* When does a Bitmap become an FH Icon

[Gowermick]

I am experimenting with adding icons to diagrams, and liked the Census ones supplied by Bilko, but sadly Census1939 is missing.

Undaunted, I opened my Graphics program (GIMP) and created what I wanted by cutting and pasting from Census91 and Census31, and created a Census39.

Fine so far, everything on my PC recognises it as a Bitmap and displays it the same as all the other bitmaps from Bilko, but when I tried to assign it to a Diagram condition, FH says it can't recognise it.

Any ideas why?

[LornaCraig]

What exactly does the message say? Is it saying it can't recognise the file type?
Or is the icon just not displaying properly in diagrams?

Does any of the following help? (from the FH Help pages)

Whatever colour appears in the top-left hand corner of the bitmap will be interpreted by Family Historian as transparent. So, for example, if the top-left corner is white, every white pixel in your bitmap will appear to be transparent when the icon is displayed in a diagram.

You can also choose the Size for icons. The choices are all given in dpi - that, is in dots per inch. When you increase the number of dots per inch, you effectively make the icon appear smaller when displayed in a diagram. Conversely, if you reduce the dpi the icons will get bigger, The default is 250 dpi. The minimum size value is 50 dpi.

[Gowermick]

Jane,
See attached screenshot.
I did try and attach the Census31 and Census39 bitmaps, but forum won't allow.

Mike

[Gowermick]

Jane,
Attached is another screenshot from windows explorer, showing Census39.bmp quite happily alongside others in the icon directory. If windoes recognises it, why doesn't FH?

[tatewise]

BTW: That was Lorna not Jane.

Put the problem icon file in a compressed Zip file and attach that.
Hopefully, somebody can investigate but I am not at a PC this weekend.

[LornaCraig]

I don't know what the problem might be, but try this one I've just made and tested.

NOTE: this site does not allow bmp files to be uploaded so I have changed the file extension to .txt and you will need to change it back to .bmp after downloading.

[Gowermick]

Duh, sorry Lorna, pardon me, but my age is showing.
I'll give your file a try and let you know how I get on.
Thanks

Mike

[Gowermick]

Lorna,
That did the trick,
Thanks

[Gowermick]

Well I've played some more, and used Windows Paint to load then save the Icon I created in Gramps, and it works. The one from Gramps itself still doesn't work.

I have attached both as examples, but changed their extensions from .BMP to .TXT to fool fhug. After downloading, simply remane them back to .BMP extensions.

I would be interested in what others thought.

[LornaCraig]

The only difference I can see is that the one that works is a slightly smaller file (1.92 KB compared with 1.99 KB). The Gramps program must be saving it in a slightly different way. However the good news is that you now know how to get round the problem.

[trevorrix]

Excellent thank you Mike. Much better than the 39 icon that I have been using up to now.

[Gowermick]

Lorna and Trevor,

The puzzle still remains, why does FH not recognise a Gramps Bitmap. Help say you can use a program such as Paint, not Must, and although Windows recognises both, FH doesn't. One for Simon to answer perhaps.

Trevor,
I can't take credit, as I just cut and pasted the appropriate from icons in the Bilko collection, so that they retained a similar style.

[trevorrix]

When I open Wontwork39.bmp in IrfanView then Save As over the top as Wontwork39.bmp, it does work in Family Historian.

[LornaCraig]

Yes, that is the same as Mike himself found by opening and saving in Windows Paint, and I found the same using Paint Shop Pro. It must be something specific to the way the Gramps program saves the file that stops FH recognising it, although the other programs do. As soon as it is opened and re-saved by another program it is OK in FH.