which item do you modify specifically?

You can rename it to .exe for this occasion

That ability has always been there

Win7 beta's do something a bit different at the moment which does not always pick up when the theme enabler needs to be run -> you can run CustomThemeEnabler64 manually as admin to allow the theme to be tested.

Version 1.4 of Vista Style Builder is now available for download; You need to use same download link that came in your activation e-mail.

VSB 1.4 focusses on Windows7 support and bugfixes. Furthermore, 1.4 makes it possible to develop and test themes on machines without patched uxtheme files installed.



VistaStyleBuilder 1.4.0 CHANGELOG

Code:

 + ADD: Show Controls Preview menu item under the test menu
 + FIX: color conversion bug: #010101(alpha=1) would get converted to to #000000(alpha=1) on some occasions
 + FIX: speed adjustments, saving is 20% faster now
 + WIN7: New classmap and parts data for Windows7 (thanks to Panda X)
 + WIN7: XP to Windows7 importer (thanks to Panda X - work in progress)
 + WIN7: Vista to Windows7 importer (thanks to Panda X)
 + ADD: settings file can contain [window]width=900, [window]height=500 for custom sizes
 + ADD: shift+click the undo menu to copy all undo entries in text form to the clipboard
 + FIX: copy/paste bug on low memory conditions
 + FIX: it was impossible to go back to the first undo entry (opened theme)
 + FIX: empty titlebar fix on Windows7
 + ADD: one-shot in-memory uxtheme patcher on board for testing themes on machines without patched uxtheme files

I've added a "Vista Style Builder" theme, which uses the same colors as the VSB site and blog. It's not really nice yet, so I personally still use the "alak" theme.

You can change your forum theme under "Profile" -> "Look and Layout Preferences"  => Current theme <name> (change)

I'm open to suggestions for better SMF themes.

Due to a failing powersupply in the server powering this website, we experienced a downtime of about 12hours. All should be functioning normally now

There's an update planned really soon, one or two days.

that would be weird; could you e-mail the style to ave@vistastylebuilder.com ?

[AveStyler]

AveStyler

AveStyler is a small utility to enable custom Visual Styles on Windows without patching any system files on your disk. Besides that, AveStyler comes with a easy-to-use application for managing your Visual Styles.

Features

• No system files are modified
• Works on XP
• Works on Vista
• Works on Windows 7
• 32 and 64bits versions
• Manage your styles in an easy-to-use interface*
• low memory footprint
• updates don't require patching your files again
• install styles with one click*

Screenshot


Where to get
You can get AveStyler now for an introduction price of 3euros (roughly 4USD) at http://www.avestyler.com .

I'll try to recheck the list of "alpha-fix images" for the next release!

Nice you found that out! I'll add an extra check in the code, thanks a lot

Which image-editor do you use?

A lot of reported bugs are also occuring because of bad shell extension, unfortunately.

If you can give me the exact steps to reproduce it, I can look into it.

Seems like a refresh issue indeed. I'll investigate it and, when hopefully found, fix the issue in the next update.

Do you happen to use Vista without SP1 installed?

This worked for a bunch of people: this is also the only change in 1.3 from 1.2.5, actually.

As I said, I'm investigating the issue.

The transition list is basically a list of how long each frame of an animation will be displayed. E.g, 37,37,37,37,37 will do an animation of 5 frames with each frame taking 37 milliseconds.

There is a workaround for this issue here: http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=200.0 .

[%AppData%/VistaStyleBuilder/Settings.ini]

A small subset of users seem to be having a problem with VSB 1.3 on Vista. This issue is being investigated, during that time you can use the following workaround:

In %AppData%/VistaStyleBuilder/Settings.ini, add the following setting:

Code:

[Settings]
FirstImageId=1

Check your mail

Please e-mail me with the transaction id, I can resent the original activation e-mail then 

It was mainl Panda X pushing this one, btw. So thank him 

Yes, version 1.3 is Win7 compatible and will be released soon

[Vista Style Builder 1.2.5]

Vista Style Builder 1.2.5
This version of Vista Style Builder speeds up the build time of a MsStyles file with a factor 10 to 20 on 32bits Vista's and even more on x64 version.

The download can be found under the same link which you received in the actication e-mail. Please do not put the link in here, thanks  .

Changelog:

Code:

 + FIX: 10 to 20 time speedup in MsStyles compilation on x86 and even more on x64 -> hitting the test/reload test button is near instant now

I can do the exact same thing you described without problem. This is either a x64 problem (which I will check shortly) or another app is causing crashes (this happens pretty often).

I can't at all reproduce the crash, can you post some system specs?

I can't really reproduce the crash  Can you send me the MsStyles file you are working on?

[Could you reproduce the crash exactly and tell me exactly on how to reproduce it? Thanks.]

I checked the XP-theme and it seems to use some rather unusual small images, I suspect that is where Vista is choking on.

Are you sure you are replacing the correct startbutton? In vista, there are actually 3 different ones, plus each DPI setting has a custom one.

Could you reproduce the crash exactly and tell me exactly on how to reproduce it? Thanks.

[in-memory]

Recently, I have been coding a in-memory UxThemePatcher module, which will patch uxtheme files in memory, so no disk files need to be modified.

Do you think it would benefit to integrate this into VSB when testing a theme?

1. Recovery sounds like a nice idea.
2. VSB actually searches for a shellstyle in the same place where your style is saved normally, it looks inside the shellstyle/ folder.

To prevent spam, I have enabled the following:

• All signups need to be approved from now on
• Guests can no longer view the forum contents
• signatures are disabled

Let's hope this keeps the spammers away.

Try to remove all IMAGE properties for the StartButton classes, that did work for me when I was testing UNDO

[Documentation Idea]

Documentation Idea
I got this idea to add a built-into-vsb community documentation feature; You would be able to add comments to any element or property by clicking the "ADD COMMENT" button. Those comments will then be made available to all other users directly.
Community Comments, in turn, would be directly accessible from within VSB.

Any thoughts on this? Because, before I'm going to implement it, I want to know if it will be used at all (see the requested wiki which isn't used in any way ).

[activation e-mail]

Version 1.2 of VistaStyleBuilder has been released, this release fixes a couple of small bugs and adds a major feature: UNDO support.

This version can be obtained thru the regular download link you received in your activation e-mail. Please do not share the link here, a mailing about the new version will be sent tomorrow!

Changelog:

Code:

Version 1.2:
 + ADD: unlimited Undo/Redo history
 + ADD: indeterminate progressbar in the control window
 + ADD: cleaned up UI a bit
 + FIX: XP importer: start menu is imported correctly again
 + FIX: XP importer: various buttons and parts are imported correctly again
 + FIX: various speedup fixes
 + FIX: memory leak when closing styles

Please give feedback regarding this new version, or future options you would like to see.

Version 1.2 of VSB will come soon, changelog so far:

• ADD: unlimited Undo/Redo history
• FIX: XP importer: start menu is imported correctly again
• FIX: XP importer: various buttons and parts are imported correctly again
• FIX: various speedup fixes
• ADD: indeterminate progressbar in the control window
• ADD: cleaned up UI a bit

alpha, 0=totally transparent, 255=totally opaque

This topic has been moved to Tips and Tricks.

http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=137.0

Any more information? When does it crash, etc.