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Thread: [RESOLVED] Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

  1. #1

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    Resolved [RESOLVED] Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    Hello,

    I understand that Visual Studio (2010 and onwards) provides standardized graphics libraries for save, open file, close file, search, etc. Are there any that are more low-resolution (early 2000's) such as is seen here:

    Name:  winlister.jpg
Views: 288
Size:  41.0 KB

    Bit of a strange question, but I need those kinds of buttons for my VB.NET application (the 16-32bit ones).

    Thanks.

    PS: I'm 100% sure that the developers of this application didn't design the graphics themselves ,as I constantly see that save icon (and others of those icons) in other applications too.

  2. #2
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    Most of them hire artists to generate their assets.

    Visual Studio tends to come with a .zip file that has a few thousand icons like this. It's buried somewhere weird in the directory structure, and they might've updated it since technically MS is not encouraging further desktop development in favor of UWP and that has different icon metaphors.

    I did a search for "Visual Studio Image Library" and found a lot of promising links for download. There are also a lot of other free icon libraries available, just be careful to respect their license if they require attribution.
    This answer is wrong. You should be using TableAdapter and Dictionaries instead.

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    Actually, Visual Studio has been providing a set of icons since as far back as I remember, so at least VS4. The save icon looks like the one provided with that early set, and the red circle with the X looks familiar, as well. I haven't seen that set of standard icons in years. It doesn't appear that the set is still included with VS. A search on your computer for *.ico may find you the icons....or not. This may have them:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/down....aspx?id=35825
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    Thanks for your replies everybody.

    That image library will definitle be helpful in other projects. But I'm downloading Visual Studio 6.0 (from 1998), hoping to get this style of button:
    Attachment 154457

    Just another related question, the bar that contains these buttons, is it a panel, or? You can actually move groups of buttons across that bar, can a panel do that?

    Thanks for your help everyone.

  5. #5
    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    Looks like a ToolStrip, especially due to the vertical spacer on the left edge of the bar. I haven't worked with those very much in code, but you can have multiple toolbars open (VS does this), and can move those groups around.
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    Thanks Shaggy, that's what I'm looking for.

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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    It's kind of a weird time to be asking about them. The progression of the controls went something like this:

    ToolBar is the original implementation of a "tool bar" in Windows Forms. It renders, more or less, in the way we expected toolbars to render in the Win95/98 era. Unfortunately for ToolBar, it released in the Windows XP era.

    ToolStrip is the sexy older brother. It has features to let users rearrange sections, and came with the ability to render in the style that Windows XP popularized.

    A few years later, Windows transitioned to the Ribbon. WinForms never really got an implementation of the Ribbon control, and WPF didn't get one for years.

    I don't even know what MS is recommending now. It looks to me like they've been iterating on the Ribbon. You can say what you want about it, but at this point users are probably getting used to it. Sadly, I can't recommend a WinForms Ribbon for you to use because of the aforementioned state.

    If your goal is to emulate that particular screenshot as closely as possible, ToolBar is probably the most accurate control. I vaguely remember it had some issues that led to ToolStrip being created, but I can't remember what they were.

    If your goal is to "do the best thing", the advice is usually "copy Microsoft" and that implies a Ribbon.
    This answer is wrong. You should be using TableAdapter and Dictionaries instead.

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    Well, the ribbon should take a bow. However, I'm using the ToolStrip in a project and find it works fine...within the rather modest bounds I have set for it. I haven't tried anything fancy with it, though.
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    I use IconArchive exclusively when I need icons for buttons and such. They have a lot of high quality icons, with each icon in multiple sizes.
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    There are many Public-Domain oriented sites, a note to remember is what Public Domain license is used, remember to give proper attribution, and do not use if it prohibits comerical use, some folks work hard on these graphics to offer them for nothing and don't like people profitting explicitly from their work. Others do it for public source, but want to be given attribution in your about section etc. Anyways point is the sources are endless to get icons.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=Icon...hrome&ie=UTF-8

    Specifically the first couple: https://alexstrand7.deviantart.com/a...more-171676582

    I scanned it using a url checker and its coming back safe.
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    Re: Where do companies get their buttons from (low-res)

    Thanks everyone for your help!

    I managed to find an .ISO of Visual Studio 6.0 (from 1998) and it had the right style of icon library that I needed. Thanks everyone for your help though!

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