alex_wareing
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Image colors from a database
I'm not really sure in which topic are this should be as which language to do this is part of my question.
I'm developing a templated based CMS solution. Each client has their own website and the content is drawn from a DB and put into the page. Each client designates a set of colors for the theme of their site (colors 1-4), the problem is i want to start putting graphics around the pages, and using graphical buttons instead of standard form controls. However i can't just create a standard set of buttons because they won't nesscarily look good in the theme next to the clients colors. and because each client (100+) specifies their own colors i can't legislate for this.
Is there anyway i can use graphics on a page where some element of the color is drawn from a Database?
The pages are written in ASP, but i would consider using any language to fix this problem as long as it will work in an ASP page
I'm developing a templated based CMS solution. Each client has their own website and the content is drawn from a DB and put into the page. Each client designates a set of colors for the theme of their site (colors 1-4), the problem is i want to start putting graphics around the pages, and using graphical buttons instead of standard form controls. However i can't just create a standard set of buttons because they won't nesscarily look good in the theme next to the clients colors. and because each client (100+) specifies their own colors i can't legislate for this.
Is there anyway i can use graphics on a page where some element of the color is drawn from a Database?
The pages are written in ASP, but i would consider using any language to fix this problem as long as it will work in an ASP page
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and to keep the display part seperated from content I'd use CSS. Just an addition, totally agree with Fuzzyfish - all point for him
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Fuzzyfish1000 - i have thought of this approach before however, what can i do if i want rounded edges and the page background could be any color?
If you only have 4 colors to choose from (colors 1-4) then it shouldn't be hard to make the same button with each of the possible combinations. Granted, as you expand the color offering, this could come out to be a large number of images, but if you have the space for it, it keeps you from having to perform run-time image processing. You could then name the buttons with a code stating which combination of colors they use and use the customers color setting to determine which image to load. Ie, if the customer has chosen color 3, then their button would be /images/submitbutton3.gif,
I guess you've got to decide how much flexibility you actually need - I often get clients approaching me and saying things like, we want a database that can accept any sort of input, or I want to be able to completely re-design the layout of my site without any technical knowledge - at which point I stop them, and get them to consider their actual requirements. I would want buttons of any colour, with any shape, and with any background, I'd suggest you may want to fix yourself to a specification, or at least a set of limitations.
For instance, it would be quite easy to produce buttons with rounded edges, with transparent parts for changing to any colour, that would look good on a white background. I don't suppose once you've done one set, it would take you long to create 10 sets of buttons, for 10 sets of background colours. Your only other alternative is to dynamically create the images using an object like the chestysoft one - or use flash or Java (which I wouldn't recommend). The downside of dynamic creation is it doesn't lend itself to high-volume traffic websites, without a lot of server power behind it.
If you compromise and have square edged buttons (even with drop shadows or similar), you can use the table background with transparent sections solution just fine...
For instance, it would be quite easy to produce buttons with rounded edges, with transparent parts for changing to any colour, that would look good on a white background. I don't suppose once you've done one set, it would take you long to create 10 sets of buttons, for 10 sets of background colours. Your only other alternative is to dynamically create the images using an object like the chestysoft one - or use flash or Java (which I wouldn't recommend). The downside of dynamic creation is it doesn't lend itself to high-volume traffic websites, without a lot of server power behind it.
If you compromise and have square edged buttons (even with drop shadows or similar), you can use the table background with transparent sections solution just fine...
ImageMagick is not meant to be used with ASP, but it seems it can be done using some OLE component... You can search google for more info on the subject.