors so that each individual color serves only one purpose.

Question but can rtpalette save?

[magorium]

It works, but as you had mentioned then you also change other things that should not change.

Should not is not really the right phrase. The correct phrase would be: "You don't wan't other things to change" 

That is just bad luck,because that is how the Amiga intuition pen coloring works. If you want to have a perfect look then you would also need to change the other pen colors so that for example the directory names are also visible.


Isn't that logical ? You change the background to be white but you are/seem surprised to see that the directory names (that probably uses another pen number but) is also using the color white and so the requester looks funny ?

Everything looks great, but if those Directories (Became White) you change color, the Fonts on the Workbench and some backgrounds of some GUIs will also be changed, so that's not good.

You solve the directory names issue by changing the white color used by the other pen number to be able to be visible on a white background, e..g. turn that green for example.

Yes, it will also change the colors of other programs. That is how intuition works. If you change the palette then you want to have your whole workbench and all other programs to use your palette.

This is also how windows/linux works. You set the colors and every program makes use of those same colors. The coloring is usually part of a theme.

Ergo, you need to know what you are doing 

I'll try to guess, you would probably need to have a palette with multiple colors so that each individual color serves only one purpose.

But, that is exactly what it is doing right now ?

By default the workbench used 2 colors, then 4 , later to become 8 and much later 16 and 32 (magicWB). But the number of available pens depends on the depth of the screen. Now, for AROS that is not a problem because it usually uses rtg mode that is 24 bit deep.

Of those 4 basic colors, the first one (pen number 0) is usually the background, while pen number 1 is usually used for text (if i remember correctly).

The palette prefs utility that you showed uses names for those same pens, as that is easier for humans to remember (instead of boring numbers).

Each pen number has a dedicated usage in the operating system for drawing certain parts using a particular pen number. The only thing you can change is the color that is used for that pen.

Zune/mui however works in a different way, but also using pen numbers. Just try and look for the last 16 colors in the palette. These pen numbers have another dedication and are thus used to draw different parts of the graphics you see on screen. The Zuneprefs utility allows you to change those specific to Zune/MUI colors.pens

Question but can rtpalette save?

Unfortunately, not that i am aware of.

Inner details on pens: http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD_2.1/Libraries_Manual_guide/node00EC.html

[AMIGASYSTEM]

You solve the directory names issue by changing the white color used by the other pen number to be able to be visible on a white background, e..gturn that green for example.

No Green is not nice to see in the backgrounds of some GUI, among the many tried, the only one is Light Gray, see screenshot, but I don't like it

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Taking a look ìon my Emulated MOS, they managed to do what I wanted, cero they do not use a Workbench but Ambient, a kind of Dopus Magellan/Scalos, which probably use a different palette !

[magorium]

No Green is not nice to see in the backgrounds of some GUI, among the many tried, the only one is Light Gray, see screenshot, but I don't like it

That is an aesthetic aspect that i have no control over.

You have to decide for yourself what  fits better. I am definitely not a graphics artist. If it was me i would probably have chosen purple or some other obnoxious  color

The mentioning of green was just to show you that you _can_ fix the issue, not that using green is a valid option for your taste/preference of colors 

That is why i keep mentioning that you need to know what you are doing. It might take some time to create the perfect look (for your taste) and adjust the colors accordingly. If i have to do thngs like that i usually take a peek at how other color-themes (of other operating systems) combine colors to have a nice look. You just have to remember that you are bound by using maximal 8 colors (usually 4). And remember that when you change the screen depth to be 1 bitplane deep that you have only 2 colors to work with, 2 planes depth = 4 colors, etc (i mention that just in case for 68k as many users do not have rtg there).

[magorium]

Taking a look ìon my Emulated MOS, they managed to do what I wanted, cero they do not use a Workbench but Ambient, a kind of Dopus Magellan/Scalos, which probably use a different palette !

Great, and indeed every program that opens it own screen can determine how things look.


So the big question... does MOS also have/use ASL requesters and how do they look ?


Remember that in theory you can change the look for wanderer to almost look the same.


Your issue specific towards ASL, it is the same as running a patch on 68k that makes ASL requesters use MUI instead of default intuition, so that it aesthetically more pleasing.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

You have to decide for yourself what  fits better. I am definitely not a graphics artist. If it was me i would probably have chosen purple or some other obnoxious  color

So ? No one would download My AROS One anymore

By the way have you ever installed my AROS One ! I would love your opinion

[magorium]

Sorry for the delayed reaction.

You have to decide for yourself what  fits better. I am definitely not a graphics artist. If it was me i would probably have chosen purple or some other obnoxious  color

So ? No one would download My AROS One anymore

LOL

By the way have you ever installed my AROS One ! I would love your opinion

I have installed it once in a VM (but has been some time ago).

Unfortunately i have little time to extensively test/check the different available distributions atm (and that includes AROS one as well).

In the end of the day, i always seem to end up using a Linux Hosted version of AROS. I mainly use my own highly customized version of AROS hosted that accommodates my development setup/needs/requirements.

I appreciate the fact that you value my opinion and when i have some time on my hands i will definitely take a better/closer look at your (but also other people's) distribution(s).

What i can share so far is that i appreciate the effort you (and also other people) put in their distribution, when constantly updating, sharing status and/or screen shots etc.

Do realize though, that in basics every AROS distribution is the same in that they share the same basic (AROS) components under the hood. So I do not really care much about how the colors and pictures looks (although it should at least be a little pleasing to the eye) because AROS allows me to change every aspect of that.

Something similar can be said for the available software. It is not so much about how many software you have pre-installed for your distribution but if it is correctly maintained and co-exist peacefully with other software. That is why i personally prefer distributions that have a minimalistic approach (aspire one is/was a good example of this) but on the other hand, if i wanted to play a game or show off AROS i usually use a native boot of icaros desktop simply because everything (usually) works as expected and/or as intended.

Especially the latter takes time (loads of them) in order to figure out.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Thank you magorium for testing AROS One, but these latest releases add many new features absent in the first versions.

AROS One has not only the beautiful graphics, and beautiful DualPNG icons created by me, there are many other aspects to appreciate.

On AROS One it is very difficult for you to find a program that does not work or misconfigured, this implies an ease of use even for those who do not know how to configure a simpli Stack or a given tool, you should watch my Distribution a little better, that is why I was asking for your expert opinion

AROS One behind the scenes has so many configurations, see file associations on Wanderer, all common Text, Audio, Video files are recognized "by single type" by the system and are associated with the best tool available on AROS x86.

Dopus4 is also configured like Wanderer, again all the most common Text, Audio, Video files by the system and are associated with the best tool available on AROS x86.

Each AROS Distro has its own peculiarities so that each user can choose which one to use, in my opinion all Distros deserve to be "tried" and used.

[deadwood]

I did some work today on Asl Prefs, essentially stealing code from ReqTools prefs.

The options that are editable are width/height. Positions will be hardcoded at Center on Screen, Size will be hardcoded at Relative.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Nice work deadwood, more improved functionality !