73. Customizing General

Little Navmap creates multiple configuration files in the directory C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ABarthel when started. These allow extended customization of the program.

This chapter shows the Windows file locations. See Files for locations on Linux and macOS.

The files use the Windows-INI style that has groups in square brackets and key=value lines. See INI (Wikipedia) for more information about this type of configuration files.

Note

You have to restart Little Navmap to see any changes. Also, do not edit the files while Little Navmap is running since it might overwrite your changes.

To undo all changes simply delete a file. It will be created again containing the default values when Little Navmap is started.

Single lines can also be deleted and will be restored with the default value when Little Navmap is started.

Keys and values are case sensitive. Order in the files is not important if the keys remain in their respective sections. The program might reorder the keys when saving or updating the files.

73.1. Version

Some of the INI files contain a section [Options] with a key Version as shown below.

[Options]
Version=2.0.1

Warning

Do not delete the version since Little Navmap relies on this information when updating the file. It will reset the file occasionally whenever the default settings change. A backup will be created to save your user customizations

Keep this version section in all files. Otherwise, Little Navmap might reset the content.

Examples for backup files: little_navmap_mapstyle_backup_2.0.0.ini or little_navmap_mapstyle_backup.ini.

The file will be backed up and reset if you delete or change the version.

73.2. GUI

Two user interface styles can be customized. These are Fusion and Night. These two styles are available on all operating systems.

Two files are generated that allow the customization for all window, button and dialog colors. These are:

Fusion

C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ABarthel\little_navmap_fusionstyle.ini

Night

C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ABarthel\little_navmap_nightstyle.ini

The key names in these files are derived from the palette options of the Qt library. Each key consists of the group and role name separated by an underscore. See below for more information on the color formats used.

See here for more information about groups and roles.

73.3. Map Display

The file C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ABarthel\little_navmap_mapstyle.ini allows to customize various aspects of the map display and is currently limited to colors and pens. Most key names are self explaining. See below for more information about color values.

73.3.1. Color Format

Color can be in one of these formats which are commonly used in web design:

  • #RRGGBB each of R, G, B and A is a single hex digit. Each color value ranges from 00 - FF (decimal 0-255)

  • #AARRGGBB first two digits contain the alpha/transparency value. 00 equals to fully tranparent and FF (decimal 255) to opaque.

  • SVG color name

SVG color name is one of the colors defined in the list of CSS Colors; for example, steelblue or gainsboro. Note that you cannot enter an alpha channel value if you use a color name.

You can use the w3schools color picker or the fffuel Simple HEX, RGB & HSL color picker tool for web designers to get the hex values for a color.

Important

Most web color tools give you the color value in format #RRGGBBAA with the transparency at the end of the string. Convert this to the required value by putting the last two characters AA to the front to get the needed #AARRGGBB.

Examples:

Active_Highlight=#308cc6

AlertFillColor=darkred

ApproachFillColor=#3060808a

73.3.2. Pen Format

A pen contains the following values in a comma separated list:

  • Color as described above

  • Pen width as a floating point value measured in pixels. You have to use . as decimal separator no matter what your locale defines.

  • Pen style. One of the following values: Solid, Dash, Dot, DashDot and DashDotDot.

Examples:

RestrictedPen=#fd8c00, 2, DashDotDot

ModecPen=#509090, 2, Solid

NationalParkPen=#509090, 2.1, Solid

73.3.3. Level Configuration

Labels, symbols and zoom layer settings can be changed in the file maplayers.xml.

You can download the file here: maplayers.xml.

Put a copy of this file into the Little Navmap settings folder (C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ABarthel\ on Windows) to override the stock settings. Little Navmap will watch the file, reload it and redraw the map when it is changed.

See the comments inside the file for more explanations.

Warning

Using wrong settings in this file can crash or freeze the program.

73.4. Icons

To change an icon download them from the GitHub source repository Icon Resources or extract the included file customize/icons.zip in the installation folder.

