Can't get a border around a button

[MichaelBluejay]

Based on above offerings, here's a complete recipe for a nice button:

set the backgroundColor of btn myButton to honeydew
set the style of btn myButton to roundrect
set the borderWidth of btn myButton to 0
Property inspector > Effects:
...> Drop Shadow > Color = #cccccc, Size = 2, Distance = 3, Angle = 4
...> Outer Glow > Color = #009900, Size = 1, Spread = 255

[Klaus]

klaus, I got the image border to show by setting the showBorder to true. I do see that its color is inherited from the card, but the image's borderColor can also be set directly.

Yep, true, sorry.
This has been this way in the past but obviously fixed some versions ago...

[bogs]

bogs, those were interesting ideas in your first stack. They're hard to play around with, because after using the Property Inspector once or twice, the dialog box on the Effects gets scrambled and I have to quit the IDE. The second stack doesn't open.

Huh. I made them in 6.5.2, I'd have thought they would work in any IDE from that to present. Your in what, 9.5? Which OS?

[MichaelBluejay]

The problem might be the file format. What is ".7z"? Maybe it's zipped, or you meant to zip it. I tried changing the extension to ".zip" and unzipping which didn't work, and tried opening the file with LiveCode which said Not a Stack. FWIW, I'm running LC 9.5 on a Mac.

[bogs]

My apologies, I thought I had used 'zip' for both. .7z is the 7-zip format. I'm on 'nix, where it is wildly popular, but although they have Win version there is, alas, no Mac version that I saw in the download section. I'll go back to the previous post and upload the regular 'zip' version.

I was more curious about the part of the quote where you said:

after using the Property Inspector once or twice, the dialog box on the Effects gets scrambled

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to reproduce that on this box, nor a Win box, so I'm not sure what would cause it. I can't run 9.5 on this box reliably, so even if I did see something I would never be sure what the issue was heh.

[bogs]

Based on above offerings, here's a complete recipe for a nice button:

set the backgroundColor of btn myButton to honeydew
set the style of btn myButton to roundrect
set the borderWidth of btn myButton to 0
Property inspector > Effects:
...> Drop Shadow > Color = #cccccc, Size = 2, Distance = 3, Angle = 4
...> Outer Glow > Color = #009900, Size = 1, Spread = 255

I dunno, I followed that recipe with a regular button, and a graphic in place of a button. To me, the graphic looks and functions better, at least here on 'nix.

Button button, whose got the button...

[MichaelBluejay]

Here's how it looks for me on MacOS:



It actually looks a little better. When I do a screenshot with my Retina display, I get twice as many pixels as normal, and then when I reduce the image by 50% so it doesn't look twice as big as normal, I lose quality. I may figure that out someday.

[Klaus]

klaus, I got the image border to show by setting the showBorder to true. I do see that its color is inherited from the card, but the image's borderColor can also be set directly.

Yep, true, sorry.
This has been this way in the past but obviously fixed some versions ago...

Just tested, this has been this way at least up to version 5.5. where we could not set the bordercolor of an image directly.

[bogs]

Here is what I find a problem with Lc buttons, and why I tend to use a graphic more often (mind you, I don't know if the same is true on Mac).
On Win or 'nix, from Lc 6.x to current, round rect buttons have several glitchy elements to their outline. It has gotten better, but imho, still is nowhere near as good as the graphic roundrect.

Win 7, Lc 9.x, blown up so it can be seen clearly -


...and on 'nix, Lc 6.x...


Everything you do after that, gradients, effects, etc. is all based on the initial outline. If that looks goofy, everything that follows is going to look goofy, or at least, goofier than it should be, which was the reason that first stack of graphic buttons I posted up there came about.

Aside from that, the way the label on the graphic is placed looks better to me too, and I can move it wherever I want it just as with a button.

YMMV, but for me, I'll stick with graphics every time. I haven't (yet) found anything missing between them and a button that wasn't easy to overcome.

Our own R.G. even submitted this issue last year, so I know I am not alone in having noticed it.

[jacque]

I also use graphics rather than images for custom buttons. Vectors are always cleaner looking.

I asked about image border colors way back in the MC days. I was told it works but only if the color is included in the color palette that's embedded in the image.

[FourthWorld]

Our own R.G. even submitted this issue last year, so I know I am not alone in having noticed it.

Comments #2 and #3 are helpful, suggesting this is a well-encapsulated exercise for a community contributor to tackle while the core team completes other priority tasks for OS changes, crashers, and that sort.

Who among us has some C++ skills and a half-hour to spare?

[bogs]

C++ skills

Heh, I'm about 30 years away from those skills now

[bn]

(6) Try to resurrect the border again: "set the outerglow["color"] of graphic myGraphic to silver" >> Error: "Can't set object property."

Give up.

LC is a really weird mixture of super easy and ridiculously difficult.

Michael,

you have to set the color or any other property of outerglow by filling an array and then set "outerglow" to that array

Code: Select all

put "20,20,20" into tArray["color"]
      put "normal" into tArray["blendMode"]
      put "255" into tArray["opacity"]
      put "box1pass" into tArray["filter"]
      put "2" into tArray["size"]
      put "0" into tArray["spread"]
      set the outerglow of btn "myButton" to tArray

kind regards
Bernd

[bogs]

you have to set the color or any other property of outerglow by filling an array and then set "outerglow" to that array

Bernd, All of the graphics effects are already arrays, and like any array, you can set any individual key of that array. For example -

Code: Select all

set the outerGlow["color"] of button 1 to "red"

works just as well as putting a whole new array together

Try it from the message box, and you get this -

You make me glow all over!

ksnip_outerGlow.png (46.83 KiB) Viewed 8661 times

[bogs]

I drag a popup button out of the toolbox, name it "test", and in the message box I type:

set the borderColor of button "test" to red

But no border appears. I know that the showBorder property has to be true, but the default is already true. (I checked.) I know the menumode also has to be set to "popup menu", but again, that's already the default. (I checked.)

How do I get the border to appear?

I was re-reading this thread from the start, to show the border color, you have to set the threeD of the button to "false". Interestingly enough, although this is in the property inspector for *every single other control* apparently, it is not in the button basic panel. Go figure.
When the three d border is enabled, you won't see the border color at all, which is probably why Klaus missed it for 10 years

I'm surrounded !

The top and bottom bevels, as far as I can tell, are broken on buttons. I'll chime back in if I figure that one out.

*Edit - to set the topColor (top of the buttons border), you need to make sure that 'opaque' is false! DOH!!

I'm feeling pretty low...

Edit - Just realized I started off reading posts from 10 years ago!