Using 256 Color Bitmaps in Toolbar

I try to create a toolbar using 256 color bitmaps. I checked the Kevin Bentley's tip in the Controls Related Source Code Sections. I have a little bit trouble to achieve this. Two questions:
1. In my MainFrm.cpp, I have lines reads:

if (!m_MyToolbar.Create(this) ||
!m_MyToolbar.LoadToolBar(IDR_MYTOOLBAR))
{
TRACE0("Failed to create My ToolBar\n");
return -1; // fail to create
}



I don't know where to put the suggested line.

m_wndToolBar.GetToolBarCtrl().AddBitmap(iNumButtons,IDR_MAINFRAME);



2. How do I create 256 color the Toolbar bitmap. Say, I have IDR_MYTOOLBAR in TOOLBAR resource ( 16 color), should I create a separate 256 color bitmap and import it to the Bitmap resource? How does this work?

Thanks for you help in advance.

To create the bitmap for the toolbar you'll need to use some image editing program other than the one that comes with Developer Studio since that one doesn't support 256 colors. We use Paint Shop Pro. First create a toolbar resource in Dev Studio with the resource ID you want. Put in all the buttons and separators that you want with placeholders for the images. In the properties dialog box for the resource you can set the name of the .bmp file containing the image. Edit this file in Paint Shop Pro or whatever program you want and save it as a 256 color bitmap. Replace the placeholder images with your 256 color images. Once you have saved it as a 256 color bitmap you will no longer be able to open it in Dev Studio.

Then in your mainframe class do the following:


if (!m_myToolbar.Create(this) ||
!m_myToolbar.LoadToolBar(IDR_BAR_ID))
{
TRACE0("Failed to create toolbar\n");
return -1; // fail to create
}

// load the bitmap and convert the grays to the users color scheme
HBITMAP hBmp= (HBITMAP)::LoadImage(AfxGetResourceHandle(),MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDR_BAR_ID),IMAGE_BITMAP,0,0,LR_LOADMAP3DCOLORS);
m_myToolbar.SetBitmap(hBmp);




Using the LR_LOADMAP3DCOLORS flag in your code will correctly change the background colors of the buttons when you are using different color schemes.

Josh

Thanks very much. That's exactly what I want.

Thanks, Josh
Just a small note so that anyone who experiences the same problem I was having can find it in the search:
The problem I had was, while using a 256 color .BMP created with Paint Shop Pro as the image source for a toolbar, some of the palette colors would be automatically replaced with colors generated by the MFC framework. After several attempts at manipulating the color palette under Paint Shop Pro failed to correct the problem, I turned to here to seek an answer (after finding nothing on MSDN, I might point out) (as usual). The following code (based on Josh's post) has corrected the problem:


hBmp= (HBITMAP)::LoadImage(AfxGetResourceHandle(),MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDB_SCOLORS),IMAGE_BITMAP,0,0,LR_LOADMAP3DCOLORS);
if (!m_StripColors.CreateEx(this, bs_flat, WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | CBRS_ALIGN_ANY | CBRS_TOOLTIPS | CBRS_GRIPPER | CBRS_SIZE_DYNAMIC | CBRS_FLYBY) ||
!m_StripColors.SetBitmap(hBmp) ||
!m_StripColors.SetButtons(scolors, sizeof(scolors)/sizeof(UINT))) {
TRACE0("Failed to create strip color bar\n");
return -1;
}

I also had a same problem, my toolbar was not visible after changing its color property to 8 bit. The solution had solved my problem. Thanks a lot.

Probably a new record!

NEARLY 13 YEARS OLD!!