A skin is a customized Graphic or GUI (Graphical User Interface) which is used to change an appearance of a computer applications. Virtually everything on a user’s computer is customizable, that means that all of the computer programs can have a unique looking interface.

The SkinCrafter control gives a chance for your software to be distinguished by the originality of its design.

SkinCrafter is the best solution to help you easily change appearance of your programs. Our unique engine allows you to add unique multiple styles to your application and can change them depending on users desires while your program running. Visit SkinCrafter homepage for more information.

Operating Systems list includes Windows 98, ME, 2K, XP. Even more it will work probably under subsequent Microsoft Windows Operating systems due to the fact that SkinCrafter currently supports .NET based applications. The scope of programming languages is wide enough to cover all programming languages which support COM objects including MS Visual C++, MS Visual Basic, Borland Delphi. Unlikely other similar application SkinCrafter is able to skin any .NET languages.

Taking into consideration wide variety of development environments we do all our best to reach SkinCrafter’s complete compatibility with all possible platforms. That’s why SkinCrafter is provided and can be easily integrated as ActiveX (COM object), as DLL and as .NET version.

No. SkinCrafter library is not able to skin an owner drawn controls, and as far as VFP does all gui drawing itself there is no opportunity for it to be skinned.

Try our free DEMO version today.

You can place your order through ShareIt!

No royalty fees are required. You may redistribute your application freely, without any additional payments. License should be obtained for each developer, who will work with SkinCrafter component. Each licensed developer is entitled to use SkinCrafter in any number of commercial/non-commercial projects royalty-free. So if you have for example 3 developers, you need 3 licenses.

All registered users are entitled to free e-mail, MSN, ICQ based technical support and free minor versions upgrades.

Please report any problems or bugs

The version scheme for SkinCrafter is version X.Y.Z

X is a major version number.

Y is a minor version number. If a new feature is added, then the minor version number is increased. For example, the addition of new options would necessitate a minor version number increase.

Z is a micro version number (a bug fix version number). If the new version contains minor changes or bug fixes only, then only the bug fix number is increased.

The general upgrade policy for SkinCrafter is as follows:

All minor versions are free to upgrade to. The minor upgrade usually includes slight modifications and bug fixes. The minor upgrade increases only minor version number (from 1.4 to 1.5 for example) or even micro version number (e.g. from 1.4.14 to 1.4.15).
Major version upgrade is charged as it presents significant improvements (new features, essentially optimizations, lots of small modifications, etc.). In this case the major version number is increased (from 1.5.9 to 2.0.0 for example). Upgrade to a major version is voluntary so it’s up to you whether to update your software or not. Every up-coming major version is announced in two weeks before the official release.

All SkinCrafter customers are welcome to update to a newer version. To upgrade your previous SkinCrafter version you should uninstall old version, download and install updated version and apply your registration information.

A 32-bit process is unable to load a 64-bit module and vice-versa. So if an assembly is compiled specifically to target 64-bit platform, Visual Studio will not be able to add it to toolbox, hence the error appears. To overcome this error it is necessary to add a reference to the assembly.

• Open your project
• Right click on Reference
• Choose “Add reference”
• Go to SkinCrafter installation directory (SkinCrafter instalattion directory\SkinCrafterDotNet\)
• Find and select skincrafter_.net2.0_vs2005_x64.dll and then click OK

Code examples: C#

// The code in CODE SECTION has to be called in Main() function,
// before Application.Run()
using DMSoft;
… DMSoft.SkinCrafter.Init();

/* ———— Begin of CODE SECTION ————- */
DMSoft.SkinCrafter SkinOb = new DMSoft.SkinCrafter();
SkinOb.InitLicenKeys(”SKINCRAFTER”,”SKINCRAFTER.COM”,
“support@skincrafter.com”,”DEMOSKINCRAFTERLICENCE”);
SkinOb.InitDecoration(true);
/* ———— End of CODE SECTION ————- */
SkinOb.LoadSkinFromFile(”D:\\Skin.skf”);
SkinOb.ApplySkin();

Application.Run(new Form1());
SkinOb.DeInitDecoration();
DMSoft.SkinCrafter.Terminate();

