Theme background question

[blueskip]

Is there any way to make a theme with an clear or invisible background with graphic buttions?

I haven't seen one is why I'm curious.  I didn't want to waste my time trying to create one if it isn't possible.  

Sorry if this is a stupid question.  I'm still a little new.  

[tdtooke]

There is a pinkish color which is what is used for transparency, can't think of the exact RGB for it.  You can look in the wiki for WPS to find it I believe.

[bascule]

The color [R=255,G=0,B=255] is translated as transparent when used in BMP's, and can be used to create transparent images in the wps.

[blueskip]

OK, then a quick question based on what promted me to ask in the first place.  I tried modifying an existing wps using an existing pink and cloning parts of the one I wanted the parts from into and it just showed the buttons and a pink background when I used it instead of the pink being transparent.  I'll try again when I get home and check to make sure the background is the precise color it's supposed to be.  That's the only thing I can think I did wrong other wise.  I used one similar to black glass if I'm not mistaken on the name.  It has grass in the background.  

I'll keep trying.  I'm sure if you guys say it can be done I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks

[GodEater]

Sorry - what are you trying to achieve here ? You can't have an "invisible" background - it has to be some colour or another. What are you hoping to see if you make the background invisible? The insides of the iPod or something?

[blueskip]

I'm clueless as to how to respond to that but I'll try.

I'm not trying to make the OS "background" invisible.  I'm trying to make the THEME "background" invisible so I can see whatever background I have the OS set to through it.  

It is possible, because I have kelp running this way all the time.  What I want is gui buttons and stuff not just plain text and simple graphics.

[MarcGuay]

Just set the WPS background image to be the same one you're using as the menu screen backdrop.  The best way to figure this out would probably be to find a theme that does what you want it to and play around with the code/change the images, etc.

Oh, and I have no idea what you mean by graphic/GUI buttons.  Care to provide an example?

[blueskip]

I think what you are saying is the key to what I wanted to know.  Using the pink color only makes the theme default to text and not work or it just displays the pink.

What I meant by the UI buttons is hard to describe.  I just mean, depending on the them of course, the buttons onscreen that have the play symbol or volume bar, or battery and light up or whatever the case may be.  I wanted those to show over the default background of the player.

[MarcGuay]

I think what you are saying is the key to what I wanted to know.  Using the pink color only makes the theme default to text and not work or it just displays the pink.

The default theme is shown when your .wps code doesn't work.  The special pink shade is used to denote the part of a graphic should be transparent.  I think you're misunderstanding where the background on the WPS screen comes from.   Have you read the CustomWPS wiki page?  If not, you should do that before asking any more questions.

What I meant by the UI buttons is hard to describe.  I just mean, depending on the them of course, the buttons onscreen that have the play symbol or volume bar, or battery and light up or whatever the case may be.  I wanted those to show over the default background of the player.

This is absolutely possible and has been done many times.  The only advise I can give you is read the wiki pages concerning WPSes and study some of the themes that have already been made which do the things you want to do.  Good luck.

[melancholydm]

what he's asking for is basically something I am interested in.... at the WPS screen he wants his background to be whatever backdrop he has. so if he wants to change a backdrop then the same backdrop will be seen at the main menus and WPS screen.

[Yotto]

There is no faculty for doing that, but if you copy that bitmap file over whatever the background of your WPS is (Stored in /.rockbox/wps/THE_NAME/SOMETHING.bmp

THE_NAME is the name of your WPS you're using. SOMETHING is the name of the background bitmap, usually bg.bmp or something similar. It's probably the biggest file in the directory.

[blueskip]

melancholydm,

YES, that's exactly what I'm trying to say.  Thank you.  

[GodEater]

And as Yotto says, there is no way to do this elegantly.

If you stick to one background picture outside of the WPS all the time, then you can simply copy that picture over the top of the one specified in the .wps file.

But there's no way for you to select a different background, and for it to magically apply itself to the WPS as far as I'm aware.

What I'm trying to say here is that the background used elsewhere in Rockbox isn't "underneath" the background of the WPS - it's just not there at all - so having a transparent background won't make it show up.

[blueskip]

I'm not an expert by any means but I just accomplished what you say isn't possible in the sim a few moments ago.  I have my buttons onscreen with the default backdrop showing underneath.  This is NOT the one applied with the theme.  

I still have some kinks to work out because the buttons are not elegant as you said.  Without the backdrop they are more like icons on screen but they are there.  I just need them to be seemless.  That will take some more time for me to figure out.  

If the sim is the same, I'll eventually figure it out.  It should be possible from what I can tell now.

[yapper]

What are you hoping to see if you make the background invisible? The insides of the iPod or something?

Sounds like an idea for a theme though!