ColorCop

A Windows-based color picker utility built with Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC).

About this repository

This GitHub repository contains the source code for Color Cop. It is intended for developers and contributors who want to build, debug, or improve the application.

If you just want to download and use Color Cop, visit the official website: colorcop.net, which provides the latest stable installer and user-focused information.

This repository is focused on development, issue tracking, and contribution workflows.

Quick start for developers

1. Install prerequisites

   • Windows 10/11
   • Visual Studio 2022 with:
     • MSVC v143 compiler toolset
     • Windows 10/11 SDK
     • MFC for latest v143 build tools (x86 & x64)

2. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/ColorCop/ColorCop.git
   cd ColorCop
   

Building in Visual Studio

1. Open ColorCop.sln in Visual Studio 2022.
2. Select the desired configuration from the toolbar:
   • Debug | Win32
   • Release | Win32
3. Build the solution via Build → Build Solution.

A placeholder version.h is included in the repository so the project builds cleanly in the IDE. When using the command‑line build.cmd script, this file is automatically regenerated with version information from Git tags.

Build Configurations

• Debug — Development build with debugging symbols and no optimizations
• Release — Optimized production build suitable for distribution

Command-line build and versioning

ColorCop includes a build.cmd script for reproducible Release builds.

• Version source: The script reads the latest Git tag using git describe --tags --abbrev=0. Tags are expected to follow semantic versioning, typically vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (for example, v5.5.2).

• Fallback behavior: If no tags are found (for example, in forks or shallow clones), the script falls back to 0.0.0.

• Generated files:

  • ColorCop\version.h — contains VER_FILEVERSION, VER_PRODUCTVERSION, and related string macros derived from the Git tag.
  • ColorCop\installer\version.iss — contains AppVersionStr for the installer, also derived from the Git tag.

• Build invocation: The script locates a C++‑capable MSBuild.exe via vswhere and runs a Rebuild of the Release | Win32 configuration.

Release Workflow

ColorCop uses Git tags (e.g., v5.5.2) to drive the release pipeline. Pushing a new tag triggers GitHub Actions to:

• Build the application
• Update version metadata
• Publish a new GitHub Release with compiled binaries

GitHub does not support a “post‑release” event. The following steps must be run after the GitHub Release has been created.

Post‑release actions

After a new release is published on GitHub, two manual follow‑up workflows must be run:

1. Publish to Chocolatey

1. Go to Actions → Publish Chocolatey Package
2. Click Run workflow
3. Enter the release tag (e.g., v5.5.2)
4. Run the workflow to publish the updated Chocolatey package

2. Publish to WinGet

1. Go to Actions → Publish to WinGet
2. Click Run workflow
3. Enter the same release tag (e.g., v5.5.2)
4. Run the workflow to submit the updated WinGet manifest

Listing existing tags

git tag --list

Development

Project Structure

• ColorCop.cpp/h - Main application class
• ColorCopDlg.cpp/h - Main dialog implementation
• SystemTray.cpp/h - System tray functionality
• Res/ - Application resources and icons

Code Linting

This project uses cpplint to enforce C++ style guidelines.

Install:

pip install cpplint

Run linting:

mise lint

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test thoroughly on Windows 10/11
5. Submit a pull request

License

ColorCop is licensed under the MIT License.

See LICENSE.txt for the full license text.

Troubleshooting

Build Errors:

• Ensure MFC components are installed in Visual Studio 2022
• Verify Windows SDK is installed
• Check that platform toolset is set to v143

Runtime Issues:

• Install Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2022