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Adding your own bitmaps

If you want to extend the XCALC display capabilities, this section is for you.

Everything in XCALC is based on the bitmaps used to display the digits. The size of the whole application window is always calculated so that exactly 34 characters from the currently selected bitmap fit neatly inside. This is why, when you change the bitmap (or font), the whole application disappears from the screen for a little while. In fact, all the windows are re-created with new sizes when this happens.

The bitmaps should be Black and White, one bit per pixel, and structured so that each of the characters “(space)1234567890ABCDEF.-+ei,/º’”” occupies exactly the same space, like this:

The bitmaps are normal resources attached to the executable, with the names DIGITS1, DIGITS2 etc. The one shown above is DIGITS3.

When the bitmap selection combo box is displayed (in the configuration dialogue), the executable is searched for bitmap resources, and any with names DIGITSn are made available, provided the numbers n are in sequence, starting at 1. There must be no gaps between the existing names; for example, if DIGITS1 through DIGITS10 all exist, but the next in sequence is DIGITS12, the latter will not be available since DIGITS11 is non-existent.

You may add your own bitmaps with a resource editor, as long as they conform to the following (when added, they are automatically made available to the program):

If you create a bitmap you are proud of, please send a copy by e-mail to , and I'll be happy to include it in a later version of XCALC!