1.5 (now 2.0) The Transparent Button Issue

[Rob Cozens]

>Use the irregular polygon filled with black.  Draw around your 
>image.  Set the ink to NOOP

Thanks for your suggestion, Matt.

The further this discussion goes, the more it seems to me the crux of 
the issue is that an image that appears on multiple cards must be 
duplicated on each card to retain image behavior.  There should 
either be a way to:

1. reference or alias an image so it can appear on multiple cards 
without (a) duplication or (b) loss of image functionality

2. set an imageBehavior property in a button so the icon displays 
image behavior instead of button behavior.

As I write this, it occurs to me that placing a referenced image on 
each card might achieve the functionality I desire without the 
overhead of actually duplicating the image.  I have often wished the 
properties palette for a referenced image would display (and allow me 
to change) the file reference.

I assume the storage requirements for a referenced image depend on 
the length of the file name, not the size of the image.  Can anyone 
tell me for sure?  If so, it's looking like the best solution I've 
considered so far.  I suppose I could create two identical stacks, 
add multiple references to the same image to one and one reference + 
buttons with icons of the image to the other, and compare the byte 
size of the two stacks.

Another oops!  In my time icon example, placing image references on 
each card would result in a net gain of 313 (314 new images replace 
one button) controls on each card where the clock is displayed.

OK, so the crux of the issue is how to achieve image behavior from a 
button icon.  The best long-term solutions I see are:

1.  A button property that causes icons to behave as images, and/or

2.  Support for irregular buttons whose shapes match the shape of their icon.

Kevin, Scott Raney, or anyone in a position to comment: Is either of 
these alternatives (or some better alternative) even a remote 
possibility?  If so, I will submit a request to the improve-rev list.

In any case, it looks like I will have to use different images for 
daytime & nighttime hours for the foreseeable future.

Yet another oops: if I consolidate the 314 images in an animated gif, 
I can replace each clock button with one image reference.  Thanks, 
all, for helping me think my way through the issue.

Any other thoughts or suggestions are welcomed.  (I may also need a 
reference to instructions on creating an animated gif from my 314 
individual images.)

TIA,
-- 

Rob Cozens
CCW, Serendipity Software Company
http://www.oenolog.com/who.htm

"And I, which was two fooles, do so grow three;
Who are a little wise, the best fooles bee."

from "The Triple Foole" by John Donne (1572-1631)