GUI Colors

[berensn]

Looking in the default_dark\theme.conf file, are the names of things under palette, like 'window', the name of QT objects that have RGB values assigned to them? If not, how/where are those keywords defined so that new ones could be created if I wanted?

[vkbo]

I haven't yet added the documentation for how to make new themes, but it's fairly straightforward. You just need to copy an existing theme and modify the main .conf. file. There's also a .css file for further customisation if needed.

You cannot add labels. They correspond to the colour roles for the Qt QPalette class. See https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qpalette.html#ColorRole-enum

The labels are parsed (and thus defined) here:

novelWriter/nw/gui/theme.py

Lines 297 to 313 in 3ee07c7

	## Palette
	cnfSec = "Palette"
	if confParser.has_section(cnfSec):
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "window", QPalette.Window)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "windowtext", QPalette.WindowText)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "base", QPalette.Base)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "alternatebase", QPalette.AlternateBase)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "text", QPalette.Text)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "tooltipbase", QPalette.ToolTipBase)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "tooltiptext", QPalette.ToolTipText)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "button", QPalette.Button)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "buttontext", QPalette.ButtonText)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "brighttext", QPalette.BrightText)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "highlight", QPalette.Highlight)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "highlightedtext", QPalette.HighlightedText)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "link", QPalette.Link)
	self._setPalette(confParser, cnfSec, "linkvisited", QPalette.LinkVisited)

[vkbo]

incidentally, to run on mac I had to cd to ~/.local/bin and run py novelWriter (py is my python alias)

Yeah, I've had other people mention this too, both on Mac and Linux. I think I added it to the documentation at some point that ~/.local/bin needs to be added to $PATH.

I wish the Python people would come up with an easier way to deploy GUI applications. Python is an excellent platform for smaller GUI applications like this. I've sort of given up on trying to solve the deployment challenge on my own. The minimal zip files are a reflection of that as I just generate them from Linux with a script, calculate the checksum, and upload them. It's simple, and doesn't require too much of the user I hope.

[berensn]

Cool, the highlighting tab is where I found the syntax options.
And no, its not in the documentation. I added an alias to my .bashrc file alias nw='py ~/.local/bin/novelWriter' which would work for mac and linux, using pip I didn't have to do anything for windows, but if you did the self install you'd probably have to add to $PATH

Yeah, Python is really nice for small GUIs and apps, and there really should be a better way to package them.
Just found this about pip, you can change the install directory
Looks like pip install --user novelWriter is easiest, as it installs under the $USER path and then when run, searches this path so nothing needs to be added to $PATH
The next best looks like pip install --prefix /custom_install_folder novelWriter so you don't have duplicate dependencies or
pip install --target /custom_install_folder novelWriter if you don't care about duplicate dependencies.

[vkbo]

And no, its not in the documentation.

It's mentioned in the "Getting Started" section that the install location may not be in PATH.

In any case, there is an option in the setup.py file to fill a standalone folder for Windows that bundles Python and dependencies using the --target approach. It can be further packaged as an installer, but I only used it for a couple of releases.

[berensn]

Ah crap, my bad.

Gotcha, making an installer sounds like a definite pain in the ass. As it is, its not hard to install.
Now that I know where to go to customize the theme, I can use that as an excuse to procrastinate on writing an actual novel ;)

[vkbo]

... I can use that as an excuse to procrastinate on writing an actual novel ;)

Well, that's pretty much how novelWriter came to exist in the first place!