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Customizing Colors

NOL lets you customize the colors it uses for many items, including:

The Colors submenu under the Preferences menu display configuration panels containing objects that let you specify the default colors. You can use any of the standard or extended G2 colors.

Setting Block and Path Colors

The Block Colors menu allows you to change the colors of the blocks and paths in your diagram to show their status. For example, blocks show a different color when they are on the palette, when you first clone them from the palette, when they are active, and when they are idle. Inference paths display red when true, green when false, and white when unknown.

When animation is enabled, NOL uses the color preferences you specify for blocks and paths. When animation is disabled, NOL uses the colors blocks and paths define in their icon descriptions.

To customize the colors of blocks or paths:

  1. Select the Preferences > Colors > Blocks & Paths menu choice to display the Block & Path Colors panel:


  2. Click on a color to display the palette of G2 colors, and select a color.

  3. Continue customizing the colors as desired, and click OK.

  4. Toggle animation off and then on to see the change by using the Controls > Animate menu choice.

The block colors on the left control the colors that display the status of NOL blocks:

The object labeled Lets you set the color of a block that is
Idle
Idle.
Running
Evaluating.
Disabled
Disabled for evaluation by selecting disable evaluation on the object or workspace.
Error
In an error state.
Alarm
Not supported in NOL.

The block colors on the top-right control the colors that display the status of inference paths:

The object labeled Lets you set the color of an inference path that...
No-value
Has no value.
True
Has a Status-value of .true.
False
Has a Status-value of .false.
Unknown
Has a Status-value of unknown.

In addition, you can set the color that NOL uses to highlight paths:

The object labeled Lets you set the color of a path that...
Highlight
Is highlighted with the highlight menu choice.

The SSE Header Colors object is not supported in NOL.

Setting Queue Colors

The Queue Colors menu lets you set the colors it uses for the queues and for the dialogs associated with the queue buttons, such as the Print dialog. You can set the colors of edit boxes and buttons, as well as a number of other objects in the queue.

Note: These colors do not affect the buttons and edit boxes used in other dialogs, such as the Override dialog or configuration panels.
To customize the colors of queues:

  1. Select the Preferences > Colors > Queues menu choice to display the Queue Colors panel:


  2. Click on a color to display a table that lets you choose a region.

    In some cases, the regions are border-area, background-area, and text-area, and in other cases the regions are button-border-dark, button-border-light, and button-border-face.

  3. Choose a region to display the palette of G2 colors, and choose a color.

  4. Continue configuring colors as desired, and click OK or Apply.

  5. Display a queue or associated dialog to see the new colors.

This figure shows parts of the queue that you can customize:


This figure shows the different types of buttons and edit boxes in a queue dialog:


Setting Queue Colors

You can set the following colors of queues:

The setting... Lets you set the colors for
Default Page Pattern
The color of the page, which contains the queue's messages.
Orphaned Entry Pattern
(See note below.)
Default Display Text Pattern
The alarm title and entry count when the entry count is below the maximum number of entries.
Entry Count Warning Pattern
The entry count, when it is close to the maximum number of entries.
Entry Count Alert Pattern
The entry count when it is over the maximum number of entries.

Note: The color for the Orphaned Entry Pattern is not used in the current version of NOL.

Setting Edit Box Colors

 The first three colors in the Queue Colors panel let you change the colors for edit boxes. When you click on one of these colors, NOL displays a table that lets you set three colors for the regions in an edit box. This figure shows you what the regions are:


This table describes these objects:

The object labeled Lets you set the colors for an edit box that
Normal Edit Box
You can enter text into.
Disabled Edit Box
You cannot enter text into.
Edit Box Error
Contains an error. (For example, you entered a string into an edit box that accepts only numbers.)

Setting Button Colors

The next four colors on the panel let you change the colors for buttons. When you click on one of these colors, NOL displays a table that lets you set three colors for the regions in an edit box. This figure shows you what the regions are:


This table describes the button colors:

The object labeled Lets you set the colors for a button that
0 State Button
Is not selected
1 State Button
Is selected
Disabled Button
You cannot press
Button Error
Contains an error

Setting Text Button Colors

The four colors on the top-right of the panel let you change the colors for text buttons. When you click on one of these objects, NOL displays a table that lets you set three colors for the regions in an edit box, as shown in "Setting Block and Path Colors". This table describes these objects:

The object labeled Lets you set the colors for a text button that
0 State Text Button
Is not selected
1 State Text Button
Is selected
Disabled Text Button
You cannot press
Text Button Error
Contains an error

Note: Most of the buttons in a queue dialog that contain text, such as OK and Apply, are not text buttons. They are regular buttons with a text label placed on top of them. To set their colors, modify the objects described in "Setting Button Colors" on page 165.

Setting Configuration Panel Colors

The Configuration Panel menu lets you customize the colors of configuration panels that NOL displays when you select the configure menu choice and when you select the override menu choice.

To customize the colors of configuration panels and override dialogs:

  1. Select Preferences > Colors > Configuration Panels to display the Configuration Panel Colors panel:


  2. To customize the color of dialog titles, text, type-in boxes, and scroll areas, click on the appropriate box, choose a region, and choose a color from the G2 color palette.

    The regions are border-area, background-area, and text-area.

    Note: You typically choose the same background and border color for dialog titles.
  3. To customize any of the other colors, click on a color to display the G2 color palette.

  4. Continue configuring colors as desired, and click OK or Apply.

  5. Display a configuration panel to see the new colors.

Setting the Color for Titles, Type-in Boxes, Text, and Scroll Messages

 The following table describes the four top color settings in the palette. All colors refer to items within configuration panels displayed using the configure menu choice.

The color
setting labeled...
Changes...
Dialog Titles
The background, text, and border color of the title bar.
Dialog Texts
The background, text, and border color for labels.
Type-in Boxes
The background, text, and border color for type- in boxes.
Scroll Messages
The background, text, and border color for type- in boxes displayed in a scrollable region.

When you click on a color, choose one of these regions:

The region named... Specifies...
border-area
The border color for the item; use transparent for no border or background color for no border.
background-area
The background color for the item.
text-area
The color of the text for the item.

You can also set the color that NOL uses to indicate a disabled dialog title, dialog text, type-in box, or scroll message by clicking on the colors Disabled Colors for each of the settings described above.

Setting the Color for Display Items Within Configuration Panels

You can adjust the color of the following display items within a configuration panel:

The display item... Controls the color of...
Dialog
The overall configuration panel.
Border
The outer border of the configuration panel.
Radio Button
The diamond-shaped buttons used for attributes with distinct choices, e.g., Logic, which can be discrete or fuzzy.
Push Button
(Action Button)
The OK, Apply, and Cancel buttons at the bottom of the configuration panel.

Note: NOL only uses the display items shown in the table above; the other display items appear for future compatibility only.
The following table describes each category of color in the bottom portion of the panel:

The color
setting labeled...
Changes...
Background
The background color of the dialog and push buttons.
Face
The interior color of radio, check, and toggle buttons.
Lamp
The color used when radio, check, and toggle buttons are selected.
Light
The top and left borders of a button that is not selected, the bottom and right borders of a button that is selected, or the bottom and right borders of a display item.
Dark
The bottom and right borders of a button that is not selected, the top and left borders of a button that is selected, or the top and left borders of a display item.
Disabled
The color used for disabled buttons.

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