color pickin chooser

A color picker for your Windows desktop, or in your AutoIt applications

This all started because I couldn't find an AutoIt color chooser that really cut it for me, and then I couldn't get the Windows built-in color chooser to do what it's told - nothing new there.

And THAT started because I wanted to make a really good schemes preference dialog for my clock. And so it goes..

Then I stopped and thought about how I'd like a color picker to really be, and BANG! There goes my weekend, and then some! But I think it was worth it; as well as a cool desktop color picker app, I have something I can re-use any time I need a color picker in an AutoIt application.

The color pickin chooser is available as a windows application, a source "pack", which has everything you need to build and use color picking chooser yourself; source code, includes, icons, sample images and what-not, and as plain source code. Have fun!

• Features
• Itstory
• Foibles
• Developer Usage
• Developer Examples
• Downloads
• Bugs
• Comments

Features..

Itstory - the how-what-why and when
mainly for developers, but highlights some tricks and tips, too..

The first improvement over the regular system chooser is the color picker itself. As well as a standard Windoze type color picker, you can load any old image into there, and a few samples are provided. You can throw more images into the picker images folder manually, or simply drag and drop images into the chooser itself. Sub-folders inside the pickers folder will be grouped that way in the context menu.

You can also select an existing folder of images, and use those as your color pickers. There's a context menu on the picker image itself. Right- click there for all the fun.

I still wanted to keep things simple, maybe even simpler, but there were a couple of features I couldn't do without, and a few new things I wanted badly, in my own color picker..

One thing that annoys me about using the Windoze color picker in my apps is that I can't get it to remember custom colours. And what I really want is groups of custom colours. So now we have all that. It's all so simple I won't go into details. Of course, all your color groups are remembered.

You can also import colours from other ini files. Simply drag and drop any old ini file onto the color groups input, and the color pickin chooser will scan it for color preferences, converting any it finds into valid color groups. It will even retain the original section names, so you could chuck on, for instance, your schemes.ini (from corz clock), and VOILA! you have a handful of new color groups along the lines of "green meanie", and "the blues". Select one of the new groups, and all the colors for that clock will appear, along with their correct names. Pretty neat.

And for that killer function finale, you can also drag entire folders onto the color groups combo, and the color pickin chooser will scan the entire folder for ini files and load any color it finds anywhere into a cpc color group. Beware, if you drop your root folder into the color pickin chooser, it may take a moment or two. In reality, this functionality is more for storing and sharing schemes than it is for plucking schemes out of thin air, though it does that rather well, and my own program files folder threw up a few interesting schemes. I also had to delete heaps (which is a trivial matter, thanks to the 500 item combobox history).

You can also drag images into the picker image and have them imported into your picker images folder and set as the current images. A new folder called "Imported" is created inside your picker images folder; a way to keep imported images together in the context menu, and a place to keep them until you organise them better; if that's your bag.

Actually, you can drag and drop images or inis or folders onto either the groups control OR the main image; everything being worked out internally. I aim for looseness of intent in all human-program interactions.

If you right-click any of the group controls, you can access the color group menu, which includes the export features. You can export your colors as either color pickin chooser group (ini) files, JASC compatible color palettes (ready to use in any jasc palette-capable application; Paint Shop Pro, MicroAngelo, MMJ, or whatever), and Gimp palettes, which are simply the best palette format out there.

Another thing I couldn't do without was the luminance bar. I personally like to select a primary color and then create a family of colours by choosing different luminance levels, basically lighter and darker versions of the same color - handy for making schemes, for all sorts of things. I also wanted it better than the system version, smoother. This was a nice wee challenge.

The math for calculating luminance from RGB levels is nasty, and the thought of hundreds of calculations on every update - yikes! However, I devised a much simpler and quicker way to do it. All a luminance bar is, basically, is a gradient from white to black, passing through the selected colour. So, instead of all the repetitive math, we need to simply draw two gradients, one from the colour to black, and the other from the color to white. TADA! Shift-Click that baby for big fun. It can also be "live" (F5).

Initially I was using the AutoIt drawing functions to draw the gradient, but as well as refreshing the whole GUI with every update (the flashing knobs!) it would cause everything to slow down, exponentially. Within a minute of using the chooser, the magnifier was completely unusable, for instance. Oh yeah, there's a the magnifier, too. I'll get back to that.

