Skins are not available

[Clo]

WW (Guest #2)

Hello !

Hm. Could it be a Windows 2K only problem?

- It's possible, since we had some specific Win 2K (minor) issues in 1.80.x…
- However, Guest #1 talk he has this under Win 98 SE, while I've not Some Windows setting? Or another program disturbing a Win-function ?

…probably because I already downloaded your Help-gb.chm file as an additional resource to the regular help file provided with XnView

- It was the very first Help that XnView had…
It was planned rather for young newbies, and / or / for short-sighted oldies like me
It's strongly updated for 1.80.x, available on the Web (English and French) now, with the kind help of my friend-user "Ouistiti"…

Kind regards,
Claude
Clo
PS : Why not sign up here as a member ? This simplifies the messages management, allows edtition, a known nickname, an avatar-pic and PMs... ?

[XnTriq]

Voilà, I'm back as a proud member of this newsgroup.

@Pierre:

Strange, ok i check...

Great! This is going to be interesting.
I tried to come up with something useful for you in return.

@Claude:

Why not sign up here as a member ?

Well, I probably should have registered right away. This thread had been "deserted" for more than a year, however, so I didn't expect any reaction to my initial posting.

I wish I had come across your detailed explanations on how to create skins for XnView earlier.
Some time ago I cobbled together a template of sorts for myself, but due to the recent changes in the layout of the toolbar, it wasn't up to date anymore.
You give out some information which is not publicly documented anywhere else, as far as I know.
Have you considered adding your tips to helmut's guide over in the FAQ-section?

XnTriq p/k/a WW (Guest #2)

[Clo]

XnTriq

Hello !
- Glad to see you here as a Member ! Welcome among the Oarsmen !

…You give out some information which is not publicly documented anywhere else, as far as I know. …

- It's true, but it's reachable so easily… You might check you PMs...

Kind regards,
Claude
Clo

[ckv]

Voilà, I'm back as a proud member of this newsgroup.

Welcome XnTriq! Wacky Avatar Rules and Guidelines

*Here's your welcome soap* And try not to scare the ladies out!

[Clo]

ckv

Hello !
- Well, well! I guess we have now a clever fellow more
Indeed, the animated GIFs are not allowed as avatars, but if it's the XnView logo… ticklish to forbid it !

K R
Claude
Clo

[ckv]

@Clo
Shh! it is a secret.

But now it's gone It was the best avatars I have ever seen in this forum. I can only blame my self.

[Clo]

XnTriq

Hello !
- Back to the topic after that recreation

- Have you all your skins with the standard "main.bmp" file-name ?
- During the 1.80 RCx… tests I had to rename some of my personal skins in that way, because they were no longer visible in the Options !
- Shame on me, but I didn't report this, thinking it was trivial and related to the new skins features…
- However, there is a remark in my Manual at the "Skins" chapter :

… 4. Create a simple text file always named info.txt in which you will write :

label = "Skin Name (Author)"
filename = "main.bmp" Mandatory, or else the bitmap is no longer recognized in the 1.8x versions ! …

- Before, in older versions, I could have the main bitmap named like "any_name.bmp", it worked, while by now it does not…

Kind regards,
Claude
Clo

[XnTriq]

Sorry for the late reply. Real world BS keeps me busy these days.
I'd like to thank you for the warm welcome, guys, and for those discrete hints, too.
I really appreciate your advice and your patience.

Avatar Images:
- No Animation
- max. 80x80 pixels
- max. 5kb in file size

Geez, can you believe it: 3 violations of the board rules on my first official day.
I guess I got a little carried away on my quest for a cool nick and a cute avatar.

For example you might think "But my animated avatar is so cute!"

Damn right, it was cute. I axed it -- RIP, perdu, kaputt.
It's in pixel heaven now, where all the cute animations go once they're deleted.

On a serious note:
From this point on, I'll do my best to behave like a responsible netizen of this fine online community.

So bear with me, as I try to keep up -- just like lil' Billy, teh clumsy moron über-n00b.

And now back to your regular program...

[helmut]

...

Avatar Images:
- No Animation
- max. 80x80 pixels
- max. 5kb in file size

Geez, can you believe it: 3 violations of the board rules on my first official day.
I guess I got a little carried away on my quest for a cool nick and a cute avatar.

All these bad deeds cannot remain uncommented:
These forum admins got pretty lazy and reluctant these days, but we know you guys by now.
Actually I felt sorry seeing your nice animated XnView avatar and was a bit stumped. Thank you for following the forum rules and a "Welcome to the XnView Forum forum!" from my side.

[ouistiti]

2 Clo

I can confirm: at home, only the "main.bmp" bitmaps are accepted for the skins…
That seems a bit abnormal, since the name is stated in each «info.txt>, any name should work, IMHO

Friendly

Paul

[ckv]

Damn right, it was cute. I axed it -- RIP, perdu, kaputt.
It's in pixel heaven now, where all the cute animations go once they're deleted.

I fell guilty. I am just a hypocrite.

Actually I felt sorry seeing your nice animated XnView avatar and was a bit stumped

Now I fell even more guiltier. That's it that signature going to have a meeting with Mr. chainsaw.

I am sorry. This was my last offtopic post. (in this Topic) I romise.

