Full list of standard skin tags and attributes?

[gruskada]

Does anyone know where/how I can find/extract a full list of XML skin tags and their attributes? I've looked through about 7 skins so far, and I keep finding new things. I know special elements are their own thing - I'm not worried about them. If there isn't an easy way to do this, I can list out all the business rules, tags and attributes I've got so far, with the hope of getting the blanks filled in.

gruskada

[sub]

I know the question is probably directed at me, but no, sorry I dont have a list I can provide you.

[gruskada]

I know the question is probably directed at me, but no, sorry I dont have a list I can provide you.

The question was directed at anyone who could answer it . That's ok - I think I'm pretty close on the full list - I'll post what I've got here later today.

gruskada

[psycik]

Wouldn't it also depend on the developer??

And unless CommonGBPVR utilities, or GBPVRSkinElements are used they could be anything.

I think the way of the development future, is to implement some sort of common UI library.

[gruskada]

Wouldn't it also depend on the developer??

And unless CommonGBPVR utilities, or GBPVRSkinElements are used they could be anything.

I think the way of the development future, is to implement some sort of common UI library.

Right - I'm only looking to support standard, Sub-approved tags for now, and anything that McBainUK's GBPVRUIElements supports. Actually, what is GBPVRSkinElements, or did you mean UI Elements?

gruskada

[psycik]

No I mean't McBainUk's.

Hopefully that will become a standard. It doesn't make sense to have many UI libraries.

[McBainUK]

Wouldn't it also depend on the developer??

You realise that all the tags and Draw(...) type statements are in the skin files as part of the composite images.

In a plugin (or indeed in my UI Elements libary) skinHelper.getNamedImage(imageName, displayArgs) is called...the tags that make up the composite images are processed by GBPVR....then the finished image is returned to the plugin for display.

[gruskada]

You realise that all the tags and Draw(...) type statements are in the skin files as part of the composite images.

In a plugin (or indeed in my UI Elements libary) skinHelper.getNamedImage(imageName, displayArgs) is called...the tags that make up the composite images are processed by GBPVR....then the finished image is returned to the plugin for display.

But there's also other elements that a developer can just make up and handle themselves, like in the "FastFind/XSearch" plugin:

Code:

<TimeElement loc="550,20" size="200,20"/>
<CurrentValueElement loc="250,25" size="130,280"/>
<KeyboardKeyElement size="25,27" quickmode="true"/>

There's got to be the flexability to have these in the skin (or perhaps these could have been handled as "Special Elements", but either way I'm not able to easily handle them now).

Anyway, my list of all known tags to follow later on tonight...

gruskada

[gruskada]

um, or I'll post them tomorrow (today). Anyway, here's what I got so far. I'm not clear on what a few of these do, and I'm not sure if some of the attributes here may be specialized to certain plugins, so I'm hoping other members here can help me out.

Code:

<!-- Settings is a required root tag -->
<settings>
    <!-- NamedColors are an optional "color stylesheet" - whole sections can easily be changed by changing a value here -->
    <NamedColors>
        <!-- one or more NamedColor tags can appear here -->
        <NamedColor name="[any string]" color="[any recognized System.Drawing Color|gradient|hex code]"/>
    </NamedColors>

    <!-- TextStyles are an optional "text stylesheet" - whole sections can easily be changed by changing a value here -->
    <TextStyles>
        <TextStyle name="[any string]" color="[any named color (i.e. Selection)|#fff000|gradient?]" typeFace="[any standard Windows typeface (i.e. Verdana)?]" size="[any positive integer]" style="[any standard Windows text style (i.e. bold)?]" align="[left|center|right]" vert="[top|center|bottom]?"/>
    </TextStyles>

    <CompositeImages>
           <!-- Composite Images combine 0 or more images, 0 or more System.Drawing-generated graphics, 0 or more text elements, and 0 or more standard Elements -->  
               <CompositeImage size="[width,height]">
                          <DrawImage filename="[relative path]" loc="[x,y]" size="[width,height]"/>
                  <DrawLine point1="[x,y]" point2="[x,y]" color="[any recognized System.Drawing Color or gradient]" width="4"/>
                  <DrawPoly pointList="[any set of points (i.e. 0,5,15,30,0)]?" fillColor="[any recognized System.Drawing Color or gradient]"/>    
                  <DrawRect loc="[x,y]" size="[width,height]" borderWidth="[positive integer]" borderColor="[@NamedColor|System.Drawing color name|hexcode (i.e. #fff000)|gradient]" fillColor="[same - any recognized color]"/>
                  <DrawRoundedRect loc="[x,y]" size="[width,height]" radius="[positive integer]" borderWidth="[positive integer]" borderColor="[any recognized color or gradient (i.e. Horizontal:#ababab-#888888]" fillColor="[any recognized color|gradient (i.e. Vertical:#555599-Transparent")]"/>
                  <DrawText text="[any string|variable name (i.e. @buttonText)]" loc="[x,y]" size="[width,height]" textStyle="[any pre-defined TextStyle above]" align="[left|center|right]"/>
                  <DrawTextWithOutline text="[any string|variable name]" loc="[x,y]" size="[width,height]" fillColor="[any color|gradient]" borderColor="[any color|gradient]" outlineWidth="[integer]" textStyle="[any textStyle above]" align="[left|center|right]"/>
                  <Element name="[any string|variable name]" loc="[x,y]" size="[width,height]"/>
                 </CompositeImage>
    </CompositeImages>
</settings>

Questions:
- It looks like elements don't affect the display at all - they just define "hotspots" for the plugin?
- Is capitalization and camelCase required (or should it be)?
- Can any "color" attribute in any tag take a named color, hex color or gradient?
- Is "vert" available to other tags other than TextStyle?
- Are <Buttons> a special case, or are they supported natively?
- For <DrawPoly>, I assume the points need to connect to form a complete polygon?
- I assume <TextStyle> "name" attributes have to match up with something in the plugin?
- Is there a publicly-exposed function that can easily handle all the Color options?
- Did I misunderstand the use of anything else?

I'll work on all the <SpecialElements> for just the standard plugins (Blue Skin) next. In case you haven't been following my SkinTools thread, I'm using all this info for my GBPVRSkinTools application, which will allow skin designers to more easily design and manage skins for GBPVR (see the full thread for more info).

BTW, I've got the early stages of the WYSIWYG designer going now, with resizing and moving capabilities (sort of). It's coming along. I usually put my latest build up on SourceForge every night (source code only), so you can follow the progress if you're interested.

Anyway, thanks in advance for taking the time to look over the above code and answer my questions. It will be a HUGE help.

gruskada

[gruskada]

Sorry - in looking over the quesitons in the post I realize that I can answer many of them myself with trial and error. I am a bit gun-shy of messing with live skins now, after my previous experiences, but I guess everything should be fine if I just make backups :-)

I'll post an updated file when I get a chance to figure out the answers.

gruskada