Preview not showing in WB config...

For some reason, I cant get the preview bar for my GUIO skin 'Mime' to show in the WB Config...

What causes this, and how can I make it display itself correctly?
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14,414 views 21 replies
Reply #1 Top
Hey did you rip my transparent Luna skin? Just a joke from another thread.

I dunno what is causing it but I remember having this problem once also. I saved the skin as another name. Like Mime2 then the original , save it again as Mime1 then Mime 2. I know it sounds rediculous but it worked?
Reply #2 Top
the word d e le t e was removed a couple of times in that last post. Hope it still makes sense.
Reply #3 Top
doing as NightTrain suggests is also a good way of getting rid of any extraneous files that may be located in the skin's folder, which can be hard to identify otherwise
Reply #4 Top
is this a UIS1 format skin by any chance? all of the skins that i have seen do this, and there are several, are UIS1 format.



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Reply #5 Top
No, its a UIS2... Ill try what you said NightTrain...


Got another, more serious problem at the moment though...Substyles...

For some reason, (whether it be 'bug' or personaly stupidity) whenever I make a subbie, and then edit the settings in it (say, give it a Compact Start Menu)...It applies the settings to the parent skin, and all the other substyles... (Vert taskbar sub-s and the regular skin end up with Compact Start menus)

The only way Ive gotten it to let me edit the settings individually, is by letting the skin duplicate all the image files when it makes a substyle... Of course, this makes the overall file size go waaaaay up...

Ive looked at other skins that have substyles, and I see what they've done...Im just not sure how to go about doing it..

A point in the right direction would be very much appreciated.
Reply #6 Top
I completely understand what you are going through. The only way I was able to consistently get the substyles to work was duplicating the files. I asked around for help and got no clear help. All I can suggest is that you duplicate the files. I know its no help but that is the only way I have gotten it to work. I did get it to work a couple of times but after losing files and having to start over I just let it duplicate. So far noone has complained. I believe it to be a bug. Or stupididty. Either way you are not alone.
Reply #7 Top
Thing is though, Ive seen other skins do it...

Frustrating to find that I (seemingly) cannot do the same...
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Reply #8 Top
The main style .uis file and the substyle .sss file reference another file to define the startmenu (amongst other things). This file has the extension .xp and is usually called something like xpstuff.xp by default. What is happening when you create your substyle is that the substyle and the main style are both pointing to the same .xp file, when you edit it in one substyle, the changes appear for all substyles. You need to create and reference a completely different .xp file for your substyle.
I ran into this problem myself and ended up using notepad to duplicate the xpstuff.xp file with another name, then editting the substyle.sss file to reference this. You can probably do the same thing from within skinstudio but I haven't actually tried it that way.
Reply #9 Top
Ok, thanks Tiggz. Ill have a look at that xpstuff file...
Reply #10 Top
Nevermind
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Reply #11 Top
Got the Shellies to work... (Thank You, Tiggz)

Checking into that Preview bug...
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Reply #12 Top
no probs EH

let's liven things up with another query: anyone know why the menubar buttons show in some previews and not others (in wb config)?
Reply #13 Top
I think it has to do with the Minimize button being ''disabled'' in the preview...Certain skins tell their buttons to disappear (button state is transparent) when their button functions are disabled...

Still cant get that preview to show...Saved a new version of the skin, but it still wont come up...
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Reply #14 Top
I noticed some odd behaviour in skinstudio when certain elements were particular sizes. For example: if the left border image dimensions were in powers of 2, let's say 8 pixels by 128 pixels, then it wouldn't show up in the internal preview at all, and was replaced with the default luna style image. It didn't affect how the skin worked when loaded, just the working preview inside sinstudio.
Out of curiosity, what dimensions does your titlebar image have?
Reply #15 Top
163px wide by 50px tall...there are two states in the graphic, so each state is 25 px tall...
Reply #16 Top
Minimize button being 'disabled' in the preview


I have my MyPod skin set up to not show buttons when the window is inactive, and it removes the minimize button in the preveiw.
Reply #17 Top
Took Mime off the GUIO site to update it and when I put it back up I got an Email from T-Man saying he spotted the error that this thread was originally created to fix...Wants me to fix it before I put it back up... (Says the .uis is corrupted)

Fair enough...It does need to be fixed...

But HOW?

Ive gone through the code in SkinStudio...Validated the skin...Fixed all the errors it found...Compared the .uis of ''''Mime'''' and a couple of other skins that have their previews working...Didnt see anything that looked remarkable...and the dumb preview still doesnt work...(see picture at the top of this thread)

/me is lost...

I could send someone the skin if they wanted to have a look at it...

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Reply #18 Top
Look for the skin called HalloWin WinFlag. It has the same problem as your skin. I have no idea what they have in common, but it might be something useful for you to look at.
Reply #19 Top
My old Sailors Delight WB had the same prob also..still does...

...And so does the Default Luna skin...Which may be part of the problem...In SS, when you create a 'new' skin, it starts you up with Luna...and you replace the graphics. ('least, thats the way I did it)...

I started with the Def. Luna skin, and then built Mime by replacing the graphics...

...Probably not the best choice, (and I wont do it again in the future)...but I dont feel like going back and totally re-doing Mime from scratch...

Theres got to be some small line of code in there somewhere that makes it screw up like it is doing...
Reply #20 Top
OK...

For future reference...

The WB Configuration utility does not display the targa format correctly..so if your Titlebar image is a Targa, it will not display correctly in the WB Config...

Glad thats fixed...Time to re-upload.
Reply #21 Top
Hmm...interesting....thanks for the heads up!