390 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
390 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
Pynche - The PYthonically Natural Color and Hue Editor
|
||
|
||
Contact: Barry A. Warsaw
|
||
Email: bwarsaw@python.org
|
||
Version: 1.2
|
||
|
||
Introduction
|
||
|
||
Pynche is a color editor based largely on a similar program that I
|
||
originally wrote back in 1987 for the Sunview window system. That
|
||
editor was called ICE, the Interactive Color Editor. I'd always
|
||
wanted to port this program to X but didn't feel like hacking X
|
||
and C code to do it. Fast forward many years, to where Python +
|
||
Tkinter provides such a nice programming environment, with enough
|
||
power, that I finally buckled down and re-implemented it. I
|
||
changed the name because these days, too many other systems have
|
||
the acronym `ICE'.
|
||
|
||
Pynche should work with Python 1.5.2, 2.0, or 2.1, using Tk 8.0.x.
|
||
It's been tested on Solaris 2.6, Windows NT 4, and various Linux
|
||
distros. You'll want to be sure to have at least Tk 8.0.3 for
|
||
Windows. Also, Pynche is very colormap intensive, so it doesn't
|
||
work very well on 8-bit graphics cards; 24bit+ graphics cards are
|
||
so cheap these days, I'll probably never "fix" that.
|
||
|
||
Pynche must find a text database of colors names in order to
|
||
provide `nearest' color matching. Pynche is distributed with an
|
||
rgb.txt file from the X11R6.4 distribution for this reason, along
|
||
with other "Web related" database (see below). You can use a
|
||
different file with the -d option. The file xlicense.txt contains
|
||
the license only for rgb.txt and both files are in the X/
|
||
subdirectory.
|
||
|
||
Pynche is pronounced: Pin'-chee
|
||
|
||
|
||
Running Standalone
|
||
|
||
On Unix, start it by running the `pynche' script. On Windows, run
|
||
pynche.pyw to inhibit the console window. When run from the
|
||
command line, the following options are recognized:
|
||
|
||
--database file
|
||
-d file
|
||
Alternate location of the color database file. Without this
|
||
option, the first valid file found will be used (see below).
|
||
|
||
--initfile file
|
||
-i file
|
||
Alternate location of the persistent initialization file. See
|
||
the section on Persistency below.
|
||
|
||
--ignore
|
||
-X
|
||
Ignore the persistent initialization file when starting up.
|
||
Pynche will still write the current option settings to the
|
||
persistent init file when it quits.
|
||
|
||
--help
|
||
-h
|
||
Print the help message.
|
||
|
||
initialcolor
|
||
a Tk color name or #rrggbb color spec to be used as the
|
||
initially selected color. This overrides any color saved in
|
||
the persistent init file. Since `#' needs to be escaped in
|
||
many shells, it is optional in the spec (e.g. #45dd1f is the
|
||
same as 45dd1f).
|
||
|
||
|
||
Running as a Modal Dialog
|
||
|
||
Pynche can be run as a modal dialog, inside another application,
|
||
say as a general color chooser. In fact, Grail 0.6 uses Pynche
|
||
and a future version of IDLE may as well. Pynche supports the API
|
||
implemented by the Tkinter standard tkColorChooser module, with a
|
||
few changes as described below. By importing pyColorChooser from
|
||
the Pynche package, you can run
|
||
|
||
pyColorChooser.askcolor()
|
||
|
||
which will popup Pynche as a modal dialog, and return the selected
|
||
color.
|
||
|
||
There are some UI differences when running as a modal
|
||
vs. standalone. When running as a modal, there is no "Quit" menu
|
||
item under the "File" menu. Instead there are "Okay" and "Cancel"
|
||
buttons.
|
||
|
||
When "Okay" is hit, askcolor() returns the tuple
|
||
|
||
((r, g, b), "name")
|
||
|
||
where r, g, and b are red, green, and blue color values
|
||
respectively (in the range 0 to 255). "name" will be a color name
|
||
from the color database if there is an exact match, otherwise it
|
||
will be an X11 color spec of the form "#rrggbb". Note that this
|
||
is different than tkColorChooser, which doesn't know anything
|
||
about color names.
|
||
|
||
askcolor() supports the following optional keyword arguments:
|
||
|
||
color
|
||
the color to set as the initial selected color
|
||
|
||
master[*]
|
||
the master window to use as the parent of the modal
|
||
dialog. Without this argument, pyColorChooser will create
|
||
it's own Tkinter.Tk instance as the master. This may not
|
||
be what you want.
|
||
|
||
databasefile
|
||
similar to the --database option, the value must be a
|
||
file name
|
||
|
||
initfile[*]
|
||
similar to the --initfile option, the value must be a
|
||
file name
|
||
|
||
ignore[*]
|
||
similar to the --ignore flag, the value is a boolean
|
||
|
||
wantspec
|
||
When this is true, the "name" field in the return tuple
|
||
will always be a color spec of the form "#rrggbb". It
|
||
will not return a color name even if there is a match;
|
||
this is so pyColorChooser can exactly match the API of
|
||
tkColorChooser.
