Slight color scheme change in bitcomet 1.23?

[tribaljet]

Hello. It seems that between bitcomet version 1.22 and 1.23, there was some sort of change in the color scheme.

I say this because I'm using a theme that when I have a task selected, it has a yellow background color, and when I click on (lets say) statistics, it turned light grey.

But since I updated to version 1.23, the unselected state turns to a very dark grey that makes it hard to read the task name when it's not selected.

Here are 2 pics to show what I mean:

http://picpaste.com/selected.PNG

http://picpaste.com/unselected.PNG

I searched on the advanced settings and found nothing related to that. Is there any way I could turn the color scheme back to how it was in 1.22?

[greywizard]

You're missing an essential piece of info.

Your OS version and current theme?

[tribaljet]

I'm sorry, my mistake.

I have windows 7 ultimate x86, with the hyperdesk flagship theme.

Was there any changes to bitcomet? Because the only change in my system was going from 1.22 to 1.23.

[tribaljet]

Oh, another thing I didn't mention. 1.23 also defaults my tabs config, and when I started the torrent I was downloading right before with 1.22, it gave me an error in several languages that my upload couldn't be set to unlimited, when I have it set at 80% of my max upload rate for more than a year now.

These things went back to normal once I set the tabs again, and the error didn't happen a second time. But what I really would like to know is how to set the colors in 1.23 as they were in 1.22.

[kluelos]

Yes, 1.23 changed the configuration of my tabs too. Minor problem, but still.

How are you sure that there was a change in the color scheme? Does changing to a different theme or reverting to default alleviate the problem? IOW, can you reliably link 1.23 to the theme to recreate the problem?

[tribaljet]

I can link it to the update to 1.23, since it was the only change in my system, and the unselected state was a much lighter grey that enabled me to see the name of the task perfectly, not the very dark grey that distinguishes itself from black with quite some difficulty. Honestly, after reading the changelog for this version, I was quite excited, but GUI issues like this are very bad, specially since the last issue I had was in 1.16.

Is there any way I can change back the color settings?

[kluelos]

There's no known way to change the interface colors, no.

Does this work properly for you with a different theme?

[tribaljet]

It worked fine until I installed 1.23, I have this theme since version 1.18 and it always worked. 1.23 changed the colors for some reason and I just want to set the colors like they were in 1.22 and below. If not, I'll just have to install 1.22 and stay with that version.

Why were the colors changed, and how can I reverse it? Is there any .ini or something to make it work like all previous versions?

Edited September 4, 2010 by tribaljet (see edit history)

[kluelos]

No.

[tribaljet]

After trying three different hyperdesk themes, all have the same issue of an excessively dark grey when clicking on a task, then clicking on statistics, as shown on the pics I uploaded. Aero works since it's mostly a white theme.

What can I do to solve this?

[tribaljet]

This does trouble me quite a bit, since I've been using bitcomet for sometime and it always pleased me and proved to be superior to all other bittorrent clients, so this issue bothers me a lot. Please try to find any solution to this.

[tribaljet]

Through Window Color and Appearance Window, I can change the selected item color to whatever I like (despite it saying that will only work for classic, non-aero, themes), but Disabled Item just doesn't change the color, which I assume has RGB values lower than 50.

What changed in 1.23 to make the selected but out of focus item to change its color?

[kluelos]

As far as i can determine, BitComet isn't engaging in color manipulation at all, but is relying on the OS to handle these chores.

None of us has direct access to the program code, but the whole point of having foundation classes and an interface you can code to, is to free you from having to bother with things like that, and to permit the use of things like themes -- because you aren't specifying the color, you're just using class calls to say, "title this object', 'highlight that one', 'select it', "gray it out'. while letting the OS handle exactly how, and the theme (if any) specifies the actual colors used for which function.

If BitComet were what's doing this, it would still be the same despite any theme change, no?

Given all that, it's now a non-trivial change to try to yank control back from the foundation classes. Study the interface and you will see that the only items particularly colored are the icons. Icons are separate objects unto themselves. This is how it should be. The point is that you as programmer DON'T change colors like that, you effectively can't unless you want to fight the existing classes.

In the alternative you can just not use them at all, make your own and 'skin" the program -- this is why most skins look and feel so differently from normal Windows controls (take a look at Winamp for example) -- but 1) you have no trouble spotting such a skinned I/F when it exists, 2) themes don't work with/affect skins, and 3) BitComet hasn't done that in the first place..

