Saving Views in SmartCAM: Part Two - Custom Icons

 

Saving Views with

Part 2: Custom Icons

Overview

Welcome back! This is the second installment of our 3 part series on customizing Toolbars. Last month we showed you how to customize existing toolbars. In this month’s post, we’ll go over some basics on custom icons and how to use them in a toolbar as a button that will run one of your custom macros.

This month's post will cover:

• Storing your icons and macros
• Custom Icons
• Macro quick tips
• Adding your button/icon to a toolbar  

 

Storing your icons and macros

First off…In order to ensure your files are not overwritten the next time you update/upgrade SmartCAM, we suggest you create a folder called “ICON” in \ProgramData\SmartCAM\Common\ and store all your custom files there. Storing them there ensures they will not get overwritten.

Make sure to put custom icon (.ico) and macro (.mcl) files in the same folder. If you create a subfolder in the ICON folder, make sure related .ico and .mcl files are together in that subfolder! It is important they are in the same folder because when we add them to a toolbar, SmartCAM looks for the .ico in the same folder as the associated .mcl file.

Custom icons

Creating icons that work with SmartCAM can be a challenge so for this post we've created some SAMPLE ICONS for you (You can download the .zip file and open it with Windows Explorer). Feel free to use any of the icons as needed.

If you want to make your own, there are tips at the bottom of this page. 

Macro quick tips

You will need a macro that will run with the button we will be adding. Creating and using your own custom macros can help significantly with your productivity. In this post, we aren’t covering how to create macros. Check out  Macro Development Fundamentals Overview in Learning SmartCAM if you would like to learn more about Macro Development. If you don’t already have a macro you can use, you can download this one for testing. It changes the view to Iso.

Adding your button/icon to a toolbar 

1. To add a button/icon to a toolbar, start by right clicking on the toolbar you want to add to and go to Edit Toolbar.
2. Click the Add Macro button in the middle. For today’s post, we’ll assume you want to add a custom icon. Note: Even if you don’t have a custom icon, you can add a blank button with custom text so you have your custom macros at your fingertips. If that is the case, fill in all the fields below and you can leave the “Icon Name” field empty. Fill in the fields as desired:

     

• Button Name: This is the name of the button itself. 
• Help Line: When you hover over the button, this is the message you’ll see.
• Macro File: Browse to the .mcl file for the macro you want to run when this button is clicked and select the desired file.
• Icon Name: This is important! This is the name of the .ico file for this button. Just the file name without the .ico extension.
• Icon Text 1: This is the first line of text used if you turn on text.
• Icon Text 2:  This is the second line of text used if you turn on text.     
• Requires Group: If you enable this, a group has to be selected prior to using this button. 

      3.  Once you have configured the button as desired, click Accept twice. 

 

Your new button should show up on the toolbar:    

If the button showed up as a blank button but your custom icon isn’t there...

 

...there is generally one of three issues:

• The .ico file is not in the same folder as the .mcl file you selected.
• The icon name did not get added correctly in the Edit Macro screen. Go back into the Edit Toolbar – Edit Macro and make sure the icon name is EXACTLY the same as your .ico file.
• The icon file is not readable by SmartCAM. If you have issues using an icon file, something you can try is grabbing one of the sample icons or an existing .ico file from SmartCAM\SmartCAMv#\Shared\Icon\. Make a copy and edit that. 

We hope this helped you learn something new about adding buttons and icons in SmartCAM. Feel free to use the comments if you have any questions.

Next month we’ll discuss putting this together in a way that allows you to switch views easily and setup your toolbars in a way that helps you be more productive. See you next month!

Creating your own icon:

Make sure you are creating your icons with a graphics software that specifically makes icons: This just helps ensure the best possible outcome. Here are some things you need to know about making icons for SmartCAM:

SmartCAM uses the original Windows icon format and supports up to 256 color icons; 15-, 16-, 24-, 32-bit icon formats are not supported.     It's best if the icon has 3 sizes in the .ico file: 19x19, 24x24, and 32x32 pixels. This allows for the different sized views we discussed last month.      The file must be saved as a .ico file and should be saved in the same folder you are storing your macro (.mcl). (Again, we suggest that be in \ProgramData\SmartCAM\Common\ICON)