The TImage control doesn't support PNG. Is there some third party component that will?
Try PngComponents - as long as they are available...
A D2009 version can be found here
EDIT
On Google code the following link for older versions of Delphi:
http://code.google.com/p/cubicexplorer/downloads/detail?name=PngComponents.zip&can=2&q=
Try Delphi PNG and MNG libraries
GraphicEx will give you support for both png's and many other formats.
I have successfully used the TPaintBox component with the DevExpress TcxImageList which supports PNGs, and then drawn the images in the OnPaint using the list's facilities. Worked well. DevEx also have a TcxImage, but I've not tried that.
DevEx TCXImage component support PNG straight forward.
CXImage1.Picture.LoadFromFile(myimage.png)
Related
We were using Delphi 2010 with the full VCL edition of TeeChart this worked fine
We have now updated to Delphi XE 5 with the latest version of TeeChart and the quality of the charts is now worse
Please see the image here
2 bars which were seperate are now merged into 1 bar
If I make the charts wider which is not an option it looks better but still not as good as before
Please see here
Has anyone come across any issue like this?
The projects are here for Delphi XE5 and here for Delphi 2010
The search paths may need modifying
Cheers
Paul
The issue might be because of the anti-aliasing function being turned on by default in the newer versions of TChart(!).
We had the same issue with a line series graph.
After writing to the vendor (Steema) they came up with the following solution:
Chart1.Canvas := TTeeCanvas3D.Create; //Disable GDI+ to prevent smooth drawing of the graph.
I don't get why we have to switch off drawing with GDI+ as - to my knowledge - GDI+ can also be used without anti-alias.
Anyway, our graphs now behave like the previous versions of the TChart, which is what we want.
I was also hating the "new" anti-aliased charts that are blurry and slow.
It's pretty easy to fix, when you know where to search for.
Double-click on chart, then go to 3D -> Render -> select GDI instead of GDI+
If you look "behind the scenes" into DFM file you can see the change:
Crisp and fast graph (as in 2010): DefaultCanvas = 'TTeeCanvas3D'
Blurry and slow graph (as in XE5): DefaultCanvas = 'TGDIPlusCanvas'
chart settings
Hope this helps.
Some kind of a clumsy runtime workaround was found here, that is also working:
http://www.teechart.net/support/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15078
I was trying to convert a GIF image (Ajax waiting like):
to AVI that will be used with TAnimate control (win32 animation control).
I have tried a few tools, but the problem is that the output AVI is either not suitable for the Animation control or not transparent.
Notes:
I don't use windows XP Themes manifest (D5).
the Common Avi's are transparent even if my program is not themed.
Using the GIF itself to show animation is not an option.
Do you know any tool that can help me with this conversion?
EDIT:
I have tried using ImageMagic with ffmpeg as described here. but I can't seem to set ffmpeg to encode to msrle.
Jasc Animation Shop is able to directly read an animated GIF and write out a compressed AVI. This is an old program that appears to be no longer offered by Corel (who acquired Jasc), but you may still be able to find the free trial version for example.
You could try the TGIFImage component (written for Delphi 5), which claims not only to support Animated GIFs, but also Transparency, as well as a means of converting a GIF to an AVI (and vice-versa).
Whether it does all that or not I cannot say as I haven't personally tested it. Like TLama mentioned in the OP comments above, I use my own means of playing each frame in an animated fashion (only mine uses a RES file and a TImage, where each frame is stored as a PNG for full semi-transparency support).
Many commercial tools do this conversion, including Corel Photo Paint, and others. A free trial is available for Corel Photo Paint, which comes included in the Corel Draw package. (Warning: It's huge, and expensive.) I don't think the transparency will be solved any more by corel photo paint's conversion than by anybody else.
Typing some words into Google, also reveals that DSPack from ProgDigy might help you.
The last time I did this, I abandoned the attempt to convert GIF transparency into AVI-with-transparency, because no AVI-encoding tool that I could find would preserve transparency. Thus the solution of leaving it as a gif, and putting a new control into your app (as LaKraven suggests) may be superior in the end, to fighting it.
