please can sombody tell me what ive done wrong please? the attached zip file contains my skininfo file and the xml file for my options panel i need help fixing this.

It would make it easier if you could describe the problem, and give us some screenshots if necessary. We need to know what went wrong so we know where to look. Looking through all files isn't a very good idea, since we probably won't find the error.

i used deep blue skins options file as a base and maintained its directory structure and everything, i added in my custom options and viola i kept getting messages saying that the skin has no user definable options when i take the stuff out of skininfo thats used to refer to my options file everything works fine, however now this file will not even run in the messenger plus interface tester, i dont have use of xmlspy anymore to test against the schema as i refuse to pay £800 for a piece of software, so someone needs to go thrrough my options file and figure out what i did wrong, patchou any ideas?

make sure the editor you are using can indeed save out to UTF-16 because there are a lot that cant and thats what causes it not to work.

i didnt see a utf16 option in there however it atleast at first worked in the interface tester but now it doesnt so something in the file must be wrong right?

the two things that can make the file not work is either an error in the code itself or not using UTF-16. It's one or the other and there isn't any real way of knowing without going through the file yourself and making sure everything is right

eg not having duplicate ids, correctly opening and closing elements etc.

ok willz here you go

quote:

---

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<Interfaces xmlns="urn:msgplus:interface" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsichemaLocation="urn:msgplus:interface PlusInterface.xsd" Name="InterfaceOptions">
   
    <Window Id="WndOptions" Version="1">
        <Controls>
            <Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="LblInfo1">
                <Position Top="4" Width="200" Left="5" Height="15"/>
                <Color>
                    <BaseColor>
                        <Saturation>1.1</Saturation>
                        <Brightness>0.7</Brightness>
                        <Transparency>240</Transparency>
                    </BaseColor>
                </Color>
                <Font><Bold>true</Bold><Size>11</Size></Font>
                <Caption>Skin Options: 365 Skin</Caption>
            </Control>
           
            <Control xsi:type="LinkControl" Id="AboutUrl">
                <Position Top="222" Width="250" Left="5"/>
                <Caption>365 Skin: Created by UK Skins United (2007 - 2008)</Caption>
            </Control>
           
            <!-- Contact List -->
            <Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblCL">
                <Position Top="24" Width="150" Left="5"/>
                <Caption>Contact List/Caption>
                <Font><Bold>true</Bold></Font>
            </Control>
                   
                <!-- Contact List: Remove -->                   
                <Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblCLRemove">
                    <Position Top="35" Width="150" Left="15"/>
                    <Caption>Remove/Caption>
                </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemMailBtn">
                        <Position Top="46" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>Mail Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemOimBtn">
                        <Position Top="57" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>OIM Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemSharedBtn1">
                        <Position Top="68" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>Sharing Folders Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemSpaceBtn">
                        <Position Top="79" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>Spaces Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemTodayBtn">
                        <Position Top="90" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>Windows Live Today Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemDialerBtn">
                        <Position Top="101" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>Live Call Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemSMSBtn">
                        <Position Top="112" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>SMS Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemSearchBar">
                        <Position Top="123" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>Search Bar</Caption>
                    </Control>
                   
                <!-- Contact List: Add -->                   
                <Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblCLAdd">
                    <Position Top="145" Width="150" Left="15"/>
                    <Caption>Add/Caption>
                </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="AddSkinopsBtn">
                        <Position Top="156" Width="150" Left="25"/>
                        <Caption>Skin Options</Caption>
                    </Control>               
                   
            <!-- Conversation Windows -->
            <Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblConvo">
                <Position Top="24" Width="150" Left="180"/>
                <Caption>Conversation Windows/Caption>
                <Font><Bold>true</Bold></Font>
            </Control>
           
