BBWinSkin 1.1
description
BBWinSkin is a Blackbox for Windows plugin that provides a way to skin your MS Windows' windows.

Please note that BBWinSkin requires Blackbox for Windows 0.0.90 or later.

Enjoy! :D

qwilk <--> uzer <--> mortar

revision history
BBWinSkin 1.1 (2003-10-31) / qwilk, uzer, mortar
  • Original release
future releases?
  • More stability and numerous bug fixes. ;)
  • license information
    © 2002-2003 BBWinSkin Developers

    BBWINSKIN IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

    initial setup

    To load BBWinSkin you simply need to add the relative path of the plugin (from your Blackbox directory) to the Blackbox configuration file plugins.rc (located in the Blackbox directory). For example, if you installed Blackbox into c:\Blackbox, and BBWinSkin.dll is located in c:\Blackbox\plugins\BBWinSkin, you should add the line...

    plugins\BBWinSkin\BBWinSkin.dll

    ...to plugins.rc. Simple, eh? :)

    how to use bbwinskin...

    BBWinSkin.dll is the blackbox plugin, that can load either one of two availible skinning engines. You can choose the engine from the right click menu. You can load/unload the skinning engine by double clicking on the plugin square. When making changes to bbwinskin.rc or exclusions.rc files, you will need to unload the engine, if running, and then load the engine. In the right click menu, BlackBox is the name of the engine that will read styles, and will even change styles as you do. Shellwm will be the engine that uses shellwm skins. The file names for these engines are BBWSEngine.dll and BBSWMEngine.dll respectively. Both must be in the same directory as BBWinSkin.dll.

    bbwinskin.rc settings

    I have included a default configuration file (bbwinskin.rc) in the .zip, but if a configuration file for some reason (e.g. you deleted it <g>) can not be found at startup (BBWinSkin will first search for it in the same directory as the plugin, then in the Blackbox directory), BBWinSkin will automatically create one for you in the same directory as the plugin.

    bbwinskin.x: 1    X position
    bbwinskin.y: 1    Y position
    bbwinskin.alwaysontop: true    AlwaysOnTop?
    bbwinskin.snapwindow: true    Snap BBWinSkin window to screen edges?
    bbwinskin.transparency: false    Enable transparency?
    bbwinskin.transparency.alpha: 60    Alpha transparency value
    bbwinskin.dockedtoslit: true    Start in the slit, when possible.
    bbwinskin.enabled: true    Load skinning engine, when plugin starts.
    bbwinskin.engine: Blackbox    Choose skinning engine: BImage or ShellWM.
    bbwinskin.engine.snapWindows: true    Snap skinned windows to screen edge?
    bbwinskin.engine.DblClick: rollup    Double click action: rollup, maximize, minamize, close.
    bbwinskin.engine.applyToOpen: true    Does what is says.
    bbwinskin.blackbox.style: C:\Blackbox\styles\nevada    Direct path to Blackbox style file.
    bbwinskin.blackbox.titlebuttons: 654321    Order of title buttons. Left 3 most numbers for left 3 buttons, and right 3 numbers for right 3 buttons.
    bbwinskin.shellwm.skin: C:\Blackbox\Plugins\BBWinSkin\Skins\BlackBox\BlackBox.cey    Direct path to shellwm skin file.

    6 = Pin to All Desktops
    5 = Always On Top
    4 = Roll Up
    3 = Minimize
    2 = Maximize/Restore
    1 = Close
    0 = Empty Position

    exclusions.rc settings

    Use this file to add application names or window class names that you wish to be excluded from the skinning engine. You may add each one on a single line as follows:

    appname.exe:class   excludes only a specific window with a particular class, not the app
    appname.exe   an app and all it's classes
    :class   excludes all classes of this name in all apps

    Mouse Controls

    Right click for configuration menu. The menu will only display options that can be performed while running or not running either skinning engine.

    Middle click the plugin window, and drag from it to a window, and when you release the button, you will be presented with options to add that application and/or class to your exclusions.rc file.

    Please note that BBWinSkin automatically saves the current running configuration when you quit or restart Blackbox, overwriting the previous contents of the file. The solution is to restart Blackbox from the menu while holding down the Shift key, which will unload all plugins and display a message box telling you that the restart has been paused. Now make your edits to the file and save, then click OK to continue the restart. BBWinSkin will now read your manually edited settings.

    acknowledgements
    I would like to thank all those in the BlackBox Community who inspired and helped this baby get going. Thank-you to Ironhead who started the project, and entrusting me, Mortar, to carry it out. Thank-you to Qwilk who worked hard with me to make this thing work, and even made a nice plugin loader for the skinning engine. Thank-you to uzer who worked hard with us, so that we may be able to bring an earlier release and for all of his bug fixing and very expert skills. Thank-you to the Shellwm team who created the orginal shellwm code from CustomEyes.