Utilities : Image Welder

The glyFX Image Welder is a utility to create multi-state image strips out of individual BMP icons. Depending on what controls you are using in your interface, rather than seperate state images (normal, hot, disabled), you may need to use a single image which contains all of the states in a single file.

This can easily be done by hand using any image editor, but if you have a lot of images to convert, this could take a long time. Our utility makes it simple to convert a whole batch of images at once.

What do I need?

• Microsoft Windows 98/2000/XP
• 24bit/32bit display
• Some BMP icons to convert!

Additional details

• View our license agreement
• Current Version : 1.0 - released 6 July 2005

Overview

All glyFX stock icons are provided in 3 states, to provide maximum flexibility for developers. The included states are:

• Normal - an active image on the toolbar
• Hot - an active image that has received focus
• Disabled - an inactive image

Each image state is a seperate file. Some controls can automatically generate hot and disabled versions of icons 'on the fly', in which case you do not need to use anything except the normal state. Other controls require you to supply a different image for each state, either as seperate files, or in seperate image lists. Sometimes you will find a control that requires an image strip for the states - that is all the states combined into a single file. This is where Image Welder comes in.

From this:

home_purple_24.bmp

home_purple_24_h.bmp

home_purple_24_d.bmp

To this:

home_purple_24.bmp

Instructions

Image Welder has a very easy to use interface, converting a whole set of icons into image-strips takes just a few seconds.

Step 1 : Select images to join

Click the Browse button to select the images you want to join. Everything Image Welder does is based on the filename - since alternate states include a suffix on the filename to indicate their state (for example, _d for disabled), the program reads these to determine what the image represents.

If you want to change the suffix to something other than the default glyFX values, you can do so in the Options screen.

Step 2 : Select the type of image strip to create

This option determines how many images will be included in the final image strip - the choice here is largely determined by what is required by the custom control you are using.

Step 3 : Select the order of images

You can adjust the order of the states in the final file by selecting options from the drop downs.

Step 4 : Select the output folder

Click the Browse button to select the folder where the completed image strips will be placed.

Step 5 : Create the images

Click the Start button to begin the icon welding!