xpize 5 Beta 3

[W3bbo]

Another update:

I've found the reason why the condition check was failing on some systems: I programmed it to identify numbers using your local computer's number format. So if you're on mainland Europe or Russia then a decimal number looks like '5,1' rather than '5.1' which is why it doesn't recognise your system as being the right version.

I'll fix this in the next release.

[Kaminari]

Install went smoothly on my SP3 x86, except that the uxtheme lib doesn't seem to be patched. MS-signed themes do work (Embedded, Zune), but I don't have access to any of my custom themes.

[W3bbo]

Install went smoothly on my SP3 x86, except that the uxtheme lib doesn't seem to be patched. MS-signed themes do work (Embedded, Zune), but I don't have access to any of my custom themes.

Yeah, I think the reason the UxTheme patches are failing is because I forgot to actually tell it to patch it

Can you open up the generated logfile? Near the bottom there should be an exception report.

[nathanrobinson]

This supports 2k3 x86, correct?

No, 2K3x86 is NT5.2 which uses a slightly different resource arrangement.

The next release, compatible with NT5.2 I hope to release this week, maybe even later today.

You rock man! Thanks.

-nate

[zefyx]

Working great on Windows XP x64! I'll be digging around it looking for bugs besides the ones you mentioned above, thanks W3bbo!

[clavicle]

Welcome to to world of colorful x64 platform.

Thanks once again for disclosing that switch option to install it on x64.

It certainly is great bit!

[no_one]

Umm...I have a log-on screen that is black and grey, a wee little green short-cut arrow on my short-cuts, the taskbar and start menu properties menu has turned to Zune and I have an embedded theme, I also have an Anolis folder in program files with a Xpize back-up folder in it.

1. How do I change the log-in screen theme back.

2. How do I remove the Xpize package.

I ask this as there is no Xpize anything that I can remove with Revo or similar, or is it that I can utilise the Anolis installer to re-install from the Xpize back-up folder...and if that is the case, can I also use the Anolis installer to install other non genuine themes, but most of all I want to change the log-on screen and the taskbar menu back.

Oh, and I find that the embedded theme is very hard on my eyes.

Regards.

Ps, if any icons apart from the short-cut arrow have been changed, then they are hiding from me.

[vartaxe]

downloading right now let's begin bug tracking

[Smiley89]

I've found the reason why the condition check was failing on some systems: I programmed it to identify numbers using your local computer's number format. So if you're on mainland Europe or Russia then a decimal number looks like '5,1' rather than '5.1' which is why it doesn't recognise your system as being the right version.

I'll fix this in the next release.

After running the condition test, I can confirm that this is the problem.

Here's the test's result:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Symbols
		osversion	   5,1
		servicepack	 3
		architecture	32
		installlang	 1040

Expression
		ToString()	  ( osversion == 5.1 && servicepack == 3 && architecture == 32 )
		Tokenize		'(', 'osversion', '==', '5.1', '&&', 'servicepack', '==', '3', '&&', 'architecture', '==','32', ')'
Evaluate
Result:
		0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Symbols
		osversion	   5,1
		servicepack	 3
		architecture	32
		installlang	 1040

Expression
		ToString()	  ( osversion == 5.2 && servicepack == 2 && architecture == 32 )
		Tokenize		'(', 'osversion', '==', '5.2', '&&', 'servicepack', '==', '2', '&&', 'architecture', '==', '32', ')'
Evaluate
Result:
		0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Symbols
		osversion	   5,1
		servicepack	 3
		architecture	32
		installlang	 1040

Expression
		ToString()	  ( osversion == 5.2 && servicepack == 2 && architecture == 64 )
		Tokenize		'(', 'osversion', '==', '5.2', '&&', 'servicepack', '==', '2', '&&', 'architecture', '==', '64', ')'
Evaluate
Result:
		0

I found a temporary workaround: I changed the decimal symbol from "," to "." in "International and Language settings".

Now installed fine.

I found a couple of small issues too:

- Some elements in Internet Explorer 8 aren't patched (I suppose because IE8 isn't supported ATM);

- One really minor issue: after reboot, there was no visual style applied (Classic mode). I applied it manually and it worked (unsigned themes work, too).

