SplashAbout/Advanced Use

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  • For installation, download, version and other information, see the SplashAbout page
  • The distribution archive contains an example application with all the resources needed to experiment with advanced properties


Properties

When dropped onto a new application mainform, the property defaults will show a Splash Screen and About window that look something like this:

splashabout default splash.png

splashabout default about.png

  • A normal (borderless rectangle) Splash screen displayed for 2 seconds (ShowSplash method)
    • It will use the Application default icon (default=Lazarus icon)
    • Title will be the Application name (default='project1')
    • Colour will be clSkyBlue
    • No background image
    • No description
    • Window size = 320px x 240px
    • LCL and FPC build text
    • Compilation Date/Time text
  • The About screen will show (ShowAbout method)
    • No License or Credits buttons
    • The same text as the default Splash Screen

The default screens are probably OK for a quick one-off app that is not for commercial use. It shows useful information for a developer.

However; if you think they look a bit uninspiring, the SplashAbout component is capable of considerable customisation from its default settings, and there are many properties available to help you achieve a unique and very inspiring result.

Here are the SplashAbout properties you can change for each kind of customisation:

Personalising the Splash screen

  • Properties that affect the Splash Screen:
    • The Application Title,Icon and VersionInfo (set in Project/Options)
    • BackGroundColor
    • BitMapBackground
    • BitmapMaskColor
    • BitmapMaskMono
    • DelaySeconds
    • Description
    • Font
    • FormSplashHeight
    • FormSplashTextAlign
    • FormSplashWidth
    • Graphics
    • Icon
    • MaskType
    • Organisation
    • ShowDecription
    • ShowPoweredBy
    • TitleStyle
    • UserTitle

Personalising the About screen

  • Properties that affect the About Screen:
    • The Application Title,Icon and VersionInfo (set in Project/Options)
    • Author
    • BackGroundColor
    • CreditLines
    • CreditsTextFileName
    • Description
    • Font
    • FormAboutHeight
    • FormAboutTextAlign
    • FormAboutWidth
    • Graphics
    • Icon
    • LicenseFile
    • Orgnisation
    • ShowCreditButton
    • ShowDecription
    • LicenseFile
    • SupportContact
    • TitleStyle
    • UserTitle

Personalising the License Screen

  • Properties that affect the License Screen:
    • Author
    • LicenseFile
    • Organisation
    • SupportContact

Personalising the Credits Screen

  • Properties that affect the Credits Screen:
    • CreditLines
    • CreditsTextFileName
    • ShowCreditButton

How To...

How to show a shaped Splash screen

Properties to set:

  • BitmapMaskColor (Graphics=saResources)
  • BitmapMaskMono (Graphics=saResources)
  • MaskType
  • Graphics

MaskType

  • Default=saNoMask

The simple thing to do is to choose one of the built-in masks (saRoundedRect, saBigCog, saBigFlower and saBigSplash) If you choose saUserMask then you need to make a 2-colour mask graphic in the .BMP format. You can optionally also make a corresponding BitMapMaskColor image. Note: There are some example images deployed in the /exampleapp folder of the distribution archive

How to make a BitMapMaskMono image
  • Start with a black (RGB:0,0,0)background
  • Make your contigious shape using a white (RGB:255,255,255) shape
  • Reduce the image to a 2-color palette
  • Save the file as a Windows Bitmap (.BMP) and use it to set the BitmapMaskColor property
    • It should NOT be run-length encoded (RLE)

If you want a shaped colour splash screen then you need to make a corresponding BitMapColor image

How to make a BitmapMaskColor image

You would normally do this before making the BitmapMaskMono image

  • Make with an colour image that has a white (RGB:255,255,255) background
    • You can use a selection tool to isolate the background then paint it white in a graphics application
  • Save the file as a .JPG and use it to set the BitmapMaskColor property
  • To make a corresponding BitmapMaskColor image:
    • Invert the selection, and paint it black (RGB:0.0.0)
    • Reduce the image to a 2-color palette
    • Save the new image as a non-RLE Windows Bitmap file (.BMP) and use it to set the BitmapMaskMono property

How to show a license button on the About screen

Properties to set:

  • LicenseFile
  • Optional:
    • Author
    • Organisation
    • SupportContact

LicenseFile

  • Default=saNone
Standard licences (GPL etc)
  • If you set LicenseFile to one of the standard license type (saGPL,saLGPL,saMIT or saModifiedGPL) then the License button will appear on the About dialog
  • When clicked, the License button shows a modal window with the appropriate license text
  • The text is stored as a resource, so no need for external files
  • The text of the standard license can be modified by setting the Author Organisation and SupportContact properties
User licenses
  • If you set LicenseFile to saUserFile then the License button will appear on the About dialog
  • When clicked, the License button shows a modal window with text
  • The text will come from a file you create yourself which must be called 'license.txt' and deployed in the same folder as your executable (see exampleapp)
  • You can use the following tokens in 'license.txt'
    • All instances of <name of author> are replaced with the Author property
    • All instances of <contact> are replaced with the SupportContact property
    • All instances of <copyright holders> are replaced with the Organisation property
    • All instances of <year> are replaced with the compilation date

How to show a Credits button on the About screen

Properties to set:

  • ShowCreditButton
  • CreditLines
  • Optional
  • Font (inherited)
  • BackgroundColor (inherited)
    • CreditTextFileName

ShowCreditButton

  • Default-False
  • If set to True, then the Credits button will appear on the About dialog
  • When clicked it will show either:
    • The contents of CreditLines
    • or the contents of a text file (default name='credits.txt') deployed in the same folder as your executable
  • If both contain no text, then default text is shown.
  • The text will scroll upwards, and repeat until the user clicks the close button
  • The text will be centre-justified

CreditLines

  • default=(empty)
  • Use the Object inspector to write your credits text.

CreditTextFileName

  • This can be set so that is doesn't clash with any existing deployed text file

How to show a 'Powered by Lazarus' pre-splash graphic

Properties to set:

  • ShowPoweredBy

That's it!

How to show different text in the Splash and About screens

Properties to set:

  • ShowDescription
  • Description
  • TitleStyle
  • UserTitle
  • Organisation
Description and ShowDescription
  • Use the Object Inspector to write a short description of your application and set ShowDescription=True
  • The Description text will show on both the Splash and About dialogs
  • The Description text will replace the Build and Platform information on both dialogs
TitleStyle and UserTitle
  • If TitleStyle=saUserTitle then the UserTitle text will appear on the Splash and About dialogs
  • If TitleStyle=saForm the Caption text of your mainform will be used
  • If TitleStyle=saApplication, the Application title (set in Project/Options) will be used
    • The text will also appear as the caption text of all dialogs
Organisation
  • If set, then the text will appear below the UserTitle on the Splash and About dialogs

See Also

SplashAbout component main page

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