═══ 1. PM System Color Keys ═══ Accelerator mnemonic keys: F3 Exit F1 Help R Reset D reaD K Keep W Write S Set L deLete T seT V saVe ═══ 2. Extended Help for PM System Colors ═══ This program offers configuration of OS/2 Presentation Manager's system colors. Features include: - All 41 system colors can be changed. whereas the .........Control Panel........ only allows configuration of 26 colors. - Most color changes are visible immediately. - Sample Color Templates are available. Additional Templates can be created, or existing ones can be modified. - Colors can be set temporarily or permanently. - A color template can be loaded from the command line (ideal for use in .CMD files). The system colors in OS/2 1.x are: ButtonLight - Top and left edges of scrollbar slider box ButtonMiddle - Scrollbar slider box and pushbuttons ButtonDark - Right and botton edges of scroll bar slider box ButtonDefault - Outline of default pushbutton TitleBottom - Thin line outlining action or menu bar Shadow - Shadow around edge of pull down menus IconText - Text under icons DialogBackground - Background for dialogue boxes HiLiteForeground - Text of hilighted selection HiLiteBackground - Hilighted selection menu bar InActiveTitleTextBgnd - Inactive title-text background ActiveTitleTextBgnd - Active title-text background InActiveTitleText - Text of menu or action bar on inactive windows ActiveTitleText - Text of menu or action bar on active window (window with focus) OutputText - Appears in dialogue boxes as default text in entry fields WindowStaticText - Static window text ScrollBar - Background for scroll bar (note: not slider box) Background - Screen background ActiveTitle - Text on title bar of active window InActiveTitle - Text on title bar of inactive window Menu - Menu or action bar background Window - Background of window WindowFrame - Thin border line outlining all windows MenuText - Text of menu or action bar WindowText - Window normal text TitleText - Title text ActiveBorder - Border around active window (window with focus) InActiveBorder - Border around inactive windows AppWorkSpace - Application background HelpBackground - Background for help screens HelpText - Text for help screens HelpHiLite - Highlighted text for help screens OS/2 2.0 added the following colors: ShadowHiLiteBgnd - Background of shadowed icon text ShadowHiLiteFgnd - Foreground of shadowed icon text ShadowText - Shadowed icon text EntryField - Background of entry fields MenuDisabledText - Text of disabled menu options MenuHiLiteText - Text of hilighted menu options MenuHiLite - Background of hilighted menu options PageBackground - Tabs and outline on certain Notebook controls (Find is one example) FieldBackground - Tabs and outline on Notebook controls Note that with OS/2 2.0, depending on the color used as the background (Window) for pop-up folders, you may have to change the Icon Text used in individual folders so that it is visible. (*) indicates that only pure colors can be applied to this system object (+) non-pure colors can be applied to scroll box slider buttons, but not to push buttons. Apparently, Presentation Manager does it's best to find matching display colors for the colors you choose, however for colors applied to certain system objects, the results may be different from that displayed in the sample color area. This is most likely due to Presentation Manager's rejection of dithered colors for some settings. Those system objects that do not seem compatible are marked with (*). (=) On the OS/2 systems I have had experience with, setting colors for these system objects has no visible effect. I'm not positive where these system objects appear, but apparently they have something to do with 'Function Key Areas'. At any rate, they are documented as system colors and may very well be "reserved for future use" items. If anyone can provide a screen or application where these colors appear, I would greatly appreciate the information. Actions for PM System Color Configuration: The following actions may be invoked by clicking on the pushbutton corresponding to the action, or by pressing the letter corresponding to the underlined mnemonic character. R Reset to original colors D Read data file containing color codes to set K Keep current screen colors for future sessions (Save to OS/2's .INI file) W Write current color codes to data file S Set colors to those defined by the color template selected in the Color Templates list box F Default sets system colors item (i.e. Icon Text, Window Text, Background) to OS/2's default color L Delete color template T Set system colors item (i.e. Icon Text, Window Text, Background) to the color displayed in the sample color region V Save the currently selected system colors item and the color selected in the sample area to an existing or new Color Template ═══ 3. Help for Reset ═══ This action resets the colors back to the ones which were active when this program was invoked (which may or may not be OS/2's original colors depending upon if you have changed them with other OS/2 utilities. ═══ 4. Help for Read ═══ This action reads a data file containing color codes to set. The data file must be a pure ASCII text file containing one line for each of the 41 colors. If you like the colors loaded from the data file, use the action Save to save the colors to a template name. The order of the colors in the data file is as follows: 1. ShadowHiLiteBgnd 2. ShadowHiLiteFgnd 3. ShadowText 4. EntryField 5. MenuDisabledText 6. MenuHiliteText 7. MenuHilite 8. PageBackground 9. FieldBackground 10. ButtonLight 11. ButtonMiddle 12. ButtonDark 13. ButtonDefault 14. TitleBottom 15. Shadow 16. IconText 17. DialogBackground 18. HiLiteForeground 19. HiLiteBackground 20. InActiveTitleTextBgnd 21. ActiveTitleTextBgnd 22. InActiveTitleText 23. ActiveTitleText 24. OutputText 25. WindowStaticText 26. ScrollBar 27. Background 28. ActiveTitle 29. InActiveTitle 30. Menu 31. Window 32. WindowFrame 33. MenuText 34. WindowText 35. TitleText 36. ActiveBorder 37. InActiveBorder 38. AppWorkSpace 39. HelpBackground 40. HelpText 41. HelpHiLite OS/2 specifies colors with 24 bits of Red-Green-Blue intensity information. Since there are 8 bits for each color, the valid ranges are from 0 to 