|
||
|
||
[*] these arguments must be specified the first time
|
||
askcolor() is used and cannot be changed on subsequent calls.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Colorstrip Window
|
||
|
||
The top part of the main Pynche window contains the "variation
|
||
strips". Each strip contains a number of "color chips". The
|
||
strips always indicate the currently selected color by a highlight
|
||
rectangle around the selected color chip, with an arrow pointing
|
||
to the chip. Each arrow has an associated number giving you the
|
||
color value along the variation's axis. Each variation strip
|
||
shows you the colors that are reachable from the selected color by
|
||
varying just one axis of the color solid.
|
||
|
||
For example, when the selected color is (in Red/Green/Blue
|
||
notation) 127/127/127, the Red Variations strip shows you every
|
||
color in the range 0/127/127 to 255/127/127. Similarly for the
|
||
green and blue axes. You can select any color by clicking on its
|
||
chip. This will update the highlight rectangle and the arrow, as
|
||
well as other displays in Pynche.
|
||
|
||
Click on "Update while dragging" if you want Pynche to update the
|
||
selected color while you drag along any variation strip (this will
|
||
be a bit slower). Click on "Hexadecimal" to display the arrow
|
||
numbers in hex.
|
||
|
||
There are also two shortcut buttons in this window, which
|
||
auto-select Black (0/0/0) and White (255/255/255).
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Proof Window
|
||
|
||
In the lower left corner of the main window you see two larger
|
||
color chips. The Selected chip shows you a larger version of the
|
||
color selected in the variation strips, along with its X11 color
|
||
specification. The Nearest chip shows you the closest color in
|
||
the X11 database to the selected color, giving its X11 color name.
|
||
Clicking on the Nearest color chip selects that color. Color
|
||
distance is calculated in the 3D space of the RGB color solid and
|
||
if more than one color name is the same distance from the selected
|
||
color, the first one found will be chosen.
|
||
|
||
Note that there may be more than one X11 color name for the same
|
||
RGB value. In that case, the first one found in the text database
|
||
is designated the "primary" name, and this is shown under the
|
||
Nearest chip. The other names are "aliases" and they are visible
|
||
in the Color List Window (see below).
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Type-in Window
|
||
|
||
At the lower right of the main window are three entry fields.
|
||
Here you can type numeric values for any of the three color axes.
|
||
Legal values are between 0 and 255, and these fields do not allow
|
||
you to enter illegal values. You must hit Enter or Tab to select
|
||
the new color.
|
||
|
||
Click on "Update while typing" if you want Pynche to select the
|
||
color on every keystroke (well, every one that produces a legal
|
||
value!) Click on "Hexadecimal" to display and enter color values
|
||
in hex.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Other Views
|
||
|
||
There are three secondary windows which are not displayed by
|
||
default. You can bring these up via the "View" menu on the main
|
||
Pynche window.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Text Window
|
||
|
||
The "Text Window" allows you to see what effects various colors
|
||
have on the standard Tk text widget elements. In the upper part
|
||
of the window is a plain Tk text widget and here you can edit the
|
||
text, select a region of text, etc. Below this is a button "Track
|
||
color changes". When this is turned on, any colors selected in
|
||
the other windows will change the text widget element specified in
|
||
the radio buttons below. When this is turned off, text widget
|
||
elements are not affected by color selection.
|
||
|
||
You can choose which element gets changed by color selection by
|
||
clicking on one of the radio buttons in the bottom part of this
|
||
window. Text foreground and background affect the text in the
|
||
upper part of the window. Selection foreground and background
|
||
affect the colors of the primary selection which is what you see
|
||
when you click the middle button (depending on window system) and
|
||
drag it through some text.
|
||
|
||
The Insertion is the insertion cursor in the text window, where
|
||
new text will be inserted as you type. The insertion cursor only
|
||
has a background.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Color List Window
|
||
|
||
The "Color List" window shows every named color in the color name
|
||
database (this window may take a while to come up). In the upper
|
||
part of the window you see a scrolling list of all the color names
|
||
in the database, in alphabetical order. Click on any color to
|
||
select it. In the bottom part of the window is displayed any
|
||
aliases for the selected color (those color names that have the
|
||
same RGB value, but were found later in the text database). For
|
||
example, find the color "Black" and you'll see that its aliases
|
||
are "gray0" and "grey0".
|
||
|
||
If the color has no aliases you'll see "<no aliases>" here. If you
|
||
just want to see if a color has an alias, and do not want to select a
|
||
color when you click on it, turn off "Update on Click".
|
||
|
||
Note that the color list is always updated when a color is selected
|
||
from the main window. There's no way to turn this feature off. If
|
||
the selected color has no matching color name you'll see
|
||
"<no matching color>" in the Aliases window.
