Images

You can use the Images page to define images that Opus will display instead of a solid background color behind elements of the Lister. An image file on disk (e.g. a JPEG file) has to be added to the list of Images in Preferences before it is available for a Lister element to use. There are two types of images in this list (although in practical terms they are the same):

• Standard images are placeholders for each of the elements that can have an image assigned to it. Although no images are configured by default, each element is set by default to use its standard image. For example, the File Display is set by default to use the Standard File Display Image. There are two reasons for this:
  • To assign an image to a Lister element, generally all you need to do is edit the standard image setting for that element.
  • Lister Themes are able to make changes to toolbar images without needing to know what toolbars you have turned on (a theme can define an image for a specific toolbar, but you may not have that toolbar turned on in your configuration - whereas, if all toolbars are set to use the standard image, a theme is able to change them automatically).
• User-added images are images that you have added to the Images system yourself. These appear in the Images list and can be assigned to any Lister element just like the Standard images.

Images can be added, assigned or removed using the three buttons above the list, in the top half of the dialog. You may also drag & drop an image file to the list to add a new image, or to the thumbnail on the right to replace the currently selected image.

Once an image file has been added to the list (or assigned to one of the Standard image types) it can be assigned to one or more of the Lister elements using the drop-downs at the bottom of the page. For each element, you can specify how the image is used:

• Tiled: The image is tiled across the element; if it is smaller than the dimensions of the element, it is repeated to fill the bounds of the element
• Stretched: The image is stretched to the dimensions of the element (either smaller or larger)
• Top/Left: The image is anchored to the top/left corner of the element, and is clipped if it is larger than the element
• Top/Right: The image is anchored to the top/right corner
• Bottom/Left: The image is anchored to the bottom/left corner
• Bottom/Right: The image is anchored to the bottom/right corner
• Center: The image is centered within the element
• Shared: The image is shared with other elements across the whole Lister

The screen shot above shows an image that has been added to the list, and set to be Shared by all elements. When an image is set to be shared by an element, the image is displayed relative to the whole Lister. In effect, this lets you have one single image that is displayed behind the whole Lister, rather than behind individual elements of the Lister. When an image is shared the way it is drawn is governed by the setting for the When image is shared drop-down at the top of the page - images can either be tiled across the whole Lister, or stretched to fill the Lister completely, as in the screen shot below:
 

Images for toolbars must be added to the list in Preferences like those for other elements, but they are assigned to toolbars using the Customize dialog. You can also assign images to specific folders using the Folder Formats system - so for example, you could make any folders containing mostly music files display a music symbol as a background image.