255. The integers represent the Red, Green, and Blue components of an RGB color value. Some example colors are: White 255 255 255 Yellow 255 255 0 Pink 255 0 255 Cyan 0 255 255 Blue 0 0 255 Green 0 255 0 Red 255 0 0 Black 0 0 0 The data file should contain a line for each of the 41 colors in the order outlined above. The leftmost integer is the Red value, the middle integer is the Green value, and the rightmost integer is the Blue value. Sample data file: 128 128 128 255 255 255 128 128 128 255 255 204 128 128 128 0 0 0 204 204 204 255 255 255 204 204 204 ----------- 255 255 255 204 204 204 128 128 128 0 0 0 128 128 128 128 128 128 0 0 0 204 204 204 255 255 255 128 128 128 204 204 204 64 128 128 128 128 128 255 255 255 0 0 0 0 0 128 192 192 192 128 128 128 64 128 128 204 204 204 204 204 204 255 255 255 128 128 128 0 0 0 0 0 0 255 255 255 255 255 128 204 204 204 255 255 224 255 255 255 0 0 128 0 128 128 --------------- 255 255 255 204 204 204 128 128 128 0 0 0 204 204 204 128 128 128 0 0 0 255 255 255 255 255 255 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 255 255 255 0 0 0 0 0 128 224 224 224 192 192 192 0 64 128 255 255 255 255 255 255 255 255 255 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 255 255 255 128 128 128 255 255 255 255 255 232 255 255 255 0 0 128 0 128 128 ═══ 5. Help for Keep ═══ This action saves the current colors for future sessions by writing to OS/2's OS2.INI file. OS2.INI is an initialization file that OS/2 processes when the system is started. ═══ 6. Help for Set Color Template ═══ This action sets the system colors to the colors defined by the currently highlighted selection in the Color Templates list box. To reset the colors back to the ones which were active when this program was invoked, click the Reset pushbutton. When the program loads, it searches the current directory for it's own .INI file to load the Color Template names. If the .INI file is not found, a message box is displayed. If you exit (close) this program (without selecting Keep), the colors will remain in effect, however, when the system is shutdown and brought back up again, the "original" colors will once again be in effect (since the colors were not saved to OS/2's OS2.INI file with the Keep action). A Color Template name can be specified on the command line. If a parameter is given on the command line, the interactive Presentation Manager screen will not be invoked. ═══ 7. Help for Delete ═══ This action removes a Color Template. Since you cannot "undelete" a color template, you will be prompted to confirm the deletion. This action removes a Color Template. Since you cannot restore a deleted color template, you will be prompted to confirm the deletion. ═══ 8. Help for Set System Color Item ═══ This action sets the currently selected system item (i.e. WindowStaticText, ScrollBar, Background, etc.) in the System Colors listbox to the color currently displayed in the sample color region. This action affects only the currently selected system item. Selecting Reset or Set Color Template will override the individual colors previously set with this option. The Color Template "Different", although some may think it ugly, serves to demonstrate each system item as a different color. ═══ 9. Help for Save to Color Template ═══ This action saves the current system colors to an existing or new Color Template. The default color template to save to is the one highlighted in the Color Templates list box, however, another template can be specified. To build (or modify) a template, select the system color item in the System Colors listbox that you want to change (i.e. Icon Text, WindowText, Background, etc.), use the scrollbars to choose a color, then use Set (next to the System Colors listbox) to test the color. Then, optionally, use save to save the changes to a Color Template. ═══ 10. Help for Write Data File ═══ This action writes the current color setting codes to a file. This is handy to transfer color setting between systems. If a friend has colors that you would like to add to your Color Templates, simply have him/her save their colors to a data file, then use Read to load the colors on your system, and optionally save them to a Color Template. ═══ 11. Loading Templates from Command Line ═══ A Color Template name can be specified on the command line. Command line syntax is: SYSCOLS ["]templatename["] [/L] where templatename is space-sensitive but not case-sensitive, and /L indicates to load the main System Colors Configuration Presentation Manager screen after changing the colors. Specifying Color Templates on the command line without loading the main screen is useful for .CMD files, especially if you run a program that conflicts with your default color choices. Simply put the lines SYSCOLS "newtemplatename" SYSCOLS "default or oldtemplatename" in a .CMD file to set colors compatible with the program, run the program, and then set the colors back to your favorite selection. No action is taken if the Color Template name given on the command line is not found in this program's .INI file. Note that the Color Template name is not case sensitive, but if the Color Template name consists of two or more words, the template name must be enclosed in " ". For example, SYSCOLS "Penn State" is valid SYSCOLS "penn state" is valid SYSCOLS "pEnN sTaTe" is valid SYSCOLS penn state is not valid SYSCOLS pennstate is not valid SYSCOLS PennState is not valid If a paramter is given on the command line, the program simply searches for the Color Template in the .INI file, and if it is found, the system colors are changed. If the template name is not found, the colors do not change. In either case, the Presentation Manager interactive screen is not invoked unless /l or /L is given as the second parameter. SYSCOLS "penn state" /l would change the colors and load the program. SYSCOLS "invadid template" /l would not change the colors, however the main System Colors Configuration Presentation Manager screen would be loaded ═══ 12. Help for Default ═══ This action sets the currently selected system item (i.e. WindowStaticText, ScrollBar, Background, etc.) in the System Colors listbox to OS/2 2.0's default color. This action affects only the currently selected system item.