[Framers] FM 2017 Feature Request: Restore colour and scaling to menu icons

[Klaus Daube]

Dear friends,
Looking into the blue sky in Central Switzerland I realised that we (including me) 
are anticipating the change of the rotating direction of the earth. 

IMHO the first obstacle for a simple handling of the size/colour-issue of icons is 
the distribution of the icons in various dlls: Most are in fmcustom.dll, fmdlg.dll, 
fmres.dll and owlres.dll - but many are also found together with their function code, 
for example in docbook.dll, mmFilter.dll etc.) 

If all icons would be concentrated in one dll, let's say named fmIcons_sscc.dll with 
ss indicating the size and cc indicating colour/mono, then it would be possible to 
map them simply into the standard fmIcons - even during the running FM session.

And if all the language dependent things (dialogues, but in particular the strings 
for the dialogues) would be stored in an analogous manner then it would become 
possible to switch UI language on the fly (as Dieter Gust from itl - and other 
consultants - request since years).
But I see that this will stay a whish for eternity: The situation is the same as with 
the icons: Most (old) dialogues are with their strings in fmdlg.dll etc., but much 
function code is also accompanied by language dependent strings (e.g. docbook.dll, 
find_references.dll, flashfilter.dll).

I see that the whole issue would result in a complete re-design of the application - 
as others have mentioned and even requested. IMHO only the switch to Unicode was of 
comparable complexity - and of course of much greater prestige than 'just adapting 
the UI'. 

The capability to switch language I have implemented in my ExtendScript project: 
Initially the langue is determined from the FM-installation (app.Language) and the 
appropriate strings are mapped/copied into the standard object:
   CloneObject (goTxt, goTxt_de); // map German
During the session this mapping can be changed. I have used this mechanism to check 
my translations (nearly 300 strings) and space requirements for en/de/fr.
There is a drop-down-list on a tab in a panel to select the language. At the next 
invocation of a panel it uses the appropriate strings (variable items are indicated 
by %nn). For the menu I have not figured out how to change it during the session - It 
needs to be rebuilt which normally is done on invocation of the script.

Klaus Daube
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Klaus Daube             Phone:  +41-44-381 37 77
Schäracher 11           Mail:   klaus at daube.ch
CH-8053 Zürich          Web:    www.daube.ch