VB.Net

Imports DMSoft
…
Public SkinOb As DMSoft.SkinCrafter

‘ The code in CODE SECTION has to be called before InitializeComponent() function
‘ ——— Begin of CODE SECTION ———- ‘
DMSoft.SkinCrafter.Init()
SkinOb = New DMSoft.SkinCrafter
‘These function parameters are used for Skincrafter DEMO
SkinOb.InitLicenKeys(”SKINCRAFTER”, “SKINCRAFTER.COM”, “support@skincrafter.com”, “DEMOSKINCRAFTERLICENCE”)
SkinOb.InitDecoration(1)
‘ ——— End of CODE SECTION ———- ‘

SkinOb.LoadSkinFromFile(”C:\\Program Files\\SkinCrafter.Net\\Skins\\Amazonite.skf”)
SkinOb.ApplySkin()


Answer:

There is no standard buttons which can have a text and an image displayed on them at the same time, for these purposes customized controls are usually used.

Being unable to skin different custom controls accurately we have created two methods AddDrawImage and AddDrawText. These are very useful in such a context when you need to add a text or an image to a standard control.

Here is a sample code written in C# to have a button with image and text displayed:

Form1 newForm = new Form1();
newForm.SkinOb = new SKINCRAFTERLib.SCSkinClass();
newForm.mBitmap = new Bitmap(”Bitmap.bmp”,false);

int hWnd = (int)newForm.button3.Handle;
int hBitmap = (int)newForm.mBitmap.GetHbitmap();

int left = 0;
int right = newForm.button3.Width;
int top = 0;
int bottom = newForm.button3.Height;

newForm.button3.Text =”";

ulong textcolor;
textcolor = 255|255<<8|255<<16; //Setting up RGB values

int l = left+3;
int t = top+(bottom-top)/2 - newForm.mBitmap.Height/2;
int r = left+3+newForm.mBitmap.Width;
int b = top+(bottom-top)/2 + newForm.mBitmap.Height/2;

newForm.SkinOb.AddDrawImage(hWnd,hBitmap,
left+3,top+(bottom-top)/2 - newForm.mBitmap.Height/2,
left+3+newForm.mBitmap.Width,top+(bottom-top)/2
+ newForm.mBitmap.Height/2,0,0,0,123);
newForm.SkinOb.AddDrawText(hWnd,”Image && Text”,
left+3+newForm.mBitmap.Width + 5,top+(bottom-top)/2
- newForm.mBitmap.Height/2,
right-3,top+(bottom-top)/2 + newForm.mBitmap.Height/2,
0,0,(uint)textcolor,0,(int)newForm.button3.Font.ToHfont(),124);


Answer:

The reason is in difference between VB and VB.NET languages, both of them use VB language syntax, but they are totally different in the method of drawing the controls. Therefore you should call DefineLanguage function with 1 as a parameter (as for all .NET languages) DefineLanguage(1); // 2 is used only for MS Visual Basic applications not for VB.NET

Answer:

To use a SkinCrafter in Borland C++ Builder, you should follow these steps:

- Add SkinCrafter to your project. Menu Project\Import Type Library… and choose the SkinCrafter Type Library

- Here is a sample source code to initilize and apply a skin to your application:

//You need to include this header file
#include “SKINCRAFTERLib_TLB.h”
//Add this code to your WinMain function, after Application->Initialize(); calling
CoInitialize(NULL);

ISCSkin* pUnk;

pUnk = NULL;
CoCreateInstance(CLSID_SCSkin,NULL,CLSCTX_SERVER,IID_ISCSkin,(void**)&pUnk);

TCOMISCSkin t(pUnk);
t.InitLicenKeys(L”0″,L”SKINCRAFTER”,L”SKINCRAFTER.COM”,
L”esupport@skincrafter.com”,L”DEMOSKINCRAFTERLICENCE”);

t.DefineLanguage(3);
t.InitDecoration(1);

//Here you should supply your path to a skin file
t.LoadSkinFromFile(L”D:\\Sample.skf”);
t.ApplySkin();