I've been coding for a few hours on a code that will (for now) transform your Windows Notepad in to translucent bordered Vista style window on Windows XP. This is just an example of what I am able to do. I could easily modify this to skin all windows currrently open, but I would like to know if it runs at a good speed on your systems. So if you would please download the attachment, and report how it works on your system, that would be great! I also included a little artwork I did to give you an idea of what this does.

1. Download the attachment
2. Open notepad.exe
3. Open VistaWindow2.exe in the ZIP archive

- You should now have a Notepad window skinned like Vista; try dragging it around, resizing it, etc.
(Tell me if its quick, and looks smooth)

Now double click on the titlebar if you wish to exit.
You'll now have to Ctrl+Alt+Del notepad.exe, because I didn't code it to kill notepad.

Attached Images

XPtoVista.JPG (21.9 KB, 76 views)

Attached Files

VistaWindow2.zip (13.9 KB, 48 views)

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<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><span style=\"font-size:14pt;line-height:100%\">Doctor Fire</span></span>
<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><a href=\"http://pantherxp.org\" target=\"_blank\">PantherXP</a> developer</span>

Please test it out for me. I'll check for replies in the morning. Night everyone.

Ugh.. 1:46 AM... The night hasn't even started yet... Oh well..

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<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><span style=\"font-size:14pt;line-height:100%\">Doctor Fire</span></span>
<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><a href=\"http://pantherxp.org\" target=\"_blank\">PantherXP</a> developer</span>

Hey,

tested it out, ran pretty well. Froze up my keyboard the first few times, but it stoped after I placed my wireless keyboard closer to my computer.

When I open a window and have the program running, notepads titlebar and X_ buttons disappeared and all I got were the File Edit View etc. buttons and the note I was writing. Drag/Resizing worked, but it looked like the buttons on the top right delayed a bit, but that could be due to my system. So far good, nice work. I like it.



My system:
FX5200 128MB OC
1GB RAM
80GB HD
XP SP2
2.52GHz P4

Heres a picture of the glich when it is layed over another open window:

Attached Images

untitled.PNG (179.4 KB, 39 views)

Hi DrFire! What's up buddy, long time no talk no see! I just saw this post and downloaded/tested your code and it works as vista works on my pc. It is not slow and I don't get that glich Nylock got when it is layed over another open window or programs. It works perfect on my pc, soo good job.

My system:

P4 3.4 Ghz
1GB doble-sided RAM
240GB SATA HD
WMC XP PRO SP2
FX6600 256MB DDR

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gsbd41316 @ Oct 30 2005, 05:49 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Hi DrFire! What's up buddy, long time no talk no see! I just saw this post and downloaded/tested your code and it works as vista works on my pc. It is not slow and I don't get that glich Nylock got when it is layed over another open window or programs. It works perfect on my pc, soo good job.
[/b][/quote]

Hmm, thats funny I wonder why you don't get the glich. Maybe its my video card (old system, no PCI-E or AGP..uhhh).
Nice build gsbd.

Hey, everyone. I just woke up, and got on to check the posts. Good to hear it works for you guys.

nylock: I will fix that problem shortly. It's just because the borders are layered windows, and I haven't subclassed the "parent" window to notify the borders wether it is in focus or not; it won't be hard.

I'm glad to hear it works for you guys. I'd like someone with a lower end computer to try it to. All three of us have fairly fast computers.

I have:

P4 2.2 GHz
1GB RAM
NVidia GeForce FX 5500 256MB (OC)

__________________
<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><span style=\"font-size:14pt;line-height:100%\">Doctor Fire</span></span>
<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><a href=\"http://pantherxp.org\" target=\"_blank\">PantherXP</a> developer</span>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nylock10 @ Oct 30 2005, 10:14 AM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

Hmm, thats funny I wonder why you don't get the glich. Maybe its my video card (old system, no PCI-E or AGP..uhhh).
Nice build gsbd.

[/b][/quote]

I have no PCI-E or AGP; that's most likely not the problem. I don't know why it's not happening to German... He must not have lost focus to the window, so he thought it didn't happen.


I'm going to add the glowing titlebar buttons that will glow off the window. I'm subclassing it right now to detect if the window is in focus or not, and I'm going to try to make it restore the default Windows titlebar and borders when you close the VistaWindow2.exe

Give me a bit, and it will be done.

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<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><span style=\"font-size:14pt;line-height:100%\">Doctor Fire</span></span>
<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><a href=\"http://pantherxp.org\" target=\"_blank\">PantherXP</a> developer</span>

Will this do


My system:
Intel&reg; Celeron™ CPU
1300MHz
1.29 GHz 512 mb of ram
RADEON 9200 (ATI ALL IN WONDER Card)

[attachmentid=758]


The screenshot folder has the focus yet stays behine notepad and it seems my widgets set between the two.

Attached Images

vistawindow.png (292.4 KB, 25 views)

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ghostwalker @ Oct 30 2005, 12:21 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'> Will this do


My system:
Intel® Celeron™ CPU
1300MHz
1.29 GHz 512 mb of ram
RADEON 9200 (ATI ALL IN WONDER Card)

[attachmentid=758]


The screenshot folder has the focus yet stays behine notepad and it seems my widgets set between the two. [/b][/quote]

Well, that looks like a confliction between your widgets and their Z-orders, and the folder is on top because I hadn't yet made it detect if the Notepad is even in focus, so it stays on top, but the border z-order changes accordingly. I'll have to work on how the z-orders are handled so that kind of thing doesn't happen.

I just discovered something in my code that speeds up moving speed of the window quite a bit. I left it so every single time you move the Vista border is redraw, which is not necessary; only on resize does it need to be redrawn.

I'm testing it on other windows right now, and it's working just fine with 85 percent of the windows I try it on, but doesn't seem to work well with applications made in VB6, because they all have the same class name, which is annoying.

ghostwalker: how was the speed of the moving and such when you did it?

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<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><span style=\"font-size:14pt;line-height:100%\">Doctor Fire</span></span>
<span style=\"font-family:Verdana\"><a href=\"http://pantherxp.org\" target=\"_blank\">PantherXP</a> developer</span>

moving the window seemed fine

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