Application Icon Settings

Summary

Configured custom Viboy Color app icon instead of default Python icon. The icon is loaded from the fileviboycolor-icon.pnglocated at the root of the project and is set in the Pygame window usingpygame.display.set_icon(). The implementation uses portable routes withpathlib.Pathto ensure compatibility between Windows, Linux and macOS.

Hardware Concept

Although the app icon is not part of the original Game Boy's hardware, it is an important aspect of the user experience in the emulator. The icon appears on the taskbar, in the window title (on some operating systems) and helps visually identify the application.

Pygame allows setting a custom icon for the window using the functionpygame.display.set_icon(), which accepts a Pygame surface loaded from an image. The icon must be set after initializing Pygame but can be done before or after creating the window.

Implementation

The method was modified__init__of the classRendererinsrc/gpu/renderer.pyto load and set the custom icon.

Modified components

• src/gpu/renderer.py: Added import ofPathofpathliband the logic to load the icon.

Design decisions

• Portable route:It is usedPath(__file__).parent.parent.parentto build the path to the icon relative to the module, guaranteeing portability between operating systems.
• Error handling:The file is verified to exist before attempting to load it, and exceptions are caught during loading to prevent a missing or corrupted icon from breaking renderer initialization.
• Logging:An informative message is logged when the icon loads correctly, and a warning if it is not found or there is an error loading it.

Implemented code

# Load and set app icon
# The icon is in the root of the project
icon_path = Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent / "viboycolor-icon.png"
if icon_path.exists():
    try:
        icon_surface = pygame.image.load(str(icon_path))
        pygame.display.set_icon(icon_surface)
        logger.info(f"Application icon loaded: {icon_path}")
    except Exception as e:
        logger.warning(f"Could not load icon {icon_path}: {e}")
else:
    logger.warning(f"Icon not found: {icon_path}")

Affected Files

• src/gpu/renderer.py- Added import ofPathand logic to load and set the app icon.

Tests and Verification

Verification was carried out by manually executing the application:

• Visual verification:Run the emulator and verify that the custom icon appears on the Windows taskbar instead of the default Python icon.
• Portable route:The implementation usespathlib.Pathto build the route portablely, ensuring it works on Windows, Linux and macOS.
• Error handling:It was verified that if the icon file does not exist, the application continues to function normally with a warning in the logs.

Result: Verified- The icon loads correctly and appears on the taskbar.

Sources consulted

• Pygame documentation:pygame.display.set_icon() - https://www.pygame.org/docs/ref/display.html#pygame.display.set_icon
• Python documentation:pathlib.Path - https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html

Educational Integrity

Next Steps

• [ ] Continue emulator performance and functionality improvements
• [ ] Implement additional features according to project needs