Palette plugin for TCC, TCC/LE, and Take Command v28+
beta version 0.87.4.1 2024-03-13
Charles Dye
Purpose:
This plugin provides an easy way to display, change, load, and save the console color palette.
Note that it changes the colors of the console window. If the console window is not visible, you will not see any effect. Tabbed console wrappers like Take Command, Console2, and ConEmu hide the console window, so this plugin is generally not useful in such environments.
The happy exception is the latest version of Take Command. Since
version 28, Take Command includes an IPC call to reload the Take Command
tab’s palette from the console window’s. If you are running
Take Command v28 or later, you can use PALETTE
and your changes will be reflected in Take Command.
Installation:
To use this plugin, copy Palette.dll to
to some known location on your hard drive. (If you are still using the 32-bit
version of Take Command, take Palette-x86.dll
instead of Palette.dll.) Load the .DLL file
with a PLUGIN /L command, for example:
plugin /l c:\bin\tcmd\test\palette.dll
If you copy the .DLL file to a subdirectory named PlugIns within your Take Command program directory, the plugin will be loaded automatically when TCC starts.
Plugin Features:
New commands: PALETTE,
PALEDIT
New functions: @PALETTE,
@PICKCOLOR
Syntax Note:
The syntax definitions in the following text use these conventions for clarity:
BOLD CODE | indicates text which must be typed exactly as shown. |
CODE | indicates optional text, which may be typed as shown or omitted. |
| Bold italic | names a required argument; a value must be supplied. |
| Regular italic | names an optional argument. |
| ellipsis… | after an argument means that more than one may be given. |
New Command:
PALETTE — Display or change
the console palette.
Syntax:
PALETTE /Cn:color[,color…] /D /E /F:n /I /Kn:r,g,b[;r,g,b…] /Q /R:filename /S:filename /T /V /W /X
/Cn: | redefine a console color; n = 0 (black) to 15 (bright white) |
/D | load a built-in set of default colors |
/E | suppress many error messages |
/F: | specify the output format |
/I | allow incomplete palette files; use with /R |
/Kn: | redefine a color using separate red, green, and blue values |
/Q | quietly; use with /R or /S to suppress the success message |
/R:filename | read the palette from a file |
/S:filename | save the palette to a file |
/T | display a test pattern |
/V | verbose |
/W | no warning if the console window is not visible |
/X | overwrite an existing file; use with /S |
Quote any parameter which contains spaces, forward slashes, or other troublesome characters.
/Cn:
lets you redefine one or more console colors. n
is the console color index, 0 (black) through 15 (bright white). Color values
may be given as W3C color names,
or three- or six-digit hexadecimal RGB values with a leading #.
If n is less than 15, you can give multiple
values separated by commas to redefine several consecutive colors at once:
palette /c0:#000,#009,#090,#099,#900
… would redefine black, blue, green, cyan, and red.
/Kn:r,g,b
also lets you redefine colors, but you give the red, green, and blue
components individually, separated by commas. n
is the console color index, 0 (black) through 15 (bright white). r,
g, and b are
decimal values from 0 to 255, or hexadecimal from 0x00 to 0xFF.
palette /k7:255,192,0
… redefines ‘white’ as a bright orange.
As with /Cn:, if
n is less than 15 you can redefine multiple
colors; separate them with semicolons.
/D loads a built-in set of default
color definitions. There is nothing particularly special or artistic about
these colors; they’re just legible. If you somehow wind up with an
unreadable combination of colors, PALETTE /D is a quick way to
restore readability. You cannot combine /D with
/R:filename.
/F: lets you specify the
format used to display color values:
| n | Format: | Example: |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | six-digit hex RGB (the default) | #ffff00 |
| 1 | three- or six-digit hex RGB | #ff0 |
| 2 | color name, or six-digit RGB | Yellow |
| 3 | color name, or three- or six-digit RGB | Yellow |
| 4 | decimal red, green, blue | 255,255,0 |
| 5 | hex COLORREF (with leading 0x) | 0x00FFFF |
/R:filename
reads color values saved to a file. You may only give one /R:filename.
If you combine /R: with /Cn:,
the /Cn: values win.
PALETTE recognizes its own save files; ColorTool’s .INI
file format; and iTerm’s XML format.
If the /R: file does not contain definitions for all sixteen
console colors, the normal behavior is to abort with an error message. If
you also specify /I, PALETTE will load the colors
defined in the file, and leave the rest unchanged.
The filename may also be an internet URL
starting with http://, https://, or ftp:// :
palette /r="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mbadolato/iTerm2-Color-Schemes/master/schemes/Brogrammer.itermcolors"
/S:filename
saves the current console palette to a file. You can only have one
/S:filename. The save format is
determined by the filename’s extension:
.INI | .INI format, readable by Microsoft’s ColorTool |
.XML or .itermcolors | XML format |
| anything else | native format (text) |
There are several options that you can use along with /S: to write
additional information to the save file, if desired. All of these are optional.
