Considerations for toolbar customisation

[arb]

I’m getting a little too excited about the recent changes to the toolbar and the great stuff it’s already offering the community. I know there's a lot of of things getting pushed right now so apologies in advance but I'd like to pitch more thoughts towards how we could create Toolbar icons that would be readily made for others to use with less manual setup.

Some questions for @Florian (fantastic work, by the way ):

1. Are there plans to make a web source/action/tool default to a specified icon without requiring a user to manually assign it when customising their toolbar? For example, supply a Source.src with a similarly named Source.ico, ask a user to copy both files into the sources folder and Mp3tag could automatically assign that source to its icon into the UI?

2. Could we automatically assign tooltips to these icons, e.g. for sources as commands/[keys] or actions with a specialised description action type for the action?

3. Could custom icons be shown in the main menu bar drop-down menus?

4. The Tag Sources item from Customise toolbar item offers a drop-down menu of all available web sources, similar to the main menu bar's Tag Sources option. Could a web source composed of separate sources/settings be assigned a drop-down of its own group with its own icon? e.g. All the variations of Discogs under a main Discogs icon

5. With Mp3tag's main toolbar, icons can adapt to light or dark mode by being re-coloured based on light mode icons; currently this isn't the case for custom icons. Is this possible too?

6. If the above point has too many complications, could we create separate light and dark versions of icons that are then displayed based on the user’s Colour Mode choice?… could we do the same with Default/Original variations of our custom icons?

7. Are you okay with us tearing apart using your icons to use as templates? e.g. Using the sub-icons like the green circled plus, the magnifying glass, the arrows etc. in our own icons to theme them closer to Mp3tag's visual design?

8. Saving anything in a configuration folder aside from the expected files (e.g. .src/.inc/.settings in sources) won't be saved when using Save configuration. If any of the above changes were to be implemented, could .ico files be allowed to be saved in these locations, either alongside the files or in specific icons folders in sources/actions/tools in a convenient hierarchy?

Also a sneak-peek:

[Sergius]

@arb

2. Can we automatically assign tooltips to these icons, e.g. for sources as commands/[keys] or actions with a specialised description action type for the action?

Hello @arb,

Regarding your second question, can we automatically assign tooltips to these icons?

We can write our own text on each icon, which can then be read as a tooltip style.

Click on the icon on the right, then click on Customize. On the data line, double-click on the left. The Tooltip option appears.

We can write our text, up to 79 characters.

Are we talking about the same thing?

The two programmable toolbars that Florian made are truly fantastic, a real feat of programming. I created icons for all my Action commands and Tools...

I had already made a very basic toolbar for the Tools of the latest version of Mp3tag for Windows XP using the Hot Virtual Keyboard program...

Yesterday I was thinking that maybe with the Hot Virtual Keyboard program (it's a really good little program; I'm very surprised by all the commands it has) I might be able to reproduce the programmable toolbars that Florian made with Mp3tag...

I looked at their website yesterday, and I was surprised that they allow us to program that too...

Yesterday I did some programming; it wasn't easy, but I'm very happy with the result...

See my 3 images

@Florian, I have another request: could you please allow us to write more than 79 characters in Tooltip, I'm requesting a maximum of 100 characters, if possible...

Because if you look at my third image, the Hot Virtual Keyboard program doesn't limit the characters in its tooltips...

[arb]

By automatic, I meant that the tooltip could be stored within an .mta/.src/.mte/tools.ini file to then be applied without requiring user input. The current method you outlined would be a manual override or as it currently stands, for filling in an otherwise unassigned tooltip.

[Sergius]

Thanks @arb, for the clarification. Yes, indeed, all the tooltip data is saved in an .ini file:

toolbar.ini:
The first row of programmable icons

toolbar_custom.ini:

The second row of programmable icons

The only problem with sharing your .ini files is the location of the icons, which can cause issues...

When we install one or more icons, if we want to share our data with others, we need to send our icons folder to the same location on the other computers so that the .ini file can find the icons...

As you know, I have a project, and I already had an icons folder in my project. When Florian programmed the two programmable toolbars, it was perfect for my project; I already had a place to put my icons.

I work with several computers, and I have an automated backup and data transfer file that I created. No problem, it works very well. On all the computers where I performed my transfer tests...

I had a small logistical problem at the beginning with pairing the data from my toolbar_custom.ini file: with another toolbar_custom.ini file, without data loss, I placed my data after the first file, if another file existed, and it worked perfectly...

Before successfully completing this programming, I had some problems a few hours earlier before finally managing to pair the data perfectly, something I was already doing without any issues with the tools.ini file.

Here's an example of my second programmable toolbar:

Here's part of my file:
toolbar_custom.ini:

I'll send you my data privately...

[arb]

Sorry @Sergius, I'm suggesting overall that .ico's could be kept and read within configuration folders for Mp3tag to automatically pair with specific functions. For those functions to recognise their paired .ico's, they could share the same filename.

toolbar.ini/toolbar_custom.ini is where manually input tooltips are kept which is perfect the way it is. I'm suggesting that "default" tooltips could be defined outside of those .ini's by supplying methods for users that create sources or actions to be shared with others define a "default" tooltip within that function's files.

... although I did sneak in a 7th point just before you posted which is weird timing but I do still agree with you that a centralisation of where icons are stored would be good for backups and between different computers, let alone other users

[Sergius]

@arb

... although I did sneak in a 7th point just before you posted which is weird timing but I do still agree with you that a centralisation of where icons are stored would be good for backups and between different computers, let alone other users

Hello @arb, I understand your request...

Mp3tag only provides .ico files accessible through the toolbar icon command, which is accessed from within a program, not from a folder...

C:\Program Files\Mp3tag\Mp3tag.exe

Icons within an Mp3tag folder for specific functions are possible; your request has been forwarded to Florian, we'll see what happens next...

@arb

I'm suggesting that "default" tooltips could be defined outside of those .ini's by supplying methods for users that create sources or actions to be shared with others define a "default" tooltip within that function's files.

Most of the time, when important data isn't stored in an .ini file, it's stored in the main Mp3tag configuration file (mp3tag.cfg). I know that tools, toolbars, and actions are written in specific files; anything is possible with Mp3tag...

I'd like to see the difference between two existing programs with the same function, one in an .ini file and the other in the program itself, so I can see the difference in efficiency between these two approaches.

Personally, I prefer tooltips to be placed with the other toolbar information in the same .ini file.

When I take a quick look, for example, at the first line [#0], I see all the information for that data instantly. Speaking for myself, it helps me find things quickly when I'm searching for that command.

Here's an example of something I experienced yesterday: a minor frustration with the program. Hot Virtual Keyboard, when I created my Toolsbars: icons for Windows XP

I started programming it in Windows 7. The developers of the Hot Virtual Keyboard program provided me with a folder containing two programs, which they sent me by email: Backup and Restore, in a folder. This allows me to save my entire work and send it to other computers.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to send information this way from Windows 7 to Windows XP. I did it anyway, but my tooltips were missing, and my X (Close) key wasn't working. I quickly fixed the close problem... For the tooltips, I had to go back and read the information I had programmed in Windows 7.

If I transfer my data from one Windows 7 machine to another, there are no problems, and from Windows XP to Windows XP, there are no problems.

I thought about this problem when I wrote this Toolsbar for the tools in the Hot Virtual Keyboard program. We have to program the data in two very different sections of the program, which, in my opinion, can cause transfer problems between Windows systems because the data is written in two different places.

I think the problem could also occur if the data were shared in Mp3tag. I'm not saying... Not that it would happen, but there is a risk of data problems...