WINDOWS
Change the background pattern of a window
Try the following demo. It switches the background pattern (via BACKPIXPAT), but the same techniques should apply to foreground patterns (PENPIXPAT) as well. The only problem I ran into was trying to restore the _original_ (white) background pattern (I was getting system errors), but I got around that by making a copy of the original pattern (COPYPIXPAT) and restoring to that copy. My first thought was that QuickDraw trashes the old pattern when you switch to the new (thus invalidating any handles to the old pattern that you may have had around), but it doesn't seem to do that when I toggle back & forth between ppat's. Rick
The demo assumes you've got a resource file called "buncha ppat's", from which it gets ppat #131 and ppat #133. I just "borrowed" a couple of ppat's from the "Desktop Patterns" control panel (with ResEdit) and put them into "buncha ppat's".
Regarding disposal: DON'T dispose of a pixpat while the window is still using it. After you've closed the window, or switched the window to a different pattern, it should be safe to CALL DISPOSPIXPAT to dispose of the old pixpat (if you don't intend to use that pixpat again).
RESOURCES "buncha ppat's"
LOCAL FN TogglePatterns(p1&, p2&)
done = _false
DO
CALL BACKPIXPAT(p1&)
CLS
timesUp& = FN TICKCOUNT + 60
DO
IF MOUSE(_down) THEN done = _zTrue
UNTIL done OR FN TICKCOUNT >= timesUp&
LONG IF NOT done
CALL BACKPIXPAT(p2&)
CLS
timesUp& = FN TICKCOUNT + 60
DO
IF MOUSE(_down) THEN done = _zTrue
UNTIL done OR FN TICKCOUNT >= timesUp&
END IF
UNTIL done
END FN
'========= main ==========
WINDOW 1
ppat1& = FN GETPIXPAT(131)
ppat2& = FN GETPIXPAT(133)
LONG IF ppat1& <> _nil AND ppat2& <> _nil
wptr& = WINDOW(_wndPointer)
'Save original back pattern.
'For unknown reasons, it doesn't suffice to simply
'say "oldPattern& = wptr&.bkPixPat&". Instead, we
'have to make a new copy of the original pattern.
oldPattern& = FN NEWPIXPAT
CALL COPYPIXPAT(wptr&.bkPixPat&, oldPattern&)
FN TogglePatterns(ppat1&, ppat2&)
'Restore original (white) pattern:
CALL BACKPIXPAT(oldPattern&)
CLS
XELSE
BEEP
CLS
PRINT "Couldn't load ppat's!"
END IF
DO
HANDLEEVENTS
UNTIL _false
'===================