Windows 7 uses the left overlay and flips it.  Not sure if it is possible to bring back a unique right overlay image, PandaX will be the one to ask...

What about Vista, windows 7 has the poke out start button when you use small icons, thats why there are 3 of each DPI.  Top alignment, Middle, and Bottom, and its only the small icon taskbar which has the cut off version by default...

the taskbar needs to be set to small icons, to use the start button which pokes out top and bottom

[Button > GroupBox]

The group box is listed under button...
Button > GroupBox

The meter for how full the drive is...
Buttons, Boxes & Controls > Progress Bars > Normal > Fill > <4>
Buttons, Boxes & Controls > Progress Bars > Normal > FillVertical > Partial
Buttons, Boxes & Controls > Progress Bars > Normal > TransparentBarVertical > Partial


Hopefully that helps

Have you tried Control Face Light colour for the grey in the IE Download window?

Arent they textbox controls

The new superbar is reprogrammed, so you can use the msstyle to change the buttons to look like Windows 7, but you cant actually change the way it works or behaves.  The only answer is to get Windows 7!

Sometimes you just have to keep reloading the test till it shows up...

They intended MSstyles to be a closed format, if they had designed an open themeing engine, this wouldnt have been allowed to happen.

Its frustrating for us, as we all like to change things, and we expect the OS to handle these custom values.  From Microsofts PoV they coded it to work and not to be pretty.

Thanks for the heads up Panda, I will take that into account when I design my taskbar elements, 13px maximum in sizing from left and right margins...

Its quite simple really...



The Red areas are the DWM Frame Top and Bottom Images for the frames with shadows

The Blue areas are the DWM Left and Right for shadowed and shadowless frames

The Yellow areas are the shadow left and right images

The green are the shadow top and bottom images.


Its important the widths of the left and right shadows, fit with the width of the top and bottom images, so it all lines up.

It uses the same frame as the DWM Windows, but I would like to know if that can be over-ridden in the msstyles at all...

This link may help for other Vista and Windows 7 controls, providing you have Visual Studio to work with...


http://blogs.msdn.com/windowssdk/archive/2009/06/12/windows-api-code-pack-for-microsoft-net-framework.aspx

Really?...

Well yes, I have activated the integration features, so I can test themes on this

Sorry for posting in the wrong place - and thanks for the info, I just didn't want to break any rules...

Because the newest Virtual PC now supports glass in a virtual machine, I can do a proper theme, and have a semi-controled design environment.

I am running Windows 7 RC 7100, but am 'obtaining' an RTM build to run in a Virtual PC until my pre-prdered one arrives, so I can test and work on a visual style on an RTM build.

Can I run a version on my Virtual Machine, as well as my Host OS, or will that result in my credentials being banned, as it can only be used on one machine at a time.

No because neither are defined in any DUIXML file throughout the system.

Thanks for that, I guess a pure msstyles is never possible, oh well...

Is it possible to make the same changes for the Windows 7 Start Button which is not in the msstyles, and for the back and next buttons which are also not in the msstyles?

I modified my shellstyle.dll to use elements (such as window background color and text color) from the visual style it is placed with. This is especially useful for people who create dark themes on a regular basis, etc, etc.

I uploaded at deviantart: http://satukoro.deviantart.com/art/Universal-shellstyle-dll-131315497

Will you be making Windows 7 versions, or does any shellstyle.dll work with any Windows version.  Also do you need a template msstyles to work with it, with all the additional entries?

Well templates aren't really how it goes, but I will post the file I made, and you can figure it out and edit it...

http://mdta.thetvroom.com/mdta.design

This is just how I have chosen to do it, its not the only way, and its probably not the best way...


Now Windows 7 has RTMed, I want to try do a VS in the same style as the Office 2010 dark theme, but as I am still on build 7100 until I get the final Windows 7, I wont be able to test it fully...

