xLights dark mode Mojave

[QldKing]

xLights dark mode on Mac Mojave

[dkulp]

I've been working on this for several weeks now.  I would have suggested avoiding Mojave at this point as xLights is relatively unusable on it.       

If you edit your xlights_rgbeffects.xml and remove the entire colors section at the bottom, the various row headings and such will update to use "dark" colors.

Fixes for the NSTabViews not showing the Tabs was just fixed in wxWidgets yesterday.   I'll incorporate those fixes shortly.

The main problem left now is all the OpenGL views are VERY flakey.   They sometimes display, sometimes don't.   The refresh is very flickery, etc....    I haven't had time to really investigate those yet.   Some of it is tracked at:  https://trac.wxwidgets.org/ticket/18146

[algerdes]

Please consider that going to the "dark side" has more problems than programming for some of us.  IF the contrast is not good, a lot of things can't been seen by some.  V3 went dark, and it caused problems until the pallet was adjusted to make any text and imagery (icons, lines, etc.) stand out. (There are still some things needing adjusting.)  xLights has been wonderful because it stayed in the light.

Thanks for listening.

[dkulp]

Please consider that going to the "dark side" has more problems than programming for some of us.  IF the contrast is not good, a lot of things can't been seen by some.  V3 went dark, and it caused problems until the pallet was adjusted to make any text and imagery (icons, lines, etc.) stand out. (There are still some things needing adjusting.)  xLights has been wonderful because it stayed in the light.

Well, the problem is that, at some point, xLights won't have a choice.   ANY application compiled with Xcode 10 will AUTOMATICALLY be in dark mode for any system controls (text fields, lists, tab views, drop downs, etc...).   As far as I can tell, there is no way to opt out of it.  The only way is to compile with Xcode 9.4.   However, with 9.4, you can then not opt-in to dark mode.   Once Xcode 10 is "released", it will be very difficult to get 9.4 (based on history with Apple) .  Thus, at this point, I'm trying to make sure it's usable in dark mode.  If the system is set to Dark mode, it will display in dark mode.   If set for light, it will display in light.   The application doesn't really have a choice for the parts that are built with system controls.   For the stuff not built with system controls, all we can really do is query the system colors and try to find something that will work with them.     

[algerdes]

... If the system is set to Dark mode, it will display in dark mode.   If set for light, it will display in light....

There are the magic statements, "If set for dark..." and "If set for light...".  Having the choice is a great idea.  We didn't have that with the other sequencer.

And even if we do choose dark, will we have the ability to tweak the different items in the UI?  e.g., change the text from a light grey to white, or change prompts to a suitable contrasting color?

[Gilrock]

Dan just said the application will have no control over system control colors so I think the only tweaking will be with the OpenGL colors we control now in the Color Manager.  Having choice is great....you can choose Windows...lol.

[QldKing]

I've been working on this for several weeks now.  I would have suggested avoiding Mojave at this point as xLights is relatively unusable on it.       

If you edit your xlights_rgbeffects.xml and remove the entire colors section at the bottom, the various row headings and such will update to use "dark" colors.

Fixes for the NSTabViews not showing the Tabs was just fixed in wxWidgets yesterday.   I'll incorporate those fixes shortly.

The main problem left now is all the OpenGL views are VERY flakey.   They sometimes display, sometimes don't.   The refresh is very flickery, etc....    I haven't had time to really investigate those yet.   Some of it is tracked at:  https://trac.wxwidgets.org/ticket/18146

Thanks Dan. I’ll be right for this year and won’t be using xLights as I’m moving interstate for 2 years and the lights won’t be coming with me. 😕 I installed Mojave and when I opened up xLights it was in dark mode so thought I would post the screenshot to see what public opinion would be.

Cheere


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[Gilrock]

... when I opened up xLights it was in dark mode so thought I would post the screenshot to see what public opinion would be.

Looks awesome!

[QldKing]

... when I opened up xLights it was in dark mode so thought I would post the screenshot to see what public opinion would be.

Looks awesome!

 

[dkulp]

Figured out how to fix the OpenGL issues while on the plane from France yesterday.  The wxWidgets folks have already merged the fixes in so next builds should have the opengl views all working correctly and the tabs working correctly so xLights should at least be usable for sequencing on Mojave.   There are still some issues, but it is now actually usable. 

[Dazzled]

I wonder if I can talk Keith into coming over to the DARK SIDE now.😄

[reelpilot]

For those that have been running xlights on mojave over the last several months, how has the performance been since Dan's updates? Are there any issues still lingering? I'm wanting to try out the dark side, but so close to Christmas I'll hold off if there are any problems.