lets have another go at this
the last attempt at this posting locked IE *sigh*

i will try and go home at some point to try this out.

in the mean time, i have remembered there was a reply of potential interest on the newsgroups to this question:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=starone&hl=en&group=stardock.windowblinds.*&rnum=1&selm=4l921ugh0lijc9i8n0qsvjdd12sum6ousl%404ax.com

just DONT try and post to the newsgroup via google. i have tried this before, but the postings dont show up anywhere other than at google, so no one will see your posts

it looks like you are going to have to try stitching the link together to get it to work.

failing that, just get to the windowblinds newsgroup via google groups, and do a search in that newsgroup for "starone", which should take you to the relivent thread.

Okay.

I think I am having one of those days (feel a scream coming on). Tried to upload the XP theme, got a message from Stardock that they hadn't changed the zip format over, that it was now done (as of yesterday). Tried to upload it twice today and get a 9 subscript out of range message. Have an email to them again. Then Outlook Express keeps acting up, sometimes it sends the message & sometimes it doesn't. Know of a nearby cubbyhole? I feel like hiding until this is all over.

Well tried what they said, got my menu to come up again, tried to open Internet Explorer, Winamp, Outlook Express. With Internet Explorer it said couldn't laund program and then took me into Object Edit. However, this time it didn't open up IE in Object Edit. Guess that's an improvement. Anyway, Outlook and Winamp would not come up at all.

look on the bright side, at least you arent stuck in the 14th level of dante's hell

i have 198 files all being processed into one output file. one of them is causing a problem, but i have no way of telling which one!

this is going to take a while
/me wants to go home and kill notepad with smartbars instead
at least then i was achieving something, even if it was only a smoking pile of bits of notepad

I think blowing up notepaid might be a good vent for frustration. Might try it at this end. At this point, couldn't hurt. Especially considering I have completely achieved going full circle on this one and am back to square one (with an additional trying to upload problem, which hopefully will take care of itself). Outlook finally got back in line and is doing fine. Guess it knew its life was in danger at this point.

Read the new thread. Guess we are making history. Alas! Did make me laugh though.

dont worry about making history, it just seems to happen around me

for some reason people always seem to know who i am. you would think i was distinctive or something *giggle*

right, last night (after i finnaly got home) i did a load more experiments, details to follow in a moment.

however, the summary is that this is *VERY* *VERY* strange.

on reflection i think we should have paid a little bit more head to that sign we passed a while back. as i recall it was something like:

==============
public health warning: you are now entering the smartbutton minefield.
for your convinience ALL mines have been activated, and the latest technological developments in leaping mines have been used to make sure that you never know where the next surprise is waiting
have a nice day - while it lasts
==============

/me *mannic laughter*
i think this is begining to get to me
if you need me, i will be quivering under my desk

under win98, using WB 3.09c

running the golden eagle skin, there is NO sign of the smartbuttons at all.
in the WB smartbuttons option, WB claims there are no smart bars to configure for this skin.

added the section for athenda skin (it is somewhere earlier in this thread), and this has no effect.

if in WB i select the check box in WB configuration, smartbuttons, "set smartbutton settings for all supporting skins", i get a list of 4 things to play with, plus the option to add new things.

so, new theory
what needs to happen is to add a smartbar only, and then try and get buttons to turn up by using the general configuration options.

however, this doesnt expain the fact that i have seen smartbuttons from the goldeneagle skin working. so now reboot to win2k and look at what is going on with WB3, and see if this is the same version of the goldeneagle uis file.


arrived in win2k:
running WB 3.00

when i use the golden hawk skin as a per-app skin for notepad i am getting 2 extra buttons, vertically, on the right hand window edge these are appearing under the close button. the top of these is producing a list of the items in my quicklaunch menu, and the bottom of these two is the shortcut item, showing as an IE icon, sized to be the same size as the other buttons.

as a further difference, when i go into the smartbuttons setup in WB with goldeneagle as my current skin, it lists the two smart buttons, and makes them available to configure

now do diff the uis files for win2k and win98
the two uis files are listed as identical by cygwin diff!!!

