How ?

[parisienne17]

After digging a bit in the forum sections, I think I already know the answer but...Anyway...

Is there a way to easily make a modern skin ?

I'm trying to update the one I'm using by looking inside others (mine has black text white playlist/media library backgrounds but as my eyesight has badly worsen this last year, I'd prefer the opposite) but it is a tedious process and as I'm no coder, the xml structure plus understanding the skin base concept out of the box, from outside is... Challenging.

So, as I'm a graphic designer and have all the needed tools, is there any graphical interfaced skin editor to design a basic skin (I don't intend to use animations and such), one that will output the xml file ?

[ariszlo]

is there any graphical interfaced skin editor to design a basic skin [...], one that will output the xml file ?

The good news is there is. The bad news is that you won't like it. All it can output is a small skin with the size and shape of the Winamp Classic skin.

You had better learn the basics of Modern skinning at FrisbeeMonkey.com. It is really not that difficult. All you need is determination, patience and concentration.

Another option is that you show the graphics and if some coder likes it then you and the coder could work in collaboration.

[parisienne17]

thanks for the info.
I do hope that for future winamp if it ever will be released that coders wil implement a graphical skinning app and most of all the ability for the player to 'house' visualisations as did the good old Sonique or QCD.

I didn't notice that in my skins I had one "Modern"...I'll have to look in it too.

[ariszlo]

I'm trying to update the one I'm using by looking inside others (mine has black text white playlist/media library backgrounds but as my eyesight has badly worsen this last year, I'd prefer the opposite)

If all you want is change some colors, it is very easy.

To change the text color in the playlist editor and the media library to white, open the xml file with a text editor (Notepad will do) that contains the tag whose id is "wasabi.list.text" and change the value to "255,255,255" (the rgb code for white) like this:

<color id="wasabi.list.text" value="255,255,255"/> 

To change the background color in the playlist editor and the media library to black, change the value of "wasabi.list.background" to "0,0,0" like this:

<color id="wasabi.list.background" value="0,0,0"/> 

If you are using a very old skin then you should look for "studio.list.text" and "studio.list.background" instead.

[parisienne17]

thanks for the info.
I do hope that for future winamp if it ever will be released that coders wil implement a graphical skinning app and most of all the ability for the player to 'house' visualisations as did the good old Sonique or QCD.

I didn't notice that in my skins I had one "Modern"...I'll have to look in it too.

[parisienne17]

thanks again for the tip about studio and wasabii entries !

going thru all xml files I ended in some using these terms but what was disturbing were the number of unusefull entries in the xml studio colors and the use of them for multiple needs (i.e scrollbar background AND selection bar in popup). I couldn't neither find the parameter dor the selection abr and it's text color in playlist.

I also managed to change the scrollbars (a png file), saddly it is aso used for the bottom buttons of media library with no wau to modifiy the text color on them, so there must be some balance here.
I also managed to modify the borders of the playlist & media library and their thickness (only for playlist (I couldn't any parameter for media library).

The most irritating is some modification I've done in the main window, the player.
I've added an entry to put 2 icons for playlist and media l ibrary but hey are not showing : they're here because they show their tootips and do what they should (open up relative windows) but they'renot visible.... I don't know why.

(see my desktop and windows cursor on the area with the tooltip showing)
[IMG][/IMG]

[ariszlo]

All your issues can be fixed, including the scrollbars and the media library buttons but let's proceed with one issue at a time.

I've added an entry to put 2 icons for playlist and media l ibrary but hey are not showing : they're here because they show their tootips and do what they should (open up relative windows) but they'renot visible.... I don't know why.

How did you do it? Did you add togglebutton tags to player-normal-group.xml? If so, could you paste the tags here, please?

(see my desktop and windows cursor on the area with the tooltip showing)

Unfortunately, ImgBB scales down larger images making your screenshot practically unusable.