                <!-- Contact List: Remove -->
                <Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblConvoRemove">
                    <Position Top="35" Width="150" Left="180"/>
                    <Caption>Remove/Caption>
                </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemInviteBtn">
                        <Position Top="46" Width="100" Left="180"/>
                        <Caption>Invite Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemSharedBtn2">
                        <Position Top="57" Width="100" Left="180"/>
                        <Caption>Sharing Folders Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemWebcamBtn">
                        <Position Top="68" Width="100" Left="180"/>
                        <Caption>Webcam Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemCallBtn">
                        <Position Top="79" Width="100" Left="180"/>
                        <Caption>Call Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemActivityBtn">
                        <Position Top="90" Width="100" Left="180"/>
                        <Caption>Activites Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemGamesBtn">
                        <Position Top="101" Width="100" Left="180"/>
                        <Caption>Games Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                    <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="RemBlockBtn">
                        <Position Top="112" Width="100" Left="180"/>
                        <Caption>Block Button</Caption>
                    </Control>
                   
            <!-- Customization -->
            <Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblCust">
                <Position Top="145" Width="150" Left="180"/>
                <Caption>Customization/Caption>
                <Font><Bold>true</Bold></Font>
            </Control>
                <Control xsi:type="CheckBoxControl" Id="WordWheelLoc">
                    <Position Top="156" Width="150" Left="180"/>
                    <Caption>Move Word Wheel To Bottom</Caption>
                </Control>
                <Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblSTheme">
                    <Position Top="178" Width="150" Left="180"/>
                    <Caption>Choose A Theme/Caption>
                </Control>
                <Control xsi:type="ComboBoxControl" Id="Theme">
                    <Position Top="189" Width="150" Left="180"/>
                </Control>
        </Controls>
    </Window>

</Interfaces>

---

SuperEdi, something I used in university. It's free and it can save to UTF-16. Google it and you'll find it.

Notepad saves to UTF-16 fine.

quote:

---

Originally posted by vikke
Notepad saves to UTF-16 fine.

---

I think that when you put a multival option you need to also write the items in the Options Panel. I didn't see any of them. Check it because it might be the mistake you need to correct.

nope you dont have to write every single option thats in skininfo.xml into the options panel. When I was making Zero-G i based mine off Ev0's and there were options missing but it still worked.

Ok. I thought it could be that.

willz i downloaded superedi and saved as utf16 however interface tester still says "an error occured while loading the xml file" so there hasnt to be something wrong with the syntax i posted above.

basilis according to messenger plus's skinning documentation the list item thingy isnt necesarry in option files, if a listitem isnt used it will use the multival list from your skininfo file, you apparently only have to use list items if you want to change the order in which the items are listed or if you want to stop some items from showing up, now i am not saying patchou is perfect he very well could have put that paragraph in by mistake and mislead us all but surely if that had happens wouldnt there have been 100s if not 1000s of people moaning at patchou for getting it wrong?

EDIT:

Willz alternatively the only other way i can think of doing it is if i create an image of how i want it to look like and recruit you to design the options panel for me, me and jason would gladly credit your hard work in the skin and on its database entry, but hey i do understand your a busy man so ill understand if you cant spare the time.

What exactly do I have to write in the SkinInfo in order to display my Options Panel? I tried this:

<OptionInterface>
        <InterfaceDir>Options</InterfaceDir>
           <InterfaceFile>OptInter.xml</InterfaceFile>
            <WindowIds>
                <WindowId Language="en-us">SkinOpt</WindowId>
                </WindowIds>
</OptionInterface> 

and it says that my skin  doesn't have any modifiable options. What is wrong?

stuart, the code you sent me in the Private Message worked perfectly fine.
The code posted in this thread is failing to work because of 2 very important lines which you have omitted.

code:

---

<Position Width="220" Height="250"/>
<ChildTmpl/>

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Skinning Docs
Option panels are created like any other Messenger Plus! window but they need to use <ChildTmpl/> as Messenger Plus! will embed your creation into a standard frame with OK/Cancel buttons.

---

thats exactly what i did too same result. willz heres a design i came up with for my skin options panel the bullets indicate checkboxes.



obviously the skin options by bit would only be needed if you agreed to help us and the created by text would link to the AboutUrl, anyways i await your response.

