Overview
This document presents information about using images on Displays.
The Drawing environment supports a powerful feature, which is allowing any Image to be used as Brush on top of other elements, like Rectangles, Ellipses and combination of shapes.
The Images are included in the Solution File, so you don't need to worry about managing the external files from where the images were originally imported. It is aso possible, when needed, to load an image from an external file when the solution is running.
The drawing tools allows you to easily manage the images, get more images from external files, and apply those images to the displays, either statically, or linked to dynamic properties.
On this page:
Understanding Image Brushes
There are three main repositories for reusable components: the Images, the Symbol Factory library, and the Local Symbols Gallery. Let's delve into each one.
Images are used to insert an external image file (such as an icon, wallpaper, object, or a background image) from your computer into the project configuration. Images can be managed on Edit → Displays → Resources. Once imported, the original file is no longer needed. Images can be used as color brushes for any drawing object and can even be used as "color" or the ColorFill dynamic attributes.
Configuring Images Brushes
Importing Image Resources
You can import any image file in the Displays → Images tab. This creates a repository of images for the application that is stored inside the project database file. You do not need the original files anymore. These images can be used to be the Fill of an object, such as rectangles, ellipses, LabelBoxes, paths, page background, or target color in runtime dynamics using colors.
If you need to update an image with a new version, you can replace it, and it will be updated throughout the application. Be sure to keep the resource name the same.
You can use any image file to fill or "paint" an object when you create displays in Display Drawing → Drawing.
You can import the following file types:
- .bmp
- .gif
- .ico
- .jpg
- .png
- .tiff
- .wdp
To manage resources:
- Go to Displays → Images.
- Click Import Images.
- Navigate to where the images you want to import.
- Select the image files and click Open.
- In each row, enter or select information, as needed.
Column | Description |
Name | Edit the default name. |
Description | Enter a description of this image. |
Folder | Specify the folder where the resource is. |
ResourceType | Specify the type of the resource. |
Dimension | Read-only. Show the dimension of the resource file |
Size | Read-only. Show the size of the resource file |
Working with Images.
Adding an image to a display
- Go to Drawing Environment, and click Insert an Image.
- A new window will open. Click the Import file button.
- The new image becomes the Fill for the rectangle. Click Fill to change the image settings.
- You can change the Stretch to None, Fill, Uniform and UniformToFill. Also, you can see all of the image files that are in the project, and you can change between them by using the Select Resource button or clicking on the image in the top toolbar .
Typically, you may use UNIFORM or FILL for image stretching. The image (using the Appearance menu to the left) can be applied to any graphical shape in the display.
In this section: