Does anyone here have experience writing Windows programs that are skinnable with WinAmp skins?  Is that a valid question even?  What about other types of skins?  I'd be interested in an API that if supported, allowed users to skin my apps.

I've been trying to come up with an effective, generalizable way to do this for a VERY long time.  I'd be interested on collaborating on this with you if you're interested, Grok.

I looked up some information recently about working on drawing on non-client areas of windows, but I can find very few articles or samples of what you describe.  At one point, I was considering using a completely border-less window (no title bar or control box) and manually doing the painting on the client form.  But I'm convinced that there has to be a better way.

Send me a PM if you're interested.  ;)

5 to 10 years ago, I would have been interested in working with you to come up with this.  Now, I am well-compensated to write business apps for customers and they want the apps quickly.  This gives me little time and no motivation to work on low-level libraries of cosmetic kits.  Sounds very interesting, but I'm happy now to let intelligent college students write these libraries, and I'll pay them $49 for a lifetime license to use in my $15,000 apps for my customers.  :)

So let's poke around the internet, development forums, API forums, and see who has done what?  Actually I need something that will work with VB6 and Visual Studio.NET 2003.

Mind posting what you find?

[quote author=DueL link=topic=9373.msg87068#msg87068 date=1099356181]
Mind posting what you find?

[/quote]

Definitely will, when I have time to search.  By posting I was hoping someone here who had run across something would share their experience.  Since we're not that lucky, I'll have to find time to investigate on my own, but that's not my highest priority right now.  It's way down the list, in fact.  I don't need that ability for a few more months.

The only way I've been able to think of doing this, which is very clunky, is to use an image for the parts, and then draw the image onto the GUI.  This is sort of how Winamp does it, but they seem to have made a way that doesn't suck completely.

There was some skin control (source available) for VB at vbaccelerator.com that I used in VB5 around 3-4 years ago.

http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/VB/Code/Controls/Skins/article.asp

Porting to C/C++ would not be difficult, since IIRC, 90% of the code is API stuff. But it'd take a long time, probably.