EDIT:

volv i added those lines but still interface tester insists theres an error.

quote:

---

What exactly do I have to write in the SkinInfo in order to display my Options Panel? I tried this:

<OptionInterface>
        <InterfaceDir>Options</InterfaceDir>
        <InterfaceFile>OptInter.xml</InterfaceFile>
        <WindowIds>
            <WindowId Language="en-us">SkinOpt</WindowId>
                </WindowIds>
</OptionInterface>

and it says that my skin  doesn't have any modifiable options. What is wrong?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by stuartbennett
i added in my custom options and viola i kept getting messages saying that the skin has no user definable options

---

quote:

---

            </OptionInterface>
        </Skin>

        <MessengerPlus>
            <TabbedChatBar>
                <Color1><Position X="3" Y="3"/></Color1>
                <Color2><R>0</R><G>0</G><B>0</B></Color2>
            </TabbedChatBar>
        </MessengerPlus>
        </Skin>

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Basilis

quote:

---

What exactly do I have to write in the SkinInfo in order to display my Options Panel? I tried this:

<OptionInterface>
        <InterfaceDir>Options</InterfaceDir>
        <InterfaceFile>OptInter.xml</InterfaceFile>
        <WindowIds>
            <WindowId Language="en-us">SkinOpt</WindowId>
                </WindowIds>
</OptionInterface>

and it says that my skin  doesn't have any modifiable options. What is wrong?

---

Any solution for me?

---

I have done all this but it still says that my skin have no modifiable options. When I rename the OptInter file it just shows the deafult option panel. When it has its original name, then it shows nothing but the message" Sorry, this skin does not provide any modifiable option"

fixed code in skinifo but it still shows the version plus makes not the custom one but atleast im not getting an error now, i copy pasted the code i sent you via private message into a new file saved it over the top of my original and according to you that should have worked but still getting error from interface tester.

In my case. the Interface tester displays it fine but the Messenger says there are no options. When I take it out of the directory, it displays the Plus default panel. Stuart,I think there is an error in the interface file. But I can't make out what causes the problem in my panel.

show me your interface file code i might not be able to figure out my own but perhaps ill stand atleast some chance of figuring out yours lol.

EDIT:

found out whats wrong with mine i hadnt ticked bom when saving it in utf16 that has to be ticked or it wont work. perhapos thats why yours doesnt work basilis.

quote:

---

Originally posted by stuartbennett
found out whats wrong with mine i hadnt ticked bom when saving it in utf16 that has to be ticked or it wont work. perhapos thats why yours doesnt work basilis.

---

Does the options have to be in the same order as they are in the SkinInfo? I mean that in my interface file, I have changed the order of the options.

yes my custom options are working now, next thing to tackle is how to change background colour and font colours so as to acheive the desired look but theres no documentation on this subject.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Basilis
Does the options have to be in the same order as they are in the SkinInfo? I mean that in my interface file, I have changed the order of the options.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by stuartbennett
yes my custom options are working now, next thing to tackle is how to change background colour and font colours so as to acheive the desired look but theres no documentation on this subject.

---

yes thatd be helpful but i cant afford £800 to be able to read it as no other software anywhere on earth except xmlspy can read that file

quote:

---

Originally posted by stuartbennett
yes thatd be helpful but i cant afford £800 to be able to read it as no other software anywhere on earth except xmlspy can read that file

---

tried that and patchou has done a poor job of trying to explain it it makes no sense what so ever just reading it it has to compare your code to itself and tell you what youve done wrong to be any use please help.

I am sure that the mistake is in my SkinInfo file since I tried replacing the Interface of Evo with mine and when I opened Evo, it displayed the Option Panel perfect. Of course the options weren't working but at least I know where the problem is. Please take a look at it.

try that

Ii didn't work. I had it tried it too.

zip up the whole skin and ill take a look for you basilis as without seeing your directory structure  and maybe the options panel itll be difficult to fix.

quote:

---

Originally posted by stuartbennett
tried that and patchou has done a poor job of trying to explain it it makes no sense what so ever just reading it it has to compare your code to itself and tell you what youve done wrong to be any use please help.