You could always edit the Basic theme, and make it look like the Classic one, all be it with the changes you wanted to make...

have you tried searching in VSB for "Progress"?

have you tried increasing the margins, if not it may be fixed size buttons on the dialogs which you can do nothing about.

The size varies, so when editing the progress bar images, keep to the same size, or use trial and error to test out different sizes

Normal is the way the button looks most of the time.

Hot is when you mouse over the button

pressed is when you click the button and hold the mouse down

defaulted has two images which it animates between, this is for when a button has keyboard focus, or is the default button in a dialog box

and disabled is when you are unable to use a button.


All of these "states" can be tested in the controls dialog that pops up when you test a visual style

This is a very good reason to include an element viewer, where you can click on a node on the left treeview, and a window could popup showing where that element is located, or what colours in the screenshot will be changed when you edit it...

Thanks, I did that, ran VSB as admin also, and reloaded the test a few times and finally got it to show up.

How do I run it, it doesnt have a file extension, so is it a dll, exe, or something that is run from within the app or even a command line argument?

www.microsoft.com/expression

I recoloured the scrollbar horiz and vert thumb buttons and tried the test button.  Nothing changed, I reloaded the test and still nothing happened...

I do not have a patched UXTHEME, and was hoping the in-memory one would work, but this is difficult in x64.

Good to see you back PandaX...

Ok so I was listening to Paul Thurrott's podcast thing, and he mentioned about how you can turn off shadows for Windows in Aero with Windows 7.

Now I remember this being in Vista, and the corners of the windows maintained the shadow, which made the edges look crap.

Now, in Windows 7, the corners of the screen loose the shadow also, giving a very clean look, but no depth etc.  I was thinking this may be what some of the unknown DWM frame images are in the Windows 7 MSSTYLES, so when working on future versions of VistaStyleBuilder, check if this is the case and if so, you should label the element as "Shadowless DWM Frames".

It depends on which version of Office you are refering to.  Office 2007 styles itself, but Office 2003 derives its colours from the system theme.

Oh exactly. I should have worded it better. It will be one at a time. I'm not adventurous enough to do all at once

I ment extract one image or one group of images at a time.  Make the new ones, then export more.

I did notice those and was very impressed. What i've decided to do (even if it is long winded) is export all the images available from a .msstyle, categorise them appropriately, import them to either Photoshop or Expression Design, create my own designs within each border size and then import them to the .msstyle. Just hope it works that way

I'd take them one by one, as the images also have sizing margins, paddings etc and its just easier...

http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=221.msg1038#new

I posted some Expression Design Ideas here

I think in Vista the Animated frames lost their white highlight and shadows, and I suppose in theory it may be possible to do some interesting things for the animations.  Maybe add some motion blur effect, or have the frames change shape for the animation etc...

Is it possible to add a button to display the Controls Test Dialog at all times, also a button or option to delete the unused temporary files.  I have found when my temp folder gets full I am unable to edit images, and I have to go into disk cleanup and go through all that.  An inbuilt cleanup option would be welcome...

I am trying to use VistaControlls.dll to add in vista controls to a WinForms app in Visual Studio 2008, for testing visual style control designs, but I can't manage to get the blue progress bar "meter" that is used in My Computer for the drive space.  I do have the paused and error ones done, and I am making the controls at default as well as larger size to test how these controls size.  its not quite DPI testing, but I find it useful having larger controls to test sizing.

Also PandaX or Ave, if you have any tips on getting vista style controls onto a form, it would be helpful! 

Rafael is aware of the issue, as I emailed him about it, but I think it may be an issue with VistaStyleBuilder, perhaps the msstyles file which is written isn't totally compatible.  And its not the running of the style itself, its just when that style is applied, and you restart the computer, it crashes uxtheme.dll when you try to login and you are thrown back to the login screen.

I activated the guest account so I can restore the patched uxtheme and then log back in.  By the by, has anyone tested VSB with build 7022, which seems to be the new 7000 for people.  I am probably going to wait till RC before changing my build.