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Details Window
|
||
|
||
The "Details" window gives you more control over color selection
|
||
than just clicking on a color chip in the main window. The row of
|
||
buttons along the top apply the specified increment and decrement
|
||
amounts to the selected color. These delta amounts are applied to
|
||
the variation strips specified by the check boxes labeled "Move
|
||
Sliders". Thus if just Red and Green are selected, hitting -10
|
||
will subtract 10 from the color value along the red and green
|
||
variation only. Note the message under the checkboxes; this
|
||
indicates the primary color level being changed when more than one
|
||
slider is tied together. For example, if Red and Green are
|
||
selected, you will be changing the Yellow level of the selected
|
||
color.
|
||
|
||
The "At Boundary" behavior determines what happens when any color
|
||
variation hits either the lower or upper boundaries (0 or 255) as
|
||
a result of clicking on the top row buttons:
|
||
|
||
Stop
|
||
When the increment or decrement would send any of the tied
|
||
variations out of bounds, the entire delta is discarded.
|
||
|
||
Wrap Around
|
||
When the increment or decrement would send any of the tied
|
||
variations out of bounds, the out of bounds value is wrapped
|
||
around to the other side. Thus if red were at 238 and +25
|
||
were clicked, red would have the value 7.
|
||
|
||
Preserve Distance
|
||
When the increment or decrement would send any of the tied
|
||
variations out of bounds, all tied variations are wrapped as
|
||
one, so as to preserve the distance between them. Thus if
|
||
green and blue were tied, and green was at 238 while blue was
|
||
at 223, and +25 were clicked, green would be at 15 and blue
|
||
would be at 0.
|
||
|
||
Squash
|
||
When the increment or decrement would send any of the tied
|
||
variations out of bounds, the out of bounds variation is set
|
||
to the ceiling of 255 or floor of 0, as appropriate. In this
|
||
way, all tied variations are squashed to one edge or the
|
||
other.
|
||
|
||
The top row buttons have the following keyboard accelerators:
|
||
|
||
-25 == Shift Left Arrow
|
||
-10 == Control Left Arrow
|
||
-1 == Left Arrow
|
||
+1 == Right Arrow
|
||
+10 == Control Right Arrow
|
||
+25 == Shift Right Arrow
|
||
|
||
|
||
Keyboard Accelerators
|
||
|
||
Alt-w in any secondary window dismisses the window. In the main
|
||
window it exits Pynche (except when running as a modal).
|
||
|
||
Alt-q in any window exits Pynche (except when running as a modal).
|
||
|
||
|
||
Persistency
|
||
|
||
Pynche remembers various settings of options and colors between
|
||
invocations, storing these values in a `persistent initialization
|
||
file'. The actual location of this file is specified by the
|
||
--initfile option (see above), and defaults to ~/.pynche.
|
||
|
||
When Pynche exits, it saves these values in the init file, and
|
||
re-reads them when it starts up. There is no locking on this
|
||
file, so if you run multiple instances of Pynche at a time, you
|
||
may clobber the init file.
|
||
|
||
The actual options stored include
|
||
|
||
- the currently selected color
|
||
|
||
- all settings of checkbox and radio button options in all windows
|
||
|
||
- the contents of the text window, the current text selection and
|
||
insertion point, and all current text widget element color
|
||
settings.
|
||
|
||
- the name of the color database file (but not its contents)
|
||
|
||
You can inhibit Pynche from reading the init file by supplying the
|
||
--ignore option on the command line. However, you cannot suppress
|
||
the storing of the settings in the init file on Pynche exit. If
|
||
you really want to do this, use /dev/null as the init file, using
|
||
--initfile.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Color Name Database Files
|
||
|
||
Pynche uses a color name database file to calculate the nearest
|
||
color to the selected color, and to display in the Color List
|
||
view. Several files are distributed with Pynche, described
|
||
below. By default, the X11 color name database file is selected.
|
||
Other files:
|
||
|
||
html40colors.txt -- the HTML 4.0 guaranteed color names
|
||
|
||
websafe.txt -- the 216 "Web-safe" colors that Netscape and MSIE
|
||
guarantee will not be dithered. These are specified in #rrggbb
|
||
format for both values and names
|
||
|
||
webcolors.txt -- The 140 color names that Tim Peters and his
|
||
sister say NS and MSIE both understand (with some controversy over
|
||
AliceBlue).
|
||
|
||
namedcolors.txt -- an alternative set of Netscape colors.
|
||
|
||
You can switch between files by choosing "Load palette..." from
|
||
the "File" menu. This brings up a standard Tk file dialog.
|
||
Choose the file you want and then click "Ok". If Pynche
|
||
understands the format in this file, it will load the database and
|
||
update the appropriate windows. If not, it will bring up an error
|
||
dialog.
|
||
|
||
|
||
To Do
|
||
|
||
Here's a brief list of things I want to do (some mythical day):
|
||
|
||
- Better support for resizing the top level windows
|
||
|
||
- More output views, e.g. color solids
|
||
|
||
- Have the notion of a `last color selected'; this may require a
|
||
new output view
|
||
|
||
- Support setting the font in the text view
|
||
|
||
- Support distutils setup.py for installation
|
||
|
||
I'm open to suggestions!
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Local Variables:
|
||
indent-tabs-mode: nil
|
||
End:
|