So I tried using labels for the gradient. That's what the magnifier uses, you see, and drew one hundred and fifty labels, each a single pixel high. They update instantaneously. *sigh*

The magnifier is pure AutoIt, No DLL calls. Basically CodeMaster Rapture's work, with some minor changes, and slotted into the gui perfectly. Cheers! I did begin with a dll call type thing, and had it slotted in the gui, but had to switch it out when mouse clicks on it wouldn't register (and you gotta be be able to choose from the mag, right?). But now that the slow-SLOW gradient drawing is gone, everything is pretty fast.

I think it's the funkiest color chooser on planet earth, but then, I would. It does what it does and does it pretty well. It's also free, and AutoIt source and all extras are included, so have fun!

Foibles..

When keying in colors manually (via decimal RGB values, or hex), you need to activate an input for the change to take effect. Tabbing to the next input, clicking anywhere, and hitting enter, are all ways to activate an input.

The color wells are stored in no particular order, so when you add a color by clicking an empty color well it is tagged on the end, even if that wasn't the well you clicked. I should mention; clicking empty color wells is the slowest way to add colors. (shift-pick, or use F2/Enter)

The first click on mag after super-mag doesn't set the color (it activates the window). so either activate the window some other way, or else double-click the mag.

Everything else is a feature!

Usage..

As a stand-alone application:

Compile and run, or easier still, grab the .exe. En-joy!

If you are compiling yourself, remember to include the icons (in the zip) or else your tool buttons won't be painted. As far as I know, only AutoIt3Wrapper can put extra icons inside compiled exe files.

For everything to work as expected, you must keep the icon order exactly as is in my compile directives..

	#AutoIt3Wrapper_Res_Icon_Add = img\icons\grad.ico
	#AutoIt3Wrapper_Res_Icon_Add = img\icons\mag.ico
	#AutoIt3Wrapper_Res_Icon_Add = img\icons\hex.ico

Replacing the file paths with wherever you keep them, of course.

You'll also need to remove or replace the FileInstall commands (sample images and tips) with your own paths, or else you will get compile errors. You'll need my "corz_" includes in your includes folder, too. Or else specify alternative paths to them. I think that's about it.

The exe is clean, if you want to save yourself some work.

As an include:

For use in your own applications, see above notes, but remember to instead include the icons in your MASTER APPLICATION'S compile directives. I've coded cpc so you can work on it as an stand-alone application or an include without any editing or fiddling around, once it's got the right paths setup, that is. Then..

In your master application, include the color pickin chooser..

	#include <color pickin chooser.au3>

Then, whenever you need a color, call the function ..

	$new_color = ColorPickinChooser()

When you close the color pickin chooser (by clicking "done!"), the picked color will be in $new_color. If the user closes color pickin chooser with the "x" button, the return value is as if no color was picked (see 'return value', below).

IMPORTANT:

If you are compiling this yourself, you need to use "AutoIt Wrapper" to add the extra icons. You will also need to use AT LEAST version 1.9.3 of AutoIt Wrapper for the paths to work correctly. You can download it here.

Input parameters..

When calling the color picking chooser, you can specify a few things, namely; the color to select, the group to select, whether or not to return an AutoIt value, and the name of a function you want run periodically. All parameters are optional..

Usage examples:

Download corz color pickin chooser

color pickin chooser is free to download, and free to use (though all donations warmly accepted! ;o). Click here to download a zip of the Windows application. Simply unzip and drop it somewhere, probably inside your program files folder. To uninstall, simply delete it.

If you want to customize the color pickin chooser, or use it in your own applications, click here to download the AutoIt source pack, including all supporting files, icons, includes, source code and goodies, so you can compile it yourself. Have fun! If you have any issues, leave a comment, below.

Of course, you'll need to have AutoIt installed if you want to make use of the source pack.

If you want to just look at the source code, see here.

License:

corz color pickin chooser is FREE for personal use. For commercial or continued use, why not PayPal me a fiver.

No warranty is expressed or implied, etc.

2do (delete when done & add feature note!)..

bugs (delete when fixed!)..

Vista: The magnifier incompatible with the Aero theme drawing routines. To use the color picking chooser in Vista, you will need to use a "classic" or "standard" theme. This is why.. GetPixel(). I may look into alternative strategies.