Author : Barry Jacobsen
Page : 1
Okay, so you ran out and bought Windows XP on the day it came out so you could see all the nifty new GUI features - only to find out that your program still looks exactly the same! Argh! Well, the good news is that it's really easy to use the new features - after you download the new platform SDK (it's only 300 or so megabytes, so hop to it) from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/). After you have that, just follow these few simple steps and those nifty looking buttons will be yours!
Create a plain text file called YOURAPP.exe.manifest in your programs source directory (Replacing YOURAPP with the name of your application, of course). Put the following in that file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
<assemblyIdentity
version="1.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="X86"
name="COMPANY.YOURAPP.VERSION"
type="win32"
/>
<description>DESCRIPTION</description>
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
version="6.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="X86"
publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*"
/>
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
</assembly>
Of course replacting COMPANY with your company name, YOURAPP with your applications name, VERSION with the programs version, and DESCRIPTION with a short description of your program. Then, go into your resource file (in a text editor) and add the following line:
CREATEPROCESS_MANIFEST_RESOURCE_ID RT_MANIFEST "YOURAPP.exe.manifest"
Of course replacing YOURAPP with the name of your application.
After that, just recompile and enjoy that Windows XP Style.
This tutorial copyright 2001 to Barry Jacobsen (BarryJ@cpp-home.com). All Rights Reserved.
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