Iconset support in K2BTools

Iconsets are sets of icons designed so that they can be used together in a given context, giving a coherent look and feel to the application.

K2BTools includes iconsets embedded in each design system, that contain (for example) icons for standard actions: insert, update, delete, etc.

Historically, the menu pattern has supported the usage of icons from the Font Awesome iconset when defining WebObject and SubMenu nodes. From K2BTools version 15.2 onwards, these icons are also supported in Button actions and Image actions.

Using standard iconsets provides the following advantages for developers:

  1. The developer can choose from a wide variety of icons.
  2. The developer does not have to check that the icons work together well, as they designed with that in mind.
  3. The developer does not have to worry about colors: the icon's color can be changed in runtime via CSS.

See each node's documentation for details on how the icons are used. In general, all features that can use icons from an iconset work in the same way:

  1. A property allows the developer to choose if the icon used in a given context should be loaded from an image in the KB or from an Iconset.
  2. Depending on the option selected in the property described in the previous step, a property is shown to select the image/icon.
  3. If the developer chose to use an icon from an iconset, the corresponding property has an associated editor to simplify the selection.

An exception to this rule can be found in the menu pattern, where both options (Image from KB / Iconset) can be active in an element simultaneously to preserve backwards compatibility.