Introduction
If you've ever been doing heavy work with icons and ImageLists, you'll find that the ImageList converts them to bitmaps and by default only pulls out the default size, it's hard to get at other sizes (e.g. if your desktop is displaying 32x32, the ImageList will return 32x32).
This class allows you to store and retrieve icons in multiple sizes, no more saving the icons as singles in different sizes.
Features
Icon Sizes
The class allows you retrieve all icon sizes from an icon file, not just the default one.
Effects
The class has the following functions for manipulating icons.
Greyscale
Bleach (Faded effect)
Translucence (Make icons translucent)
Add Drop shadows
Overlays
When I'm doing icons for applications I always use a theme and stick to it. I start with a topic icon and then overlay subject icons over the top. For example, a document (Topic), with a floppy disc (Action) for a save icon. This normally means making a lot of icons.
With the class you can create these overlays dynamically, so if you need to overlay the shortcut arrow over any icon you can. It also supports processing sets so you can draw background icon, draw foreground with drop shadow and use the template just changing the icons to use.
Comments
Sorry if this article is a bit sparse, this is my first thing on CodeProject. The demo shows exactly how to use the class and the power that it makes available. If you can solve any of the three issues or have more ideas then please E-mail [LeeDavies@bigfoot.com] me ;-).
