Decors

hBasic Manual

System Decors

Changes to the system bars appearence and behaviour.

Behaviour and Colors	Behaviour and appearence
Decors	Opening parameters
Action Bar	i.e the Title bar
Known Issues	Known behaviours and glitches

Behaviour and Colors

Changes to the system bars appearence and behaviour.

Since hBasic v5.20, the app targets Api 35+. The following behaviour and appearences have changed as indicated below.

(hBasic targets to Api 35+)
Decors behaviours
	Status Bar		Navigation Bar
	Always transparent bg		Always Translucent bg*
Running Device Api	Permanent	Hidden (swipe down to show)	Permanent	Hidden (swipe up to show)
< Api 30 **	white text on window_bg	white text on scrim	white icon on window_bg	white icon on window_bg
>= Api 30	(light/dark) text on window_bg	white text on scrim	(light/dark) icons on window_bg or grey*	grey icons on translucent
>= Api 35 actionbar_on	(light/dark) text on actionbar_bg	white text on scrim	grey icons on window_bg	grey icons on translucent
>= Api 35 actionbar_off	(light/dark) text on window_bg	(same as above)	(same as above)	(same as above)

* Some manufacturers may furthur color the navigation bars which may override your settings.
** v5.25+ added support for older devices between Api 23-30 for System bar text and icons.

window_bg is the background color of the window. It can be set with;

for console @@window_bg

for graphics GR.OPEN , , , , , , { window_bg_sexp }
for webview HTML.OPEN , , { window_bg_sexp }

Normally you do not see this color because it is under several layers of other backgrounds,
but since hBasic v5.20, it can be used to determine the background color of the statusbar and navbar
depending on their configuration.

actionbar_bg is the background color of the actionbar. It can be set with;

for console CONSOLE.TITLE {title_sexp} {, textcolor_sexp} {, backcolor_sexp}
for graphics GR.TITLE {title_sexp} {, textcolor_sexp} {, backcolor_sexp}
for webview HTML.TITLE {title_sexp} {, textcolor_sexp} {, backcolor_sexp}

Note that for devices >= Api 35, the statusbar bg will show the actionbar_bg only if the actionbar is on.
If the actionbar is off, the statusbar bg will revert to the window_bg.
(see also notch_hiding)

System bar text and icons.

Status bar text and Navigation bar icons can be made light or dark if they a permanently on (depending on the device Api), with;
CONSOLE.SET or the decors flags for GR.OPEN and HTML.OPEN
Here is a sample program.

@@hide_actionbar
@@window_bg "lightgrey"
CONSOLE.SET "StatusTxt dark"              % Api 23 and later
CONSOLE.SET "NavBarTxt dark"              % Api 26 to Api 34 only
? "Console> tap BackKey to graphics"
bk=0: do:pause 100: until bk

sdark=1: ndark=1: nav=1: act=0: sta=1
decors = ndark*16 + sdark*8 + (!nav)*4 + act*2 + sta*1
winBG$ = "lightgrey"

GR.OPEN "grey", decors ,1, winBG$
gr.text.size 40 : gr.color "white"
gr.text.draw oT,50,50,"Graphics> tap BackKey to web"
gr.render
bk=0: do:pause 100: until bk
GR.CLOSE

HTML.OPEN decors, 1, winBG$
html.load.string "<big>Web> tap BackKey to End</big>"
    do : html.get.datalink data$
    until starts_with ("BAK:",data$)
HTML.CLOSE
cls: ? "Console> Done."
END

OnBackKey:
bk=1
Back.Resume

Status bar text shading only works for Api 23 and later.
Navigation bar icon shading only works between Api 26 - Api 34.

The above behaviours and effects only apply for a running program, i.e console, graphics and webview.
For Select and Standard hBasic (i.e Editor, Search.. etc), the system will follow the manufacturer's theme if possible.

Decors for GR.OPEN and HTML.OPEN

GR.OPEN {<color>} ,{ decors_flags_nexp} ,{ orientation_nexp} {, window_bg_sexp}

HTML.OPEN { decors_flags_nexp} , { orientation_nexp} {, window_bg_sexp}

window_bg is an optional color string which sets the color of the background window (default black).
The statusbar and navbar may show the window_bg color depending on if they are hidden and the device's Api.

The legacy statusbar_flag_lexp has been replaced with decors_flags_nexp.

The first 3 bits control the visibilty of the system bars.

Bit	Set to mean	Default	In general
Bit 0	statusbar_SHOW	1 = show
Bit 1	actionbar_SHOW	0 = hide
Bit 2	navbar_HIDE	0 = show
Bit 3	dark_StatusText	0 = light text	( only works for Android 11+ )
Bit 4	dark_NavBar_Icons	0 = light icons	( only works Android 8-14 )

If you don't specify this flag (e.g ",,") the default is decors_flags=1 or bin ("001").
This shows the statusbar and navbar but hides the action bar.

This is different from legacy Basic which hides the statusbar by default ("000").
The reason being that a hidden statusbar may affect the navbar color for Android 11+ for some devices.

Some examples;

actionbar hidden only, e.g Decors = bin ("001")     % i.e 1 *
statusbar hidden only, e.g Decors = bin ("010")     % i.e 2
navbar    hidden only, e.g Decors = bin ("111")     % i.e 7
statusbar shown only, e.g Decors = bin ("101")     % i.e 5
navbar    shown only, e.g Decors = bin ("000")     % i.e 0 *
show all bars          e.g Decors = bin ("011")     % i.e 3
hide all bars      e.g Decors = bin ("100")     % i.e 4

* The scheme is compatible with legacy programs which either sets the legacy flag to 0 or 1.

Example

Decors = bin("011") % show all
GR.OPEN "blue", Decors, 1 % last param is portrait

Alternatively

nav=0 : act=1 : sta=1 % show all
GR.OPEN "blue", nav*4 + act*2 + sta*1, 1

or
nav=1 : act=1 : sta=1 % nav to be inverted to show
GR.OPEN "blue", (!nav)*4 + act*2 + sta*1, 1

Hidden Bars

If either the statusbar or navbar is hidden, then you need a swipe from the top or bottom edge to show it.

It disappears after 3 secs.

Action Bar

The actionbar is the bar on the screen containing the Title and Menu. It is usually under the statusbar.
The Title, Subtitle and Colors can be changed with CONSOLE.TITLE and CONSOLE.SUBTITLE.
The Menu can be changed with MENU commands and is shared with graphics and webview.

Title Background color

The Title background is the actionbar background color. It can be set with CONSOLE.TITLE.
If you do not set this background color, then it will default to the manufacturer's theme color.
This color is usually not pure black but a very dark brown.

Hiding the Action Bar

The actionbar can be hidden before the program starts.
To hide the actionbar, use the directive;
@@hide-actionbar
This can be useful to hide the image of the actionbar if you are immediatley going into the graphics screen.
To bring back the actionbar, use CONSOLE.TITLE.

Note: The Action Bar is the only bar that can be brought back after hiding for the console only.
It can only be hidden and brought back once.

If you have hidden the actionbar for graphics or webview with decors, they will not come back.

Known Issues

Stuck Navbar

On some older devices e.g Android 5, a hidden navbar might not disappear (after being swiped to show) if a dialog is up at the same time (e.g DIALOG.MESSAGE).

Notch Hiding

For devices that are able to hide the camera notch, they may keep the statusbar high to cover the notch.
In doing so, you will proboably get a black statusbar bg instead of window_bg if the statusbar is permanent.