[helmut]

I am sorry. This was my last offtopic post. (in this Topic) I romise.

Yes, you better stop posting regarding the avatar, now. This will allow me crawling from the floor back to the chair at my computer. I will introduce a new "Offtopic" rule, soon, so better watch out...

[XnTriq]

ckv wrote: "It was the best avatars I have ever seen in this forum."
helmut wrote: "Actually I felt sorry seeing your nice animated XnView avatar and was a bit stumped. Thank you for following the forum rules and a 'Welcome to the XnView Forum, XnTriq!' from my side."
Wow, I am humbled by all of your friendly reactions -- makes you feel right @ home "en XnVille".
And remember:

• Thou Shalt Respect Your Forum Elders.
• Thou Shalt Fear The Wrath Of Thy Board Administrators.

Let's hope I prove worthy of your hospitality.

Have you all your skins with the standard "main.bmp" file-name ?

Positive.

Actually, I was going to ask you about the specifics of the entries in the info.txt files, because I think this needs some clarification.
I went through all the info.txt files of versions 1.70.4 & 1.80.3 and compared them to the old toolbar.skn format. Then I took a closer look at the extra info in your documentation.
Here's what I've got so far:

Code: Select all

+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
| Entry# |      Name = Value            | Relevancy | Explanations                                |    |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   01   |     label = "<t> (<a>)"      | mandatory | s = title / a = author                      | OK |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   02   |  filename = "main.bmp"       | ?         | buttons for the main toolbar                | ?  |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   03   |  disabled = "<whatever>.bmp" | ?         | buttons for the main toolbar (blurred)      | ?  |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   04   |     small = "browser.bmp"    | ?         | buttons for the small toolbar               | ?  |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   05   |     width = <w>              | mandatory | w = button width in pixels                  | OK |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   06   |    height = <h>              | mandatory | h = button height in pixels                 | OK |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   07   |      auto = <boolean>        | ?         | 1 = true / 0 = false                        | ?  |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   08   |   browser = <boolean>        | ?         | 1 = true / 0 = false                        | ?  |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   09   |    main32 = <boolean>        | optional  | 1 (true) / 0 (false)                        | ?  |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   10   | browser32 = <boolean>        | optional  | 1 (true) / 0 (false)                        | ?  |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+
|   11   |   version = 2                | mandatory | indicates compatibility with version 1.8x.x | OK |
+--------+------------------------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------+----+

Keep in mind this is a work in progress.

#02/03/04: The authors of the most recent skins like Mezich et al. didn't include the filename, disabled and small entries. Version 1.8x.x probably doesn't even check for these entries, nor their values any more.

I can confirm: at home, only the "main.bmp" bitmaps are accepted for the skins…

Same thing here (Windows 2000).

I bet Pierre decided to give each skin its own subfolder, because he wanted to have a unified naming convention scheme for all the files that make up a skin:

• info.txt
• main.bmp
• main32.bmp (optional)
• browser.bmp
• browser32.bmp (optional)

Please let me know what you think. :?:

[XnTriq]

Not a single suggestion in 10 days? What went wrong? Has everyone abandoned this thread all over sudden?
Come on, someone's gotta know something about this.

Anyhow, here are a few things I found out about #09 and #10:

Code: Select all

+--------+--------------------+--------------------+
| Entry# |      Name = Value  | Corresponding File |
+--------+--------------------+--------------------+
|   09   |    main32 = 1      |        main32.bmp  |
+--------+--------------------+--------------------+
|   10   | browser32 = 1      |     browser32.bmp  |
+--------+--------------------+--------------------+

Okay, it's pretty obvious that a value of 1 tells XnView that the skin has an extra image for the main and/or for the browser toolbar. As the names *32.bmp would suggest, these are 32-bit (24-bit + 8-bit for the alpha channel) BMPs that have the same dimensions as their 24-bit counterparts (main.bmp & browser.bmp). Except for the alpha transparency the icons are essentially identical.

Currently XnView comes with 2 skins that take advantage of this new feature: “Gnome” and “Mezich”.

• 

If I'm not mistaken, only Windows XP and 2003 (and Longhorn/Vista) fully support alpha-blending in their UI.
I'm a 2K user, but last week I had a chance to do some testing on an XP system. Just as on my own PC, the skins aren't listed in Tools » Options » Toolbar » Skin, if the archive attribute of their info.txt is switched off.
Well, at least we know now that this “phenomenon” is not specific to one particular version of Windows.

Could it be related to the file system, then?
All of my drives are NTFS-formatted, so it would be nice to get some feedback from people who are running XnView 1.8x.x on a FAT or FAT32 partition.

I'd also like to hear from you, if you have information regarding #07 and #08. Right now I don't have the slightest clue what auto = 1 & browser = 1 do. Removing these entries doesn't bring about any noticeable changes on my installation.

[ckv]

...Right now I don't have the slightest clue what auto = 1 & browser = 1 do. Removing these entries doesn't bring about any noticeable changes on my installation.

The auto entry creates grayscale button for disabled buttons [EDIT: IMAGE LINK REMOVED]

And the browser ? I think it is for the browser toolbar. If it's set to 0 then the build in browser toolbar is used.