In XSI PPGs it is not possible to change the look of the text that appears as labels for parameters. But we have a workaround. We can not only change the font, its size but we can also the color of the foreground and background. To achieve this we have to use the text editor widget.
Adding Text Editor Widget to your PPG
Below is the python code which produces a Demo PPG. Please note that foreground and background color attributes require a hex color code. You can convert the color code from RGB (0 – 255) to hex color code through a number of websites. Here is a link. But doing some pretty basic math, you can create your own hex code. In the python example, I have written two functions to do exactly that. Please go through the code. Also, note that I don’t like using the PPG logic passed on as a string. But for Demo Purpose I am setting the PPG Logic through a string. In your plugins, you have to simply set the logic attribute of your PPG to the plugin file itself. You can find more information regarding this on a nice post written by Andy Nicholas.
Just run this code in XSI and you will get the PPG as shown above. The buttons Change FG and Change BG simply changes some default colors. While selecting the color from the color widgets will also update the foreground and background colors. I have just added three font types to play around with. You can set this to any standard font as you like. As explained in the last post Making Your PPG pretty – Part 1, the trick to make the background transparent is the same. You just set the background color to XSI default gray color. And yes you can be creative here as well. You can use webdings or wingdings font type to get some graphics instead of fonts.
from win32com.client import constants as c
DEFAULT_BG_COLOUR = 0xA6A8AB # PPG Gray
DEFUALT_FG_COLOUR = 0x000000 # Black
def defineProp(inProp):
dispText = inProp.AddParameter3('dispText', c.siString, 'My Text')
dispText.ReadOnly = True
inProp.AddParameter3('inText', c.siString, 'My Text')
inProp.AddParameter3('bgColourInt', c.siInt2, 4)
inProp.AddParameter3('fgColourInt', c.siInt2, 0)
inProp.AddParameter3('font', c.siString, 'Arial Black')
inProp.AddParameter3('rFg', c.siDouble, 0.000)
inProp.AddParameter3('gFg', c.siDouble, 0.000)
inProp.AddParameter3('bFg', c.siDouble, 0.000)
inProp.AddParameter3('rBg', c.siDouble, 0.671)
inProp.AddParameter3('gBg', c.siDouble, 0.659)
inProp.AddParameter3('bBg', c.siDouble, 0.651)
return prop
def definePropLayout(inProp):
layout = inProp.PPGLayout
layout.Language = 'Python'
layout.AddSpacer(0, 20)
layout.AddGroup('Text')
dispText = layout.AddItem('dispText', '', c.siControlTextEditor)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUINoLabel,True)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIFont, 'Arial Black')
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIFontSize, 15)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIBackgroundColor, DEFAULT_BG_COLOUR)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIForegroundColor, DEFUALT_FG_COLOUR)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIHorizontalScroll, False)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIVerticalScroll, False)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIVerticalScroll, False)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIHeight, 45)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIMarginWidth,5)
layout.EndGroup()
layout.AddSpacer(0, 20)
layout.AddGroup('Text Attributes')
layout.AddSpacer(0, 20)
layout.AddItem( 'inText', 'Enter Text', c.siControlString)
fontList = ['Arial Black', 'Arial Black',
'Times New Roman', 'Times New Roman',
'Comic Sans', 'Comic Sans']
layout.AddEnumControl('font', fontList, 'Select Font')
layout.AddSpacer(0, 20)
layout.EndGroup()
layout.AddSpacer(0, 40)
layout.AddRow()
btnChangeFG = layout.AddButton('changeFG', 'Change FG')
btnChangeFG.SetAttribute(c.siUICX, 150)
btnChangeFG.SetAttribute(c.siUICY, 50)
btnChangeBG = layout.AddButton('changeBG', 'Change BG')
btnChangeBG.SetAttribute(c.siUICX, 150)