Modify the icon and save it into the settings directory C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\ABarthel. Little Navmap will automatically detect and use the icon on next startup.

The formats are limited to PNG, JPG, GIF and SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Tiny 1.2 Specification) where advanced graphics effects like textures will not work.

You can use the free vector drawing program Inkscape to edit SVG icons. Restart Little Navmap to see the changes.

73.4.1. User, AI and Multiplayer Aircraft Icons

Default icons are included in file aircraft-icons.zip in installation folder customize.

All icons for user, AI/multiplayer aircraft, helicopters and ships are stored in the program but can be overloaded by the user.

The icons are:

  • aircraft_boat.svg

  • aircraft_boat_ground.svg

  • aircraft_boat_ground_user.svg

  • aircraft_boat_user.svg

  • aircraft_helicopter.svg

  • aircraft_helicopter_ground.svg

  • aircraft_helicopter_ground_online.svg

  • aircraft_helicopter_ground_user.svg

  • aircraft_helicopter_online.svg

  • aircraft_helicopter_user.svg

  • aircraft_jet.svg

  • aircraft_jet_ground.svg

  • aircraft_jet_ground_online.svg

  • aircraft_jet_ground_user.svg

  • aircraft_jet_online.svg

  • aircraft_jet_user.svg

  • aircraft_online.svg

  • aircraft_online_ground.svg

  • aircraft_small.svg

  • aircraft_small_ground.svg

  • aircraft_small_ground_online.svg

  • aircraft_small_ground_user.svg

  • aircraft_small_online.svg

  • aircraft_small_user.svg

Only used in X-Plane:

  • aircraft_carrier.svg

  • aircraft_carrier_ground.svg

  • aircraft_carrier_ground_user.svg

  • aircraft_carrier_user.svg

  • aircraft_frigate.svg

  • aircraft_frigate_ground.svg

  • aircraft_frigate_ground_user.svg

  • aircraft_frigate_user.svg

The suffixes are chosen by vehicle type, status (ground or airborne) and user or AI/multiplayer. The icon is for airborne vehicles if ground is missing and for AI/multiplayer vehicles if user is missing. For historical reasons all icons are prefixed with aircraft.

73.4.2. Userpoint Category Icons

Default icons are included in file userpoint-icons.zip in installation folder customize.

Icons for userpoint categories are stored in the program but can be overloaded by the user as well.

Default category icons can be overloaded with another icon by placing a file with one of the default category names in the settings directory.

New categories can be added by placing a new icon adhering to a certain name pattern in the default directory.

  • userpoint_Airport.svg

  • userpoint_Airstrip.svg

  • userpoint_Bookmark.svg

  • userpoint_Building.svg

  • userpoint_Cabin.svg

  • userpoint_Closed.svg

  • userpoint_DME.svg

  • userpoint_Error.svg

  • userpoint_Flag.svg

  • userpoint_Helipad.svg

  • userpoint_History.svg

  • userpoint_Landform.svg

  • userpoint_Lighthouse.svg

  • userpoint_Location.svg

  • userpoint_Logbook.svg

  • userpoint_Marker.svg

  • userpoint_Mountain.svg

  • userpoint_NDB.svg

  • userpoint_Obstacle.svg

  • userpoint_Other.svg

  • userpoint_POI.svg

  • userpoint_Park.svg

  • userpoint_Pin.svg

  • userpoint_Radio Range.svg

  • userpoint_Seaport.svg

  • userpoint_Settlement.svg

  • userpoint_TACAN.svg

  • userpoint_Unknown.svg

  • userpoint_VOR.svg

  • userpoint_VORDME.svg

  • userpoint_VORTAC.svg

  • userpoint_VRP.svg

  • userpoint_Water.svg

  • userpoint_Waypoint.svg

The text between the first underscore _ and the .png ending defines the category. For example userpoint_My Places.png creates a new category My Places.

Do not use special characters like / for categories. Only letters, digits, space, underscore and dashes are allowed. Special characters like umlauts or accented characters are no problem.