Step 6: Creating Icons for the Application




	NOTE: For an example of creating the icon files for an application, see “Steps to Registering "BestTextEditor"” in the section “Example of Creating a Registration Package”.

The desktop provides default icons for actions, data types, and application groups. However, you will probably want to create unique icons for the application.

Icons are placed in the directory app_root/dt/appconfig/icons/language.

Icons Required for the Desktop

The application uses these icon images on the desktop:

Action icon. This is the icon the user double-clicks to start your application (actions). It is referenced in the ICON field of the action that launches the application.
Supply three sizes: tiny, medium, and large.
Data type icon. This icon is used to represent the application's data files in File Manager. It is referenced in the ICON field of the data type definition.
If your application supports multiple data types, you should provide a different icon for each data type.
Supply two sizes: tiny and medium.
Application group icon. This is the icon representing the directory at the top level of the Application Manager. It is referenced in the ICON field of the data type definition for the application group. (See “Step 7: Creating the Application Group”.)
Supply two sizes: tiny and medium.

You may need to supply both pixmap and bitmap versions of each icon to support color (eight-bit and larger) and monochrome (fewer than eight bits) displays.

Table 4-1 Naming Conventions for Icon Files

`Size`	`Pixel Dimensions`	`Bitmap Name`	`Pixmap Name`
tiny	16 by 16	`basename``.t.bm`	`basename``.t.pm`
medium	32 by 32	`basename``.m.bm`	`basename``.m.pm`
large	48 by 48	`basename``.l.bm`	`basename``.l.pm`

If you do not provide bitmap files, the desktop maps the color specifications of the pixmap files into black and white. However, this mapping may not produce the appearance you want.

For more information about icons, see “Icon Image Files”.

Step 6: Creating Icons for the Application

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Icons Required for the Desktop