All this means that the issue has to be elsewhere. My first guess would be a video driver issue, so you may want to explore that.

[tribaljet]

Yes, I understand what you mean with the OS being in charge of the whole color schemes and profiles.

My system is working stable with adequate drivers, and the only software change was the update from 1.22 to 1.23, and the update of the emule plugin from 1.19 to the only choice now, that is that xtreme plugin.

If it were any software or driver messing with my OS, its effects would be noticeable throughout the system, not only in bitcomet.

I'm just asking if there was any minor change in bitcomet, since most of microsoft's theme guidelines might be followed but some apps do change it ever so slightly.

Out of curiosity, would an install of the new forced xtreme plugin over the older regular emule plugin cause any issues in bitcomet? I ask because I can't uninstall the plugin separately.

[greywizard]

I don't know about the way BitComet uses colors (you'll have to wait an answer from the team for a final opinion on that) but:

1. Xtreme plugin isn't the only option available now. You can go to this page and download any of the plugins and if you go the the archive page you can download any of the older versions.

2.You don't really need to uninstall the plugin; all you need to do is delete the plugin_emule folder from the BitComet installation folder.

[kluelos]

I also wouldn't be that sure that there were no other changes, especially given the charming windows habit of downloading and installing updates without letting you know about it.

Would other programs be affected by a driver issue? Maybe, maybe not. Every program doesn't exercise every aspect of the I/F or do it in the same way. I would redate the video driver just to explore this.

When I read through the change logs for video driver updates, I typically see a lot of fixes for issues that affect only one or a few particular applications and don't generally affect others, so this kind of thing is not at all unusual.

[tribaljet]

The emule plugin download page only have 1.23 xtreme plugin and xtreme plugin beta, check the download links. Only the archive contains versions of the regular version.

Thanks about that folder advise, didn't know that, and might be useful to switch between versions.

[tribaljet]

I don't have any automatic updates, all updates are done manually, by me. The graphics driver is updates as it can be. The only change was bitcomet version. All other software is behaving exactly the same as it was before.

[tribaljet]

Oh my, just took a look at the archives page and found that it doesn't just contain older versions of bitcomet and the emule plugin, but the actual latest 1.23 emule plugin version is there :S It should be on the first page of the emule plugin, instead there is the latest xtreme and the beta xtreme. I never intended on using xtreme, even when I used standalone emule, so it was kind of a let down. You should correct it as soon as possible.

[greywizard]

There probably was a mistake on the main download page, when the links were update. That will be fixed soon.

[tribaljet]

Thank goodness :) As now that I know you haven't switched definitely to xtreme, that *bleep* will never rest on my computer ever again.

Any idea of why bitcomet 1.22 kept a light grey when the task was selected but out of focus, while 1.23 has an almost black tone of grey?

Another question, after selecting in advanced settings using system app data to false, does that effectively turn bitcomet folder into a portable bitcomet?

[greywizard]

1. It's grey on your OS. For instance on my XP SP3 it's a very nice hue of blue which contrasts perfectly with the black of the text.

2. Not necessarily. It changes the location of the setting files back to the old place where they were to be found in the older versions. But it you use an OS with UAC (Vista, Win 7) it will only move them in the VirtualStore folder, since applications can't write into system folders anymore without elevated privileges. So you won't gain anything by that.

If you want a portable version of BitComet, just download a ZIP version and run it from anywhere else than Program Files or other system folder.

[tribaljet]

Like I said before, I'm using hyperdesk themes, 3 of them and all have the same selected but out of focus almost black tone of grey. In 1.22 it was only light grey, which allowed me to actually read the task names perfectly.

Yes, default Aero displays it in blue as well, but before 1.23, all hyperdesk themes displayed light grey, not a very heavy grey that's almost indistinguishable from the text itself. It only affects the task names when they were selected, then clicked outside the task list, making it still selected but out of focus, hence the color change. You can see what I mean through the pics in the first post.

I don't have UAC turned on, which from what you say enables me to just grab the bitcomet folder and using it anywhere. Hopefully that is so, since the purpose of it is to keep all settings, including layout edits.

[Lucy26]

Have you installed any software that decorate/beautify your Windows interface?

[tribaljet]

As reported on earlier posts, I've been using hyperdesk flagship theme since bitcomet 1.21. No additional software is installed, and bitcomet worked along hyperdesk perfectly on both 1.21 and 1.22, only 1.23 for some reason changed the selected but out of focus task name background color from light grey to dark grey.