bsetroot 2.1 

1. Introduction   2. Switches   3. Configuration   4. Searchpaths   5. Gradients   6. Colours   7. History  

bsetroot is a tool for Blackbox for Windows.

© 2001-2003 The Blackbox for Windows Development Team
© 2003-2009 grischka at-users-dot-sourceforge.net
http://bb4win.sourceforge.net/bblean/
http://bb4win.org/

Based on bsetroot for Blackbox on Linux by Brad Hughes.

bsetroot is free software, released under the GNU General Public License (GPL version 2). See: http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.html

bsetroot 2.1 uses CxImage 5.11. Supported image formats: bmp png jpg gif.

1. Introduction

bsetroot lets you set your desktop background to either a solid colour, a gradient, a square pattern, an image, or a combination of these. bsetroot usually is called from the 'rootCommand' line in a blackbox style.

The included bsetbg.exe works just as an alias to bsetroot.

Note on v2.1

The format of bsetroot.rc has been changed to a more intuitive format. No more cryptic wildcards, just simple search paths. See -> Configuration.

2. Switches

-solid <colour> :
Change the desktop background to the colour you specify.
-gradient <type> -from <colour> -to <colour> :
Apply a gradient of specified type to the background.
-mod <x> <y> -fg <colour> [-bg <colour>] :
Apply a square pattern to the background. <x> and <y> set the size of the squares.
-full <image> :
Display an image stretched to cover the desktop.
-tile <image> :
Display an image tiled over the desktop.
-center <image> :
Display an image in the center of the desktop.
-bitmap [stretch|tile|center] <image> :
Similar to above.
-sat <0..255> :
Set image color saturation
-hue <0..255> :
Set image/background merge factor.
-scale <factor> :
Resize the image by a percent factor.
-path <searchpath> :
Specify searchpath for images. This is useful when set in bsetroot.rc.
-quiet :
Igore any errors silently.
-vdesk :
Use virtual desktop size to span the wallpaper over monitors.
-save <file.bmp> :
Save the generated background to the specified file rather than setting the wallpaper.
-help :
Show short summary.

3. Configuration

Configuration is not needed in most cases. Just put the bsetroot executable where blackbox.exe is.

When bsetroot finds bsetroot.rc in the same directory, it starts reading options from it like commandline switches. This is supposed to be useful especially with the -path switch.

For example these lines would make bsetroot look for images in two additional locations and also let it silently ignore any errors.

-path "c:/blackbox/images"
-path "c:/my pictures"
-quiet

4. Searchpaths

This is how bsetroot looks for images:

  1. First it tries the image-path as given in the commandline.
  2. Then it looks for the image in the searchpaths from any -path ... options (as listed in bsetroot.rc).
  3. Finally it looks for the image in a folder 'backgrounds' relative to the location of bsetroot.exe.

You can use relative or absolute paths with both images and image searchpaths. Relative paths refer to the location where bsetroot.exe is.

Please note that paths with spaces need to have quotes. That is for both paths on the command line and paths in bsetroot.rc.

5. Gradients

A gradient texture is defined by the gradient type and two colours.

Type can be one of "vertical", "horizontal", "diagonal", "crossdiagonal", "pipecross", "elliptic", "rectangle", or "pyramid".

For compatibility with bsetroot on linux, you also can/should include the word "gradient" in the gradient type.

You can combine the gradient type with "interlaced" to get some effect or add a bevel with "raised/sunken bevel1/2".

Example:

bsetroot -gradient verticalinterlacedgradient -from steelblue -to orange

6. Colours

Colours can be in any format that blackbox accepts.

  • rgb format: rgb:77/88/CC or rgb:7/8/C
  • html format: "#7788CC" or the short form "#78C"
  • one from the literal colors below

Note that bsetroot on linux wants quotes around html format colors.

Literal Colors:

These literal color names are known to bsetroot:

aliceblue antiquewhite aquamarine azure beige bisque black blanchedalmond blue blueviolet brown burlywood cadetblue chartreuse chocolate coral cornflowerblue cornsilk cyan darkblue darkcyan darkgoldenrod darkgray darkgreen darkkhaki darkmagenta darkolivegreen darkorange darkorchid darkred darksalmon darkseagreen darkslateblue darkslategray darkturquoise darkviolet deeppink deepskyblue dimgray dodgerblue firebrick floralwhite forestgreen gainsboro ghostwhite gold goldenrod gray green greenyellow honeydew hotpink indianred ivory khaki lavender lavenderblush lawngreen lemonchiffon lightblue lightcoral lightcyan lightgoldenrod lightgoldenrodyellow lightgray lightgreen lightpink lightsalmon lightseagreen lightskyblue lightslateblue lightslategray lightsteelblue lightyellow limegreen linen magenta maroon mediumaquamarine mediumblue mediumorchid mediumpurple mediumseagreen mediumslateblue mediumspringgreen mediumturquoise mediumvioletred midnightblue mintcream mistyrose moccasin navajowhite navy navyblue oldlace olivedrab orange orangered orchid palegoldenrod palegreen paleturquoise palevioletred papayawhip peachpuff peru pink plum powderblue purple red rosybrown royalblue saddlebrown salmon sandybrown seagreen seashell sienna skyblue slateblue slategray springgreen steelblue tan thistle tomato turquoise violet violetred wheat white whitesmoke yellow yellowgreen

