How to display bitmaps and animations

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How to display bitmaps and animations

The simplest way to change the bitmaps and animations is to use, inside 3D Button Visual Editor, the Graphics tab. Additionally, you can set all of these settings at run-time by referencing the corresponding property.

Supported picture formats are:

Supported animation formats are:

Note: The image below has hot links to each topic shown in the graphic.

Item name	Description	Corresponding property

Picture/animation for normal state	The picture or animation file displayed on the control surface when the button is in Normal state.	Picture
Picture/animation for pressed state	The picture or animation file displayed on the control surface when the button is in Pressed state.	PicturePressed
Picture/animation for mouse over state	The picture or animation file displayed on the control surface when the mouse is over the button area.	PictureMouseOver
Picture for disabled state	The picture file displayed on the control surface when the button is in Disabled state.	PictureDisabled
Move picture on press	Determines the picture's behaviour when the button is pressed.	MovePictureOnPress
Keep aspect ratio	Determines if the aspect ratio should be kept for a picture whose size is bigger than the button size.	PictureKeepRatio
Transparent factor	Apply alpha channel transparency to the loaded pictures	PictureTranspFactor
Color to render as transparent Predefined color	Sets the button's transparent color based on the PictureTranspColor property setting.	PictureTranspMode
Color to render as transparent Picture Left Top pixel color	Sets the top left pixel as the transparent color.	PictureTranspMode
Predefined transparent color	The color that will be rendered as transparent when the PictureTranspMode is set to TRANSPMODE_USECOLOR	PictureTranspColor
"..." color editing button	This button will open the color choice dialog box.
Current picture left top pixel color	The color found inside the current picture left top pixel color.
Position	Changes the picture or animation position over the control.	PicturePosition
Tile	If the picture size is smaller than the button size the picture is tiled in order to completely cover the button surface.	PicturePosition
Stretch	If the picture size is different from the button size the picture is stretched in order to fit exactly the button surface.	PicturePosition
Size to content	Resizes the button to the same size of the picture. This setting is available only when the Style property is set to STYLE_PICTURE.	PicturePosition
Offset X	The horizontal offset to fine-tune the picture or animation position over the control.	PictureXOffset
Offset Y	The vertical offset to fine-tune the picture or animation position over the control.	PictureYOffset
Browse button	Browses the current PC folders for a picture.
Delete button	Deletes the current picture.
Preview	Preview of the loaded picture.

At Run-time pictures and animations are loaded using the following methods:

SetPictureFromHandle method to change one of the button pictures using a bitmap loaded in memory, identified by a bitmap handle.

SetPictureFromMemory method to change one of the button pictures using a bitmap loaded in memory.

SetPictureFromNet method to change one of the button pictures using a bitmap loaded from an Internet URL.

SetAnimFromMemory method to change one of the button animations using an animation loaded in memory.

SetAnimFromNet method to change one of the button animations using an animation loaded from the Internet.

The picture currently on the button can be hidden/displayed using the PictureVisible property.

If the Style property of the control is set to STYLE_PICTURE, you can manage a loaded animation through the following methods:

AnimSetFramesRate: sets the new rate of the animation.

AnimGetFramesRate: returns the current rate of the animation.

AnimGetFramesCount: returns the number of frames inside the animation.

AnimShowFrame: shows a specific frame contained inside the animation.

AnimPause: pauses the animation playing

AnimResume: restart the animation playing after a pause.

AnimInvertPlay: inverts the order used to display the frames contained inside the animation.