btnChangeBG.SetAttribute(c.siUICY, 50)
btnSetDefaultColours = layout.AddButton('setDefault', 'Set Defaults')
btnSetDefaultColours.SetAttribute(c.siUICX, 150)
btnSetDefaultColours.SetAttribute(c.siUICY, 50)
layout.EndRow()
layout.AddSpacer(0, 40)
layout.AddColor('rFg', 'FG Color')
layout.AddColor('rBg', 'BG Color')
logicStr = """
from win32com.client import constants as c
def changeFG_OnClicked():
prop = PPG.Inspected(0)
layout = PPG.PPGLayout
currentFGColourIndex = prop.fgColourInt.value
currentBGColourIndex = prop.bgColourInt.value
colourIndex = currentFGColourIndex + 1
if colourIndex == currentBGColourIndex or colourIndex > 4:
colourIndex += 1
if colourIndex > 4:
colourIndex = 0
if colourIndex == currentBGColourIndex:
colourIndex += 1
colours = [0x000000, 0xB5F669, 0x149FF0, 0x8069F6, 0xA6A8AB]
colour = colours[colourIndex]
dispText = layout.Item('dispText')
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIForegroundColor, colour)
prop.fgColourInt.value = colourIndex
PPG.Refresh()
return
def changeBG_OnClicked():
prop = PPG.Inspected(0)
layout = PPG.PPGLayout
currentFGColourIndex = prop.fgColourInt.value
currentBGColourIndex = prop.bgColourInt.value
colourIndex = currentBGColourIndex + 1
if colourIndex == currentFGColourIndex or colourIndex > 4:
colourIndex += 1
if colourIndex > 4:
colourIndex = 0
if colourIndex == currentFGColourIndex:
colourIndex += 1
colours = [0x000000, 0xB5F669, 0x149FF0, 0x8069F6, 0xA6A8AB]
colour = colours[colourIndex]
dispText = layout.Item('dispText')
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIBackgroundColor, colour)
prop.bgColourInt.value = colourIndex
PPG.Refresh()
return
def inText_OnChanged():
prop = PPG.Inspected(0)
prop.dispText.Value = str(prop.inText.Value)
PPG.Refresh()
return
def font_OnChanged():
prop = PPG.Inspected(0)
layout = PPG.PPGLayout
dispText = layout.Item('dispText')
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIFont, prop.font.Value)
PPG.Refresh()
return
def setDefault_OnClicked():
layout = PPG.PPGLayout
prop = PPG.Inspected(0)
prop.dispText.Value = 'My Text'
prop.inText.Value = 'My Text'
prop.rFg.Value = 0.0
prop.gFg.Value = 0.0
prop.bFg.Value = 0.0
prop.rBg.Value = 0.671
prop.gBg.Value = 0.659
prop.bBg.Value = 0.651
dispText = layout.Item('dispText')
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIBackgroundColor, 0xA6A8AB)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIForegroundColor, 0x000000)
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIFont, 'Arial Black')
prop.fgColourInt.Value = 0
prop.bgColourInt.Value = 4
PPG.Refresh()
def rFg_OnChanged():
_updateColour(1)
return
def gFg_OnChanged():
_updateColour(1)
return
def bFg_OnChanged():
_updateColour(1)
return
def rBg_OnChanged():
_updateColour(0)
return
def gBg_OnChanged():
_updateColour(0)
return
def bBg_OnChanged():
_updateColour(0)
return
def _updateColour(fg):
prop = PPG.Inspected(0)
if fg:
r = prop.rFg.Value
g = prop.gFg.Value
b = prop.bFg.Value
else:
r = prop.rBg.Value
g = prop.gBg.Value
b = prop.bBg.Value
r, g, b = denormalizeRGB(r, g, b)
hex = rgbToHex(r, g, b)
layout = PPG.PPGLayout
dispText = layout.Item('dispText')
if fg:
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIForegroundColor, hex)
else:
dispText.SetAttribute(c.siUIBackgroundColor, hex)
PPG.Refresh()
return
def denormalizeRGB(r, g, b):
r = int(round(r * 255, 0))
g = int(round(g * 255, 0))
b = int(round(b * 255, 0))
return r, g, b
def rgbToHex(r, g, b):
hexString = '0123456789ABCDEF'
remR = r % 16
divR = r / 16
rHex = '%s%s'%(hexString[divR], hexString[remR])
remG = g % 16
divG = g / 16
gHex = '%s%s'%(hexString[divG], hexString[remG])
remB = b % 16
divB = b / 16
bHex = '%s%s'%(hexString[divB], hexString[remB])
hex = eval('0x%s%s%s'%(bHex, gHex, rHex))
return hex
"""
layout.Logic = logicStr
return prop
prop = XSIFactory.CreateObject('CustomProperty')
prop.Name = 'myProp'
prop = defineProp(prop)
prop = definePropLayout(prop)
Application.InspectObj(prop, '', 'MyProperty')
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