[parisienne17]

As a matter of fact, I've added to player.normal.group

<groupdef id="player.normal.group.display" w="374" h="120">

<!-- PLAYLIST BUTTON -->
<button
id="playlistButton"
image="playlistButton"
hoverImage="playlistButtonHover"
action="TOGGLE" param="guidl"
x="16" y="20"
rectrgn="1"
tooltip="Playlist"
/>

</groupdef>

with, defined in player.normal

<include file="player-normal-group.xml" />
<layout id="normal" w="374" h="120" desktopalpha="1" droptarget="pldr">
<group id="player.normal.group.base" x="0" y="0" />
<group id="player.normal.group.display" x="0" y="0" />
<group id="vis1" x="40" y="60"/>
<group id="DrawerGroup" x="0" y="0" />
</layout>

and in player.elements

<!-- Playlist -->
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_normal" file="player/PL.png" />
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_hover" file="player/PL.png" />
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_down" file="player/PL.png" />

[parisienne17]

Here's a screenshot with windows cursor where is the missing icon/button and the .PNG on the left

[ariszlo]

The value of the image parameter of the playlist button should match the id of the bitmap you want to use with it.

So you should change these lines:

<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_normal" file="player/PL.png" />
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_hover" file="player/PL.png" />
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_down" file="player/PL.png" />

to this:

<bitmap id="playlistButton" file="player/PL.png" /> 

If you use the same png for both the image and hoverImage parameters then you only need one bitmap id (and you don't need the hoverImage parameter).

[parisienne17]

Hi,
I used the same image just for testing.

But I don't understand... I've updated the labels to mimic what was used for the (already) existing controls and I've put the section in the same groupdef used for the other buttons (play, pause, etc...)... And it stil doesn't show when it performs (I'm able to toggle the playlist)

In player-normal.group.xml

<!--close-->
<button
id="close"
action="CLOSE"
alpha="200"
x="349" y="5"
image="player.normal.button.close_normal"
hoverimage="player.normal.button.close_hover"
downimage="player.normal.button.close_down"
tooltip="Close"
/>

<!--playlist-->
<button
id="playlist"
image="player.normal.button.playlist_normal"
hoverImage="player.normal.button.playlist_hover"
downimage="player.normal.button.playlist_down"
alpha="255"
action="TOGGLE" param="guidl"
x="4" y="20"
rectrgn="1"
tooltip="Playlist"
/>

in player-elements.xml

<!-- Close -->
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.close_normal" file="player/closeButton.png" />
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.close_hover" file="player/closeButtonHover.png" />
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.close_down" file="player/closeButton.png" />

<!-- playlist -->
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_normal" file="player/PL.png"/>
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_hover" file="player/PL.png"/>
<bitmap id="player.normal.button.playlist_down" file="player/PL.png"/>

[ariszlo]

Your PL button shows up fine for me. Are your PL button definitions between the <elements> and </elements> tags?

If you put them before <elements> or after </elements> then Winamp will ignore them.

Note. Quote your tags using PHP Code if you do not want the forum motor to replace guid:⁠pl with guidl:

 <!--playlist-->
<button
id="playlist"
image="player.normal.button.playlist_normal"
hoverImage="player.normal.button.playlist_hover"
downimage="player.normal.button.playlist_down"
alpha="255"
action="TOGGLE" param="guid:pl"
x="4" y="20"
rectrgn="1"
tooltip="Playlist"
/> 

[parisienne17]

in player-elements the playlist section is between elements tags.

As you have the skin, in player-normal-group, there are 4 groupdef, whatever the one i use it's a no show. I give up ! ;.)

[ariszlo]

All your codes are okay, so there must be some other reason why it does not show up. Incidentally, you might have put it in the wrong folder. It should be in the skin's player folder. Or your png might be corrupted. What happens if you put the attached PL.png in the skin's player folder?

[parisienne17]

I think I got it, somehow... A position issue : I think the song info (song title/artist name) is overlapping, blinding the icon.

As tweaking someone's else work is more time consuming, I went back and started from scratch (where I exprerienced the same overlaping issue).


As we're talking, maybe you have the answer to these questions :
- Is there a way to modify the way the song ticker works, rather than it bouncing back and forth from left to right, I'd like it to scroll in one direction then re enter from the other side.

- is there a way to 'house' parts of the player, like playlist/media library/vilualisation, inside the main window ? Something like implemented in this skin https://winaero.com/downloads/winamp/222250.zip

- One last, is there a maki decompiler allowing me to look inside scripts ?