so why am i getting such different results? the logical conclusion is that WB has significantly changed how it handles smartbuttons between 3.00 and 3.09c

interesting to note that there is no sign of the new "set smartbutton settings for all supporting skins" option on the smartbuttons tab. presumably more of these changes between versions.

following a grep of all installed uis files, there are Smartbar blocks in XPCopper.uis and XPWood.uis, however, they are totaly commented out. both have been placed onto the floppy for future analysis - i may have a go at that later today.

definetly managed to prove that WB 3.00 and 3.09c are doing quite different things in these two different environments.

why does the goldeagle.uis file i have on my win2k / win98 machine not have any smartbar sections? it has [SmartButton0] section, but surely that isnt the same?


================

so, starone, questions for you:
which version of WB are you trying? you are getting smartbuttons arent you?

can you talk me though what skinstudio allows you to do, point by point? i am wondering if it is possible to simply define a section of window border as a "holder" for smartbuttons, and then have WB place user selected smartbuttons into this place. if so, what sort of things does this do to the UIS file?

I am now using 3.09d for Windowblinds. Under this version (with coding the same as originally), I lost my url icon and it is replaced with another menu option even though it shows both the menu and the url in the windowblinds smartbutton configuration and shows smartbars enabled for this skin. Now, I have two buttons showing menus instead of one and both launching the program into Object Edit. Guess that's known as double the pleasure (headache wise).

In skin studio you can place the buttons anywhere you want. When you load the skin all the uis stuff goes into action. By selecting an item on the left you can change different aspects for each part (however, with the wbd extension it throws in it seems the only way I can get it to keep the changes is to write down what I want changed, go into object edit, make the change and save it. Use to be able to delete the wbd files, but now if I am running the skin it won't let me delete them.)

Yes, I've noticed changes in the different versions of Windowblinds which really leads me to the conclusion that it isn't us, but that they just haven't perfected that part of it yet.

Interesting note that you said it had options where you could add your own. I didn't see that when I went into it.

Well, I just downloaded the latest version of Skin Studio and now have lost it altogether. I get a stack overflow. Tried installing and uninstalling. I would go home except I'm already there.

Well, scratch the above, got skin studio back. Had to re-install the previous version, (after unloading Windowblinds, FX, etc.). Then re-installed the new version. Now everything is back to normal. They said loads of updates, but I didn't notice any visisble changes.

I'm so excited, I couldn't wait to tell you. I got my url back. The smarbutton works for the url. It does everything it is suppose to. Took off the winmenu smartbar thing though for now, it is still contrary, just for the upload. Then I'll go back and see if it will ever work for me. Maybe you have had success in that area.

i have decided that i am being to gentle with this!

i am currently on my home win2k machine, and have just downloaded and installed skin studio 1.50a, so that i can run some more experiments.

however, i am not seing any sign of smartbars in skin studio at all. am i just missing them (there are a LOT of buttons ), or are they not there at all???

looking at all these strange buttons suddenly playing with the raw UIS file in vim seems quite attractive

Actually, what shows up in skinstudio for me are folders (over to your far left). The first item will be the skin name, open that up and you have your buttons, bars, personality, etc. What I get is a folder that says smartbar0 and another folder that says smarbarurl. Basically Skin studio is for viewing and changing things. The key to the whole thing however is really the uis file, which basically after I get the look of the graphics I go in to fine tune.

I finally got GoldEagle uploaded with just the url part (which I now know works). Figured maybe if we get the menu part working I will implement it in the next one. Sure makes me nervous everytime I upload one on how well it will do. Its like throwing a baby out to see if it can walk.

Anyway, don't think Skinstudio will be of any help in figuring this one. I've checked out all the insert options, etc. and can't find anything new.

By the way, have you downloaded the lastest version of windowblinds, 3.1rc, I believe. Looked at all the files. Check out the smartbar.ini file and see if any bells ring, okay? Noticed there was a little more added to it this time from the last. Haven't gone back in and added the extra button for a menu to check it out though. Been too busy trying to get this uploaded.

this supports what i was begining to think last night, which is that skinstudio doesnt support smartbars or smartbuttons at all.

so, for the moment i can simply forget skinstudio me thinks.

what i am currently trying to achieve is a skin with a smartbar area on it, but no pre-set smartbuttons. then i want to see if i can get WB to add in the smartbutton its self, by selecting the quicklaunch menu button via WB.

i want to do this on a very simple skin, the idea being to remove as may of the variables as possible.

i still intend to get to the bottom of this!

