The information contained within this document is considered to be the property of Stardock Systems,   Inc.  This information is provided 'as-is' and only for use by skin designers / authors to produce UIS skins for use with WindowBlinds.  All other uses of this information are strictly prohibited. This document details the original UIS version 1 file format.  If you want to use the more powerful UIS2 format, please refer the the UIS version 2 specification. This document does not explain how to make a UIS1 DLL.  For information on making them please see the UIS1 Plugin SDK which can be obtained from www.windowblinds.net in the developer section.

Important Note to Personality Authors

When making a personality please make the .zip filename the same as the .uis filename.  WindowBlinds will create a folder named the same as the zip file (minus the .zip extension) Also you should not use spaces or funny symbols in the name of the zip.  It is useful if you could name the zip (and therefore the .uis file) something without the version of the personality.  Then if you make a change to the personality, it can be updated in the listings easier.

[TitlebarSkin]

Firstly ALL .uis files must contain the personality name & author.  Without these, the user will not be able to select it as it will not show in the list of installed personalities.  SkinName = Pur-Skin  SkinAuthor = Neil Banfield The following are not used in the current public releases but later versions may do, so you may as well include them.  The display property page tab does show this information.  AuthorsURL = [Put your url here]  AuthorEmail = [Put your e-mail address here]  SpecialNotes = [Any special notes regarding this personality go here] The personality consists of a collection of bitmaps which are used for the titlebar and for the close, maximize, minimize & help buttons.  Notice that unlike the UIS2 format, these definitions are stored in the [TitlebarSkin] section NOT the [Personality] section. Each button has 3 states, Normal, pressed and disabled.  The images for these buttons are 14x14 and are stored in 3 files.  As with the UIS2 file format, those bitmaps are are relative to the WindowBlinds directory. The location of each button is fixed and corresponds to the locations used by Windows 95, 98 & NT 4 for those buttons.  The size of each button is also fixed at 14x14 pixels.  CloseBtn = purskin\wbclose.bmp  CloseBtnDis = purskin\wbclosed.bmp  CloseBtnIn = purskin\wbclosei.bmp Three bitmaps are used for the maximize button also.  MaxBtn = purskin\wbmax.bmp  MaxBtnIn = purskin\wbmaxi.bmp  MaxBtnDis = purskin\wbmaxd.bmp But we also have 2 bitmaps for the button when the window is maximized.  These are for the 'restore' state.  There is no disabled state for this button.  MaxBtn1 = purskin\wbmaxf.bmp  MaxBtnIn1 = purskin\wbmaxfi.bmp Three bitmaps for the minimize button.  MinBtn = purskin\wbmin.bmp  MinBtnIn = purskin\wbmini.bmp  MinBtnDis = purskin\wbmind.bmp Only 2 for the help button.  No disabled state as the button is not visible unless its active.  HelpBtn = purskin\wbhlp.bmp  HelpBtnIn = purskin\wbhlpi.bmp The titlebar background consists of 2 bitmaps.  One for when the titlebar is active and the other for when the titlebar is inactive.  The bitmap will either be tiled or stretched depending on the setting the user has set.  ActiveTitle = purskin\wbtitle.bmp  InactiveTitle = purskin\wbtitle1.bmp If the user has turned on bitmap borders, then the following lines are needed. They are bitmaps for the borders.  The width of the border is 4 pixels. The 4 lines below specify a bitmap for the borders.  They are stretched to fit the window.  LeftBorder = purskin\wbleft.bmp  RightBorder = purskin\wbright.bmp  TopBorder = purskin\wbtop.bmp  BottomBorder = purskin\wbbot.bmp Then there are 4 4x4 bitmaps, one for each of the corners.  These are not stretched.  TopLeftEdge = purskin\wbtople.bmp  TopRightEdge = purskin\wbtopre.bmp  BottomLeftEdge = purskin\wbbotle.bmp  BottomRightEdge = purskin\wbbotre.bmp The function of the borders can be changed via the following line.  Version1 = 1  If you want titlebar buttons to show pressed in when the mouse is over them.  Then add the following line.  popupButtons = 1

WindowBlinds 0.50 introduces the capability to assign bitmaps to the taskbar.  Due to a bug in the public release of 0.50 this option did not work as intended.  This now works properly. However the bitmap MUST be called TASK.BMP, but it can be in your directory.  So TaskImg = abc\fred.bmp will not work for a personality called abc, but TaskImg = abc\task.bmp will. [TaskBar]  TaskImg = image file (again relative to the WB directory)

WindowBlinds 0.92 now has the ability to include colour schemes in the UIS file.  As the user has the option NOT to apply the colours, you should still include the other colour definitions in the personality section. [Colours] If you want to leave some colours as they are, then just do not include the line for the colour to leave as it is. The format of the lines is RRR GGG BBB ActiveTitle=100 174 152 Background=0 0 128 Hilight=67 67 67 HilightText=143 174 165 TitleText=46 80 70 Window=173 194 185 WindowText=0 0 0 Scrollbar=143 174 165 InactiveTitle=143 174 165 Menu=143 175 166 WindowFrame=67 67 67 MenuText=0 0 0 ActiveBorder=67 67 67  InactiveBorder=67 67 67  AppWorkspace=143 174 165 ButtonFace=143 174 165 ButtonShadow=77 93 88 GrayText=103 128 118 ButtonText=0 0 0 InactiveTitleText=67 67 67 ButtonHilight=30 30 30 ButtonDkShadow=130 158 150 ButtonLight=130 158 150 InfoText=0 0 0 InfoWindow=100 174 152

The .UIS file format is ©1998-9 Neil Banfield & Stardock Systems, Inc