SYMANTEC CORPORATION PETER NORTON PRODUCT GROUP December 5, 1990 Changing Colors on the Norton Commander 3.0 The purpose of this procedure is to show you how to modify the colors on the Norton Commander version 3.0. We will be using the Norton Utilities NU program to go into the programs and change the necessary bytes in Hex (if you are familiar with debug, you can use it instead of NU, though NU is faster and easier to use). There are three types of program files for the Norton Commander 3.0: NCMAIN.EXE - The main Commander program MCI.EXE - The Commander Mail program xxxVIEW.EXE - The Commander File Viewers (where xxx is 123, WP, DB, etc.) All of these files contain color blocks that can be customized. The procedure outlined below is written for the NCMAIN.EXE program, but any of the names above can be substituted. Remember to use the right color chart for the program! The Color charts are found below. A. Copy the Norton Commander (NCMAIN.EXE) onto another disk or directory. For best results, especially if you have changed the colors before, copy it from your original disk. B. Place the Norton Utilities disk #1 into the A: drive (use disk #2 if you are using version 4.0). C. Type "A:NU" and press at the DOS prompt. D. Choose "Explore disk". E. Choose "Choose item". F. Choose "Change drive", select the drive on which you copied the Norton Commander, then press . G. Choose "change Directory", choose the directory that you copied the Norton Commander into, then press . H. Choose "File". I. Choose "NCMAIN.EXE", then press . (you can substitute MCI.EXE, 123VIEW.EXE, etc.) J. Choose "Search item/disk for data". K. Choose "Text to search for". L. Press , to jump down to "Search data, in hexadecimal format". M. Type in "1B 30 1E 3E" and press . This is the start of the hex code for the color block. (MCI.EXE uses 1B 30 1E 1F) N. Choose "Start Search". O. When NU reports "Found! Press any key to continue...", press any key. P. Choose "Display found text". Q. Use the Color Charts below to help you locate the area that you want to modify. The cursor is currently located on the Hex/Color numbers for Panels, Edit, View. R. Use the keys to land the cursor on the area that you want to modify. S. See "Choosing Colors" to determine the correct Hex number to use to modify the colors. T. When you are done modifying, press twice to write the changes to disk. Then exit NU and re-load the Commander. Choosing Colors Colors are formed by combining a pair of hex digits. The first digit of the pair is the background color, and the second digit is the foreground color. For example, if you wanted to create a background of "Cyan" and a foreground of "Black", you would notice (using the Hex/Color Chart below) that the number for "Cyan" is "3" and the number for "Black" is "0", which would be entered as "30". Here's an example: Let's say that we want to change the Help box to "Bright White on Green". You'll notice from the color charts that the Help box is made up of Hex/Color numbers "30 0F 3F 3E" and that "Bright White on Green" is Hex "2F". Simply move your cursor to the "30" of the Hex group "30 0F 3F 3E" and enter "2F" (You'll notice that the Hex group for Alert boxes, "4F 70 4E 7F" is located just before). Then press twice to write the changes to disk. 0 Black 8 Dark Gray 1 Blue 9 Light Blue 2 Green A Light Green 3 Cyan B Light Cyan 4 Red C Light Red 5 Magenta D Light Magenta 6 Orange/Brown E Yellow 7 White/Gray F Bright White Note: Using both Background/Foreground combinations of Hex numbers 8 through F causes blinking. Color Charts Norton Commander 3.0 (NCMAIN.EXE) Inverse Normal Inverse Bright Bright ------------------------------------------------------ Panels, Edit: 1B 30 1E 3E Function Key Bar: 07 30 00 00 Dialog Boxes: 70 30 7E 3E Alert Boxes: 4F 70 4E 7F Help Box: 30 0F 3F 3E User Menu Edit Help: 3F 07 3E 3A User Menu, History: 3F 0F 3E 3A Menu Bar: 30 0F 00 00 Pull Down Menus: 30 0F 0E 3F NCD, FF, Config: 3F 0F 3E 0E For the pull down menus, the Bright foreground color is combined with the Inverse Bright backround color to designate the Hot Key. Norton Commander 3.0 MCI Mail (MCI.EXE) Inverse Normal Inverse Bright Bright ------------------------------------------------------ Mail Boxes, Edit: 1B 30 1E 1F Menu Bar 30 0F 30 3F Pull Down Menus: 30 0F 0E 3F Dialog Box: 70 30 7E 9F Warning Box: 4F 70 4E 7F Help Box: 30 0F 3F 3E Select Box: 5F 0F 5E 1E Status Line: 3F For the pull down menus, the Bright foreground color is combined with the Inverse Bright backround color to designate the Hot Key. Norton Commander 3.0 File Viewers Inverse Normal Inverse Bright Bright ------------------------------------------------------ Viewer Text: 1B 30 1E 3E Function Key Bar: 07 30 00 00 Dialog Boxes: 70 30 7E 3E Alert Boxes: 4F 70 4E 7F Help Box: * 30 0F 3F 3E Select Box: 5F 0F 5E 00 * The Spreadsheet and Word Processing viewers use the Help Box colors above, while the other viewers use: 70 00 00 00. Ed Carlin Technical Support