Edited June 30, 2009 by Smiley89

[W3bbo]

I'm going to work on optimising the distribution for size at the cost of installation speed:

Since it includes the Blue, Black, MCE, Luna Element (and now Energy Blue) resource bitmaps which are pretty much identical spare for their background image, I've decided to get it so that the bitmaps are procedurally generated during installation. This will probably shave about 6MB from the total download size, getting it down to around 11MB. Then with further optimisations I'll get it even lower (maybe even down to below 10MB).

Furthermore, I'll add an installation option that prevents the addition of the 128x128 icon size for compatibility with localised Windows installations that became unstable with 128x128 icons.

And of course, first-class x64 support.

From the statistics front: various figures added together report about 12,000 attempts at downloading the software over the past 2 days, yet only about 2,000 were actually complete downloads, but only about 100 (if not less) seem to have been installed (because when you install it it'll try to download the package update info). So unless 1,900 people have skipped the update check (unlikely) don't trust any download figures you see.

[W3bbo]

Umm...I have a log-on screen that is black and grey, a wee little green short-cut arrow on my short-cuts, the taskbar and start menu properties menu has turned to Zune and I have an embedded theme, I also have an Anolis folder in program files with a Xpize back-up folder in it.

That's what happens when you check all the options without considering what it does I'm thinking of a way to make the process more user-friendly, but it's difficult. Until then I think the treeview to select a colour scheme works... for now.

1. How do I change the log-in screen theme back.

If you load the uninstallation package as an installation package then uncheck everything except logonui.exe, your Welcome Screen will be restored.

2. How do I remove the Xpize package.

Run the xpize5B3.exe program again and choose the Uninstall/Undo option, then select the backup directory. Alternatively to have a more granular control over what's restored run the backup package as an installation package and choose the items to restore.

I ask this as there is no Xpize anything that I can remove with Revo or similar

Revo won't help you.

, or is it that I can utilise the Anolis installer to re-install from the Xpize back-up folder...

The backup folder is used to restore your system to the state it was in prior to installing the package. It pretty much does the same thing as System Restore, except it's slightly safer (since it checks if the files have been modified after installing xpize) and also covers all changes, not just those to Windows' system files.

and if that is the case, can I also use the Anolis installer to install other non genuine themes

Only if you define an Anolis Package for it. Otherwise just drop any unsigned themes into your %windir%\Resources\Themes directory. Anolis Installer is not a theme manager, but a "transformation pack" system. Although I might expand its remit in future. Watch this space.

but most of all I want to change the log-on screen and the taskbar menu back.

Oh, and I find that the embedded theme is very hard on my eyes.

Blame Microsoft, they developed it

You'll find other visual styles installed besides Embedded. I'm personally quite partial to Royale Noir and Luna Element.

Ps, if any icons apart from the short-cut arrow have been changed, then they are hiding from me.

You're not looking hard enough. There are 1139 icons updated in xpize 5 Beta 3, such as the icons that appear in the Internet Explorer control panel, or the tools in MSPaint. This is in addition to the 148 bitmaps that are updated to remove the Windows 2000 look.

Edited July 1, 2009 by W3bbo

[braian-k]

Hello, thank you very much for this beta, I've been trying XPize for a long time when I had XP x86, so since I changed to XP x64 I hadn't used XPize, but now I tried this one with XP x64 and it's working really good! Thank you very much! Waiting for the final release...

[MrBusty]

That's what happens when you check all the options without considering what it does I'm thinking of a way to make the process more user-friendly, but it's difficult. Until then I think the treeview to select a colour scheme works... for now.

Pictures are always good in this case!

If there were an option to browse all resources of the selected package during the installation, users can see with just on quick look, what the package is going to change.

Maybe its even better to show the current system resource next to the new one from the package.

Do you think, that is possible?

[Mystiqq]

Installed the latest version on my new rig (XP SP3) and noticed this (image below, white pixel borders thing) when using "remote desktop". Seems like problem with transparency/alpha? Whatever it is, it ain't pretty.

Also mentioning the default backup location somewhere other than in the installer would be great, like in FAQ/Help. I spent sometime trying to find out where it actually made the backup. After restoring from backup the icons are working without problems when using remote desktop.

[beats]

xpize 5 Beta 3

Why are you still using Windows XP?

Lol, without Windows XP there would be no xpize for Windows XP.