Remember to quote any parameter which contains spaces.
/A:author | author’s name |
/L:license | license information |
/N:name | color scheme name |
/U:url | URL |
You can also save the palette by redirecting PALETTE’s
output to a file:
palette > MyPalette.txt
/V tells PALETTE to list the
current console color values to stdout. The default behavior is to show this list
only if you’re not doing anything else — not changing colors, not
loading or saving to a file, not displaying a test pattern, etc. /V
tells PALETTE to list color values in addition to whatever else
you’re doing.
PALEDIT — Edit the console
palette interactively.
Syntax:
PALEDIT /D /I filename
/D | load a built-in set of default colors |
/I | allow incomplete palette files |
The keys you can use in this editor:
| 0 - 9, A - F | choose a console color to modify |
| ↑ ↓ | change the background color |
| ← → | change the foreground color |
| L | load colors from a file |
| S | save colors to a file |
| I | open the Save File Info dialog |
| Ctrl-Z | undo the last change |
| Ctrl-Y | redo the last undo |
| F5 | redraw the screen |
| F8 | undo all changes; return to the original palette |
| Esc | exit the editor |
New Functions:
@PALETTE — Returns the
current value of a console color.
Syntax:
%@PALETTE[n,fmt]
| n | the console color index, 0 (black) to 15 (bright white) |
| fmt | the format in which to return the color value |
The fmt parameter specifies the format of the returned value:
| fmt | Format: | Example: |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | six-digit hex RGB (the default) | #ffff00 |
| 1 | three- or six-digit hex RGB | #ff0 |
| 2 | color name, or six-digit RGB | Yellow |
| 3 | color name, or three- or six-digit RGB | Yellow |
| 4 | decimal red, green, blue | 255,255,0 |
| 5 | hex COLORREF (with leading 0x) | 0x00FFFF |
echo %@palette[7]
#cccccc
echo %@palette[7,1]
#ccc
echo %@palette[14,4]
249,241,165
@PICKCOLOR — Opens a
color picker dialog and returns the user’s chosen color.
Syntax:
%@PICKCOLOR[color,fmt,title]
| color | the initial color |
| fmt | the format in which to return the user’s color |
| title | a title for the dialog |
@PICKCOLOR opens that same dialog that TCC’s built-in @COLOR
function does, but with several improvements. Input and output both use standard W3C
color formats. You can specify the output format and set a title for the dialog box.
The ‘Custom colors’ area is initialized with the sixteen console colors.
And last but definitely not least, the dialog pops up on top of the Take Command
window, not underneath it. These changes are mainly for the benefit of
PALEDIT, but they seem useful enough that I’ve
exposed them through this function.
The initial color may be entered as a
W3C color name;
a six- or three-digit hexadecimal RGB value with a leading #; a console
color index 0 - 15 with a leading $; or as decimal red, green,
and blue values, separated by commas:
| Input Format: | Example: |
|---|---|
| W3C color name | Aqua |
| six-digit hex RGB | #00ffff |
| three-digit hex RGB | #0ff |
| console color index | $11 |
| red,green,blue | 0,255,255 |
The fmt parameter specifies the format of the returned value:
| fmt | Format: | Example: |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | six-digit hex RGB (the default) | #ffff00 |
| 1 | three- or six-digit hex RGB | #ff0 |
| 2 | color name, or six-digit RGB | Yellow |
| 3 | color name, or three- or six-digit RGB | Yellow |
| 4 | decimal red, green, blue | 255,255,0 |
| 5 | hex COLORREF (with leading 0x) | 0x00FFFF |
If the user cancels the dialog, @PICKCOLOR returns 0.
Automatic Palette Load:
When this plugin is loaded, it will look for a file named Palette.auto to load automatically. It looks first in TCC.EXE’s directory. If that fails, it will try the .DLL file’s directory next.
The autoload file must contain definitions for all sixteen colors. If any of the 16 console colors is not defined, the file will not be loaded.
Startup Message:
This plugin displays an informational line when it initializes. The
message will be suppressed in transient or pipe shells. You can disable it
for all shells by defining an environment variable named NOLOADMSG,
for example:
set /e /u noloadmsg=1
Status and Licensing:
Consider this beta software. It may well have issues. Try it at your own risk. If you find a problem, you can report it in the JP Software support forum.
Palette is currently licensed only for testing purposes. I may make binaries and source code available under some free license once I consider it ready for use.
Download:
You can download the current version of the plugin from http://charlesdye.net/dl/palette.zip.