antiquewhite1..4 aquamarine1..4 azure1..4 bisque1..4 blue1.. 4 brown1..4 burlywood1..4 cadetblue1..4 chartreuse1..4 chocolate1..4 coral1..4 cornsilk1..4 cyan1..4 darkgoldenrod1..4 darkolivegreen1..4 darkorange1..4 darkorchid1..4 darkseagreen1..4 darkslategray1..4 deeppink1..4 deepskyblue1..4 dodgerblue1..4 firebrick1..4 gold1..4 goldenrod1..4 green1..4 honeydew1..4 hotpink1..4 indianred1..4 ivory1..4 khaki1..4 lavenderblush1..4 lemonchiffon1..4 lightblue1..4 lightcyan1..4 lightgoldenrod1..4 lightpink1..4 lightsalmon1..4 lightskyblue1..4 lightsteelblue1..4 lightyellow1..4 magenta1..4 maroon1..4 mediumorchid1..4 mediumpurple1..4 mistyrose1..4 navajowhite1..4 olivedrab1..4 orange1..4 orangered1..4 orchid1..4 palegreen1..4 paleturquoise1..4 palevioletred1..4 peachpuff1..4 pink1..4 plum1..4 purple1..4 red1..4 rosybrown1..4 royalblue1..4 salmon1..4 seagreen1..4 seashell1..4 sienna1..4 skyblue1..4 slateblue1..4 slategray1..4 snow1..4 springgreen1..4 steelblue1..4 tan1..4 thistle1..4 tomato1..4 turquoise1..4 violetred1..4 wheat1..4 yellow1..4

7. History

bsetroot

Version 2.1 (20-May-2009) (grischka)

  • New: color dithering on 16-bit displays.
  • Added switches: -scale, -quiet, -path.
  • Changed bsetroot.rc format to be a commandline option listing.
  • Optimized code (100 kb less)

Version 2.0b2 (11-Mar-2004) (grischka)

  • Passes "tile"-option to windows for fullscreen images (for multimon setups to spawn images across all screens)

Version 2.0b1 (21-Dec-2003) (grischka)

  • Added '-vdesk' switch (use virtual desktop size)
  • Now reads image-search patterns from bsetroot.rc.

Version 2.0b (25-Apr-2003) (grischka)

  • Merged bsetbg and bsetroot into one executable.
  • As a benefit, it can draw images in .bmp .gif .jpg .png formats on gradient backgrounds, optionally with saturation and hue factors.
  • The included bsetbg just passes it's commandline to bsetroot.
  • Added -save <image.bmp> switch to write out the generated image to the specified path.

 

Version 1.8 (2003-04-01)

  • Cleaned up the code and corrected some resource leaks (ironhead)

Version 1.7 (2002-09-05)

  • Now uses the same rendering engine as Blackbox for Windows 0.0.60 (ironhead/qwilk/nivenh)
  • Added -mod support (ironhead)
  • It is now possible to use -bitmap and -solid concurrently (useful for centered bitmaps) (qwilk)
  • Fixed a bug where Diagonal would be drawn instead of CrossDiagonal (ironhead)
  • Created the missing 48x48 pixel icon... :) (qwilk)
  • Cleaned up the code and made minor changes all over the place...=] (qwilk/ironhead)

# bsetroot is now open source...

Version 1.0.0.6 (2002-03-03)

  • Reintroduced the "stretch" bitmap style option (qwilk)
  • Fixed an issue using rgb: colours, added more colour definitions (deadbeat)
  • Fixed a memory leak in the gradient code (steev/nivenh)
  • New HTML documentation (qwilk)

Version 1.0.0.5 (2002-01-03)

  • Changed literal parsing (azathoth)

Version 1.0.0.4 (2002-01-02)

  • Removed stretch option azathoth
  • Updated to use new BImage version (azathoth)

Version 1.0.0.3 (2001-12-30)

  • Fixed colour order (azathoth)

Version 1.0.0.2 (2001-12-29)

  • Swapped colour rendering (azathoth)
  • Fixed gradients so elliptic shows correctly and other gradients render more nicely (azathoth)

bsetbg

Version 1.2 [change bsetbg.cpp 04/18/2003 NC-17]

  • executing bsetbg.exe with no arguments now shows the help window

[change bsetbg.cpp 01/21/2003 ironhead]

  • switched to the CxImage image manipulation library
  • modified the command line to allow for greater compatibility with bsetbg for *nix
  • made the default behaviour to load the file in "-full" mode (like bsetbg for *nix)

Version 1.1 [changed bsetbg.cpp 9/15 ironhead]

  • added error checking (thanx NC-17!)