Cache files ?

[Jean-Luc]

Who knows what the cache files do or contain ?
I made a search in the Help file but cannot find an explanation.

If I remember, settings of tools are registered in the cache files. But what else ?

[LeviFiction]

Thumbnails of resources I imagine.

[Jean-Luc]

Thumbnails of resources I imagine.

Yes, perhaps...
The help file and the "Reset preference" Menu speak of "files" and not "file".
They look for me as cookies (remembering last settings).

[MarkZ]

There are three folders in C:\Users\Your Name\AppData\Local\Corel PaintShop Pro\2018, Cache, Database and Thumbs. I think this may be what you are referring to. Not sure about the Cache folder (will experiment) but I know you can remove the contents of the other folders and they are restored when the program starts.

Just confirmed for myself that the Cache folder can also be deleted and is recreated.

[LeviFiction]

So, for the most part the cache files are just lists of the different files for each type of resource, guessing for quick load instead of walking through child folders. Icons cache kind of looks like a bitmap file honestly.

EDIT: Okay I just changed the extension from .cache to .bmp on the icon files and it is indeed a giant bitmap.

I'm now curious as to what exactly the differences are between PSPCache files and Cache files. The Icons are all cache files, but CHecklist and checklist64 are also .cache All of the others are pspcache are are generally readable in notepad. And I can't tell for sure but Use.PspCache is just a list of commands. Similar to CMD.pspcache but different. I can't tell if it's counting the use of each command or doing something else. Actually CMD-En.PspCache seems to have several PNGs just sitting in the middle of it. I'm not all that good at reading PNG files in hex form so I couldn't copy it out to see what it was though.

[Jean-Luc]

Thank you Levifiction for your archeological work!
Soon, you will find the secret chamber of the great pyramid...

The giant bitmap is a surprise !

Some years ago, with a hex reader, I've found the location of the scripts icons and I tried to remplace them with diferent one more explicit. But it failed. I suppose PSP make an integrity check of its files during the load process.

[JoeB]

Some years ago, with a hex reader, I've found the location of the scripts icons and I tried to remplace them with diferent one more explicit. But it failed. I suppose PSP make an integrity check of its files during the load process.

I keep suggesting that Corel find a way to allow us to use our own custom icons for script binding and they just as assiduously keep ignoring me. : )

[LeviFiction]

We all do. What I hate most of all is the button appearance dialog shows functionality that suggests we should be able to. Like they were planning on it and just stopped.

Oh, and kind of fun. If you edit the icon cache file the UI will show the edited icons. The program I used for editing broke the transparency so the icons look ugly, but it worked. So, just need the right program to edit the file while maintaining transparency. I wonder if it's actually just a bitmap or if it's a full ico file. I'll have to look into that when I have more time.

Keep in mind the icons shown in the Customize dialog will be the normal ones. But once you add the script to the UI it shows the cached icon from the file you edited.

[JoeB]

We all do. What I hate most of all is the button appearance dialog shows functionality that suggests we should be able to. Like they were planning on it and just stopped.

Oh, and kind of fun. If you edit the icon cache file the UI will show the edited icons. The program I used for editing broke the transparency so the icons look ugly, but it worked. So, just need the right program to edit the file while maintaining transparency. I wonder if it's actually just a bitmap or if it's a full ico file. I'll have to look into that when I have more time.

Keep in mind the icons shown in the Customize dialog will be the normal ones. But once you add the script to the UI it shows the cached icon from the file you edited.

If you can find a way to edit the file so that we can add our own icons it will likely be most warmly welcomed and appreciated by the community! Slower learners like me would likely need step by step instructions however.

[LeviFiction]

example.PNG (6.42 KiB) Viewed 8342 times

It's so simple, you just need an editor that support 32bpp BITMAP with transparency. To make this I used PixelFormer.

Go to C:\Users\Username\Appdata\Local\Corel PaintShop Pro\2018\Cache\

Open The Icon Cache file for your version of PSP (64-bit or 32-bit) and the size you have set in your preferences (Small, Medium, or large) with the editor. Now change the icon in the appropriate position. Icons are square, so the height of the image tells you how wide the icon can be. Then save. When you reload PSP the icon should appear as you've edited it to.

[JoeB]

example.PNG

It's so simple, you just need an editor that support 32bpp BITMAP with transparency. To make this I used PixelFormer.

Go to C:\Users\Username\Appdata\Local\Corel PaintShop Pro\2018\Cache\

Open The Icon Cache file for your version of PSP (64-bit or 32-bit) and the size you have set in your preferences (Small, Medium, or large) with the editor. Now change the icon in the appropriate position. Icons are square, so the height of the image tells you how wide the icon can be. Then save. When you reload PSP the icon should appear as you've edited it to.

It's late for me at the moment so just briefly read your post. But will definitely be looking for a decent icon editor and trying to follow your advice shortly. I'll get back once I've had time to try it out or, if necessary, get back for more detailed instructions!

[Jean-Luc]

Open The Icon Cache file for your version of PSP (64-bit or 32-bit) and the size you have set in your preferences (Small, Medium, or large) with the editor.

Thank you Levifiction !
I did a test and it works :

But I cannot find the cache file for the large icons.
I modified also some script icons.
They don't appear in the Customize window. But they are visible when placed inside a toolbar.
I have put an E on the lamp :

icone scrip E crop.png (14.26 KiB) Viewed 8289 times

[LeviFiction]

Yeah, no idea why large icons aren't showing a cache file. Unless the default icons are large and the medium and small icons are generated through scaling and that's why they need cache files.

[JoeB]

Ok, I did the same as Jean-Luc, using Greenfish Icon Editor Pro 3.6 (free open source editor) by placing a letter on one of the bound script icons and it does show up with the script I bound it to. This was my first attempt with this - or any other - icon editor software so now I have to figure out how to place a small image over the icon to replace the existing icon image. I believe that the icons are about 20 or 24 pixels high so I guess that would be the width also.

EDIT: I just checked the resolution by changing the name of the cache file to .bmp and image info shows it's 96ppi with a height of 20pixels. So that's a start when I try experimenting with replacing the existing icon with my own image.

I believe that Greenfish supports layers - and, I believe, transparency - so the possibility exists to add my own image. It may even be possible to use the existing icons for standalone programs that I have also bound to scripts, but I'll have to experiment with that.

Another question is whether or not I have to first rename the cache file to .bmp (which I did after making a backup copy of the .cache file for safety) or if it will work just as well if I try opening the .cache file itself.

Another question is whether or not, for example, the cache file can be renamed to bmp, and edited in Greenfish by adding other icons to it, saved as .bmp, and then renamed to .cache and if those new icons would show up.

Lots of experimenting to try....

[Jean-Luc]

Yeah, no idea why large icons aren't showing a cache file. Unless the default icons are large and the medium and small icons are generated through scaling and that's why they need cache files.

The CoreXUIRC.dll contains icons too ...