Visual styles break on certain applications

[XxDkCobraxX]

Repost from where i posted in the wrong forum earlier, sorry about that....

I use themes from my work computer, and often while using something like Surround SCM, certain themes will break and not show some of the interior panes of the application. Not every program breaks this way, so it has to be theme-specific, but a large number of themes DO break in this fashion.

Two themes that do not break this way are:

The following is a well known theme by b0se that DOES break similarly:

http://b0se.deviantart.com/art/GUI-Relax-45441528

A theme that does NOT break in this fashion is Mint by hsn:

http://hsn.deviantart.com/art/Mint-2-0-Visual-Style-49718884

Any ideas guys? I have been working with the author of a number of themes to try and pin down the problem, but without much luck.

If necessary, I can provide screenshots to clear up what I am referring to.

[SakuraKira]

Hm... I've used both of those themes extensively, and have failed to noticed any areas where shortcuts were taken (b0se is usually thorough about those things), and all elements appeared to be skinned correctly. Screenshots would be helpful in understanding how the theme "breaks."

[XxDkCobraxX]

I agree, b0se's themes are typically very complete. In fact, XPMC works fully with these applications.

The following are images of the working theme(PxlPlus mod) and broken (Clearlooks Gummy, by WinGnomeXP). Both have had sensetive data removed, but the middle area is the part I am concerned with. In the claerlooks_gummy skin I would like to use, each column is mostly cut off.

Hopefully this helps.

Note: Typically there would be text in the PxlPlus, working mod. That had to be removed for privacy concerns I suppose...

[srn]

what i'll tell you will sound very strange but it could help fixing that bug.

the problem might be implied in the SizingMargins of the Captionbar (Titlebar).

the upper screenshot shows the actual SizingMargins used by the theme.

the screenshot below shows the SizingMargins I would suggest to solve the problem.

one could ask what that setting has to do with your problem but a similar problem occured in a software called "Scribus".

and this is how I solved this strange behaviour in all my themes ;)

contact the theme author or try modding it yourself.

it's not that difficult.

good luck :)

[XxDkCobraxX]

Great I will link him here, thanks!

[XxDkCobraxX]

Changed the values myself, looks good here locally but I will be able to test it fully monday morning. Thanks for the direction!

[kiD a]

Try it out at work and let me know how it goes. :) The reason for the sizing margin to be the way it is there, is you run into sizing issues between Open Dialog boxes & Normal Windows. This way prevents the 1 pixel shift between the two and doesn't mess with the aesthetics of the caption buttons. But let me know if that's the solution so I can pass it on to whomever requires a fix. Good luck, & thanks for using it.

[XxDkCobraxX]

Soooo nice....it works!

Now, what is the reasoning behind this mod? I want to try and fix a bunch of themes now, but certainly these "magic numbers" wont do it for other themes using different captionbar values. How can I identify the correct values for other themes?

[srn]

pay attention that the top and bottom values for the SizingMargins are out of the "Magic Pink" area.

that should be enough.

you can't use the same values as I did for every other theme.

it depends on the charcteristics of the caption bitmap used by the author.

The SizingMargins define the area which will be stretched or tiled.

The part outside the SizingMargins will be drawn as it is.

The part inside the SizingMargins will be stretched or tiled.

it's hard to explain maybe someone else can do it better :)

[kiD a]

Soooo nice....it works!

Now, what is the reasoning behind this mod? I want to try and fix a bunch of themes now, but certainly these "magic numbers" wont do it for other themes using different captionbar values. How can I identify the correct values for other themes?

Hey Congrats man, glad you found your solution, Can I ask you to post me a screenshot of say your 'run' dialog box so I can see what effect it had on your caption buttons?

[XxDkCobraxX]

Here you go. Everything looks fine, using this technique both myself and a friend of mine were able to get multiple skins to work with these applications that were previously breaking.

[kiD a]

Here you go. Everything looks fine, using this technique both myself and a friend of mine were able to get multiple skins to work with these applications that were previously breaking.

Right on thanks for that. :)

[XxDkCobraxX]

Bump.

Is there any way to do this with ResHacker? My Stylebuilder trial is long since up and this is an issue again :(

[martin10018]

Is there any way to do this with ResHacker? My Stylebuilder trial is long since up and this is an issue again :(

You can do this with ResEDIT. Also by TGTSoft and free. ResHacker cannot edit the text files.

[XxDkCobraxX]

Great, thanks! Took some guesswork but that worked out nicely.

[martin10018]

Took some guesswork but that worked out nicely.

Yes, the documentation is still a problem a zillion years after the release of XP...