I would suggest using GDIPlus native image renderer which can easily handle animated GIFs as well as many other image types, including multi-frame TIFFs (no MNG so far). I was able to find an example component which animates TImage instance:
http://www.progdigy.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=13156
Please note I am aware that you are looking for a solution to AVI transparency, this is just an alternative way of presenting user with a "progress", which seems to be more lightweight (no dependency on windows media playback facilities) and flexible (such animation controller can be used on any image).
Delphi 2010, Win32 VCL. I need to create a main menu for my application with the most standard look. TMainMenu looks nice in all Windows versions, the only bad thing is when it displaying images for items with Enabled=False.
Delphi has some strange method for building that disabled images (b/w extrusion with bevels, for me it looks like spew). I want to make a patch for that procedure in VCL sources and let menu to select disabled images from the same TImageList, but I can't find it.
Is it exists at all or it is some standard windows API call? Do you know where is that procedure located?
Sure OwnerDraw style can fix all this but I want a bit faster solution.
There's a great post on Galfar's Lair blog which describes the problem, and has code for a workaround, overriding the TImageList DoDraw method.
Here's the pic (linked) showing the 'before' and 'after'.
I think this relates to pretty much all Delphi versions.
If you can provide your images as PNG you can use TPngImageList from PngComponents. It has different options to make a blended or grayscaled disabled image. The PNG format allows you to make use of alphablending.
Is there some simple component that could display PNG 32-bit images and alpha-blend it to another image on mouse enter and on mouse leave? Or even just a simple image that can load 32-bit PNG and additionally would have Alpha parameter...
I suppose I could use some skin library (alphacontrols?) or some graphics library, but for some simple purely visual effects that would be quite an overkill and I can't seem to find a simple one that does it for me and would work on Glass surface as well...
It is not quite a component, but here is a link to a good article on how to do it yourself. Its just a few lines of code:
http://melander.dk/articles/alphasplash/
The basic TImage is capable of displaying a PNG image and alpha-blend-it to whatever is behind it. You just need to add the "pngimage" unit to the uses clause of your form. You didn't mention the version of Delphi you're on: Delphi 2010 has this unit, but I have no idea with what version of Delphi they started shipping it. For Delphi 7 I know for sure you'll need to find the open source "pngimage".
If you need to do this when the user moves in and out of your control, consider caching the state images in bitmaps: it will be faster at runtime and you can use a single TImage that shows the current image, you don't need two overlapping TIMage controls.
i use to create a full transparent form, but the png and the 32bit image will not blend to the form and images is not properly displayed its trnsparency. i get the concept here but i cannot put button on it. all abject are invisible except the image backgound. by the way my compiler is delphi7 and D2009
Seems that Andreas Hausladen stumbled upon a similar problem and has already implemented a solution: he rewrote TJvTransparentForm in the JVCL library.
Even if you are not going to use that component directly you may gain some insight by studying the source.
Here is the link to Andreas' article.
If you want to use a PNG to control transparency you might want to look into "layered windows":
SetWindowLong(Handle, GWL_EXSTYLE, GetWindowLong(Handle, GWL_EXSTYLE) or WS_EX_LAYERED);
UpdateLayeredWindow
This allows you to have variable transparency accross the window, just as PNG allows! The problem is, controls on layered windows don't really work, I guess it's a Windows issue. My solution was to actually brake up the big window into multiple smaller windows, with all the controls on non-layered windows. This creates yet an other problem, because you now have multiple windows and you want them to move like a single window. The solution: implement your own algorithm for moving the window accross the screen and use:
BeginDeferWindowPos
DeferWindowPos
EndDeferWindowPos
... to move all windows at once, so the user has no idea she's looking at multiple windows! Finally, if you want to get fancy, you might want to look into SetWindowRgn: this allows you to create a window with a non-rectangular shape.
P.S: Reading Andrea's link from Uwe Raabe, he's using the same technique, only he packaged it ready for action!