1.5 (now 2.0)

[Scott Rossi]

> Here's the issue I am dealing with:
> 
> I have a "round" button named "Clock" and a series of transparent,
> round clock-face icons depicting clock hand positions for all
> possible times of day (in five minute increments).
> 
> I want to be able to change the clock's background color to depict
> daytime (6 AM - 5:55 PM) vs nighttime (6 PM - 5:55 AM) hours.  How
> can I change the background color inside the circular image without
> changing the color of the button's corners protruding around the
> circular image.

Chip Walters has already explained one way to achieve this.  Just remember
there's no need to use buttons to grab mouseclicks; any object will work.

Another way to do the above is to use a transparent circular graphic to grab
the mouseclicks and display the clock faces in a button behind the graphic.
Why do this?  Because this way you can place the clock face images anywhere
you want in the stack, even off screen or in a separate substack, and then
display them at will in the button by setting the button's icon to the id of
the desired face image.  You don't need to worry about aligning all the
clock images or repositioning them if you edit the stack.  Sometimes folks
who come from a SuperCard background lament the absence of the pictureData
property of graphics in MC, but in reality, the feature is available, just
as the icon property of buttons.

Another thing to consider is whether or not you need any soft edges in your
clock image.  If you do, use a 24 bit PNG image with translucency -- your
clock will look nicely rendered.

And here's one last trick: if a GIF is suitable for your needs (one level of
transparency) you can use an animated GIF that contains each clock face on a
separate frame.  When you need to change the clock, simply script "set the
currentFrame of img myClock to x" where x is the frame number of the
appropriate clock face.

When it comes to screen display of images and graphics, Scott Raney's
catchphrase "There's a better way to do that" has never been more true.

Regards,

Scott Rossi
Creative Director
Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design
-----
E: scott at tactilemedia.com
W: http://www.tactilemedia.com