Yeah, go! I'm dabbling with another one right now, but am starting with the desktopX part first (which I normally don't do), so inbetween when I get bored with it, may dabble with the menu too.

/me wonders why it has been so quiet in here

IT's here!
i have just downloaded WB 3.10!

it is now on a couple of floppy disks so that i can take it home and try it out.

this is the version that is rumored to contain an "official" and working example skin containing smartbuttons. this should be interesting.

now all i need is another couple of OS's so that i can simultaniously experiment on several different versions of WB all at once to try and make progress with this.

i have been to busy making realy realy nice fruit cake to do much experimenting the last few days

Fruitcake - oooh - where's mine?

Don't know how to break this to you, but got an email from Adam at Stardock. He said he read our thread and that the smartbuttons weren't finished yet and that version should be out in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that will solve the menu problem. I asked him to let you know (gently), because I didn't have the heart to tell you. You've worked so hard on this. (I'll miss this long thread too - we were making such progress.) I did mention to him that I did get the url to work though. He said he would be glad to get your and my suggestions in future releases of skin studio. (Don't think he knew what he was in for though.)

Have a merry Xmas. Mine has been rather grazy so far. It seems the only thing I want for Xmas is a mircale (daughter wise), but miracles can happen.

Oops, that's crazy instead of grazy (makes it should like a cow in the pasture.) Speaking of cows, had one for a pet when I was about 14. He would greet me when I got home from school. Needlesstosay, one day he wasn't there and we had a freezer full of meat! Boy, was I upset. Traumatic childhood.

starone - Have a merry Xmas. Mine has been rather grazy so far. It seems the only thing I want for Xmas is a mircale (daughter wise), but miracles can happen.

i will see if i can find where i hid that stawk
i mean, how hard can it be to find a massive white bird complete with baby carrage at the front?

/me decides to start hunting down the back of the monitor

starone - Fruitcake - oooh - where's mine?

this from that *wicked* person who wanted all of the chocolate to herself?
/me *raspberry*

starone - Don't know how to break this to you, but got an email from Adam at Stardock. He said he read our thread and that the smartbuttons weren't finished yet and that version should be out in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that will solve the menu problem. I asked him to let you know (gently), because I didn't have the heart to tell you. You've worked so hard on this.

well, that explains my latest set of results at least.

starone - I'll miss this long thread too - we were making such progress.

i dont see why we should stop here. after all, we are making history
as i recall, there are still issues resolving around winamp plugin's graphics, and object bar components to investigate.

starone - He said he would be glad to get your and my suggestions in future releases of skin studio. (Don't think he knew what he was in for though.)

/me *evil cackle*
i am sure that if we try hard we should be able to come up with one or two suggestions.
/me wonders if i a gvim plugin would be a good place to start

Hadn't heard from you in a while, so thought you had drowned in fruitcake batter. Glad you surfaced. Hope you had a merry Xmas. By the way, didn't want a miracle of another daughter, just one for the one I have (don't wish that on me)! Too many gray hairs with the one I have, couldn't handle another one.

Maybe we should have kept trying with the menu bit (maybe we could beat the two-week deadline). Anyway, at this rate, I'm sure you have learned enough to create a plugin. Think we could always use more to rack our brain over.

Finally got my top, bottom, left, right to line up on object bar (played arouned with some stuff and discovered what they did).

Anyway, GoldEagle is finally uploaded under WinStyles (by the way looks totally different from the one I sent you - what can I say?).

Almost got the DXTheme done on the new one and then on to the blinds, etc. Think I want to try new stuff with it too - sooo may be hollering for more help in the future.

the hunt is back on again!

i have just found the following post by Neil Banfield (a stardock personage) on the wincustomize message board:

> Smartbuttons function in WindowBlinds 3.1

> The logika skin has definitions which are
> outdated and all references to
> SmartBars need to be changed to SmartButtons.

> Neil

i will report back when i have more news!