Changing system window backgrounds for high contrast users

Michael Conover

Hello,

I have some users running Bricscad v14 on Windows 7 that are needing to bump up the contrast on some of the interface (i.e. toolbar, properties bar, etc.) items of Bricscad as they are having a hard time reading some of the items (i.e. old eyes).  See attached for screenshot and arrows pointing to the main areas I'm looking for.
1) Background color of the toolbars / blank area around toolbars
2) Font color of the unchangeable items in the Properties Bar (like length of line, area of polyline, etc.)
3) Background of Properties Bar (though could be moot if changing the font in item 2)

I cannot find these colors anywhere within the Bricscad settings nor within the Windows settings either (if I change the 'Menu" background color in windows to red, I would expect that to be item 1 above, but it adds a 1 pixel red line between the Bricscad pulldown menus and the toolbars, but not the toolbars themselves).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Jason Bourhill

Hi Michael,

You probably will need to use a mix of Windows system settings & BricsCAD settings to achieve what you want. And I think you may find you can't change some things.

In Windows control panel I would take a look at the Ease of Access Center. Pressing ALT + left SHIFT + PRINT SCREEN should get Windows to change to High contrast mode. Under the control panel you can also change icon & system text font and sizes. Note if your changing system settings you may need to restart BricsCAD to see the proper result.

In BricsCAD you can switch to using large toolbars by right clicking over any tool bar, then select tool bar size from the menu. if you go into SETTINGS and search for Cmdlinefontsize, then you can change the size of text on the commandline, font color etc. While your in settings you may want to also look at Gripsize, gripcolor, etc..

Hope this is of some help

Regards,

Jason Bourhill

CAD Concepts 

mnuToolBarSize.png

dlgSettings_Cmdlinefontsize.png

martin@enco.us

The only way I know to change the colors is to edit utils.dll with a hex editor.  I mean no disrespect for Bricscad programmers, but I really don't like their new color scheme  -- I have "old eyes", too.  I revert the colors of the toolbars to match Windows 7 standards.

I also use toolbars based on Autocad R14.  Not as fancy as newer icons, but for me simple icons are much easier to recognize.

John Gaunt

I can't remember which Windows version I stopped being able to get the screen the way I like, not just in Cad.
Stepped straight from XP, but W8 seems to be even less customisable.

Michael Conover

Hello all.  Sorry to start up an old topic again, but I'm finally at a point where I can focus on getting this done.  I appreciate all of your responses.

@H Martin Shoemaker:

The only way I know to change the colors is to edit utils.dll with a hex editor.  I mean no disrespect for Bricscad programmers, but I really don't like their new color scheme  -- I have "old eyes", too.  I revert the colors of the toolbars to match Windows 7 standards.

I also use toolbars based on Autocad R14.  Not as fancy as newer icons, but for me simple icons are much easier to recognize.

H Martin Shoemaker, this sounds pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.  I've done some Hex Editing in the past, but its always been following a tutorial for locating the offsets / addresses to change.  Would you be willing to share your changes to utils.dll?

Also, I no longer have access to an AutoCAD 14 install to pull the old icons.  I'll see if my users would be fine with 2007, 2005, or 2000 (the oldest version I have available).  Thanks for the input on this as well!  I wasn't looking forward to creating custom icons from scratch as they would not turn out any better than the old school or current icon designs as I am not an icon designer.

Thanks again!

martin@enco.us

Since you asked, here are the changes I make.  The addresses to change sometimes change with new versions but they are close to what's here.  I filed a request to have the option to use the old color scheme but without success.  I respect the opinion of the person from Bricsys who essentially responded that the new color scheme is wonderful, but I do not share the opinion.   

Toolbar tabs:  
   Near 00088E8C in utils.dll, change D4DADD to D4D0C8
  
Toolbar background:
   Near 00088E98 in utils.dll, change F8F8F8 to D4D0C8
  
Lines between toolbars:
   Near 00088888 in utils.dll, change ADADAD to 808080

martin@enco.us

For R14 version bitmaps you should be able to find acadbtn.dll online.  ResHacker will let you extract the bitmaps.  Be sure to get ResHacker from the author's site (angusj.com).  Many of the copies posted elsewhere are infected.  You may have to edit any buttons you choose to use.  If I remember correctly Autocad used 15 x 15 buttons, but Bricscad uses 16 x 16.