Dynamic icons for Indesign plugin custom palette

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
July 25, 2022
3 replies
367 views

Hi,

I would like to understand what is the idrc_PNGA and idrc_PNGD folders inside of .InDesignPlugin files on Mac. Are these part of standard structure of .InDesign plugins? An additional question I have is about immutability of .idrc files inside of this folder. Is idrc_PNGA an appropriate folder to dynamically modify the .idrc files from within our plugin logic with updated .png images or is there another folder in here somewhere that is appropriate for such intent. Also, given that the plugins are signed and notarized before shipment, it certainly does not feel right to update these sub folders dynamically, but I am not an expert and hence not sure.

Please advice.

Thanks

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D

Dirk Becker

Legend

When you search the SDK for the text"PNGA", you'll find plenty example .fr resource files, plus declarations for kPNGArtRsrcType.

In short, PNGA is for the light UI, PNGD is for dark UI. There is also a hard wired ID offset for HiDPI versions (scale 2x on Mac, or 1.5x on Windows). Once upon a time there was also PNGR and PNGK for mouse-over variants (with subtle colour changes).

When you follow the symbolic names of those IDs within the examples, you'll find other resources where widgets refer to the icons. The appropriate interface has setters so you can change the ID to a different preexisting icon - if that is dynamic enough.

Besides, there are other headers to custom draw PNG icons, you find them by searching for "PNGArt" .

Finally, while PNG is still supported the new hot icon format (think of UI scaling) is a subset of SVG, matching resource types conveniently declared directly below kPNGArtRsrcType and friends.

PS: You are not supposed to modify resources after compilation, in an appropriately administered system these folders are readonly. Use custom draw if you dynamically load your icons from somewhere else.

A

asaxenaAuthor

Known Participant

Hi,

Checking back if there is any recommendation on my question.

Thank you