---

quote:

---

<Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblBla">
    <Position Top="35" Width="150" Left="15"/>
    <Caption>Bla bla</Caption>
</Control>

---

quote:

---

<Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblBla">
    <Position Top="35" Width="150" Left="15"/>
    <Caption>Bla bla</Caption>
    <Color>

    </Color>
</Control>

---

quote:

---

<Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblBla">
    <Position Top="35" Width="150" Left="15"/>
    <Caption>Bla bla</Caption>
    <Color>
        <Red></Red>
        <Green></Green>
        <Blue></Blue>
    </Color>
</Control>

---

quote:

---

<Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblBla">
    <Position Top="35" Width="150" Left="15"/>
    <Caption>Bla bla</Caption>
    <Color>
        <Red>150</Red>
        <Green></Green>
        <Blue></Blue>
    </Color>
</Control>

---

quote:

---

<Control xsi:type="StaticControl" Id="lblBla">
    <Position Top="35" Width="150" Left="15"/>
    <Caption>Bla bla</Caption>
    <Color>
        <Red>150</Red>
        <Green>123</Green>
        <Blue>255</Blue>
    </Color>
</Control>

---

while that works on the text, it doesnt help me change the background and theres nothing in the documentation about that.

Can it be the fact that I am using a messenger that is translated to Greek so that

<OptionInterface>
            <InterfaceDir>Options</InterfaceDir>
            <InterfaceFile>OptInterfaces.xml</InterfaceFile>
            <WindowIds>
                <WindowId Language="en-us">SkinOpt</WindowId>
               </WindowIds>
        </OptionInterface>   

is not working?

I mean the "en-us" should it be "en-gr" for example?

No:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Skinning Docs
You'll notice that "en-us" was specified as the window's language. A Language attribute is required for every <WindowId> element and in this case, it simply means that the text in the window is displayed in English. The system allows you to create localized versions of the window but you don't have to do that if you don't want to. One <WindowId> element can be specified for each language code that you support (Messenger Plus! compares the code with the one specified in Messenger) and if no matching language can be found, the first window in the list is loaded and its language code is ignored.

---

Can you please download my attachment and see what I should add in order to make it work? As I said, I tested it on skylines and evo and it was working so there must be a difference between evo's&skylines's SkinInfoes with mine

Try adding a picture enough big so that it covers the whole window. If the text has a clear color, then it will be displayed just perfect.

ok basilis i tryed that and heres the result



but as you can see the top, roght & bottom still have the old plus thingy in them which i dont want how do i extend the image into them too?

You don't, that's the best you can do since it is a child template.

and theres no way of getting around it?

Help please!!
I've tried searching the skinning forum to understand why wasn't my custom options panel working, but even doing everything ppl told to do it still isn't working!!
Yeah, I've save with SuperEdi, with BOM checked, .xml file in Unicode 16 (UTF-16), the Interface Tester opens it pretty fine, Safari (my xml "validator") tells me there isn't any sintax error, all the options that are in the skin (all boolval) are in the OI.xml (the Option Interface .xml file)...and so on...
Thanks anyway

P.S.: My SkinInfo and OI.xml are in my public skydrive folder, cuz the forum doesn't allow .xml files in the attachment

http://cid-89c90c790778173b.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Público

I had this problem once and the problem was that I had specified wrong the name of an option in the options xml. Check it please

No, it isn't this...I have already double-checked each option...

I had done that also but if a letter has to be capital and it not, then the panel is not displayed in the skin.

...But even the Capitals are correct!! Every single option I included was Copy-Paste, and verified twice!!
Oh...but when i open the OI.xml with xml notepad, it says that:"Error loading schema 'PlusInterface.xsd'. It wasn't possible to locale the file "...Option Panel\PlusInterface.xsd"
Anything with that?

blessedguy, i am validating your skininfo file against the schema now and i have found a whole ton of syntax errors, for example in metadata your tags are supposed to go

colorise
umleft
umtop
umright
umbottom

but in yours they go

umleft
umtop
umbottom
umright
colorize

also icons are supposed to go after pictures not before them, i am correcting the errors now and when im done ill send you the file, with any luck once these syntax errors are fixed the file will work and that should theorectically fix your opions panel problem. i will come back soon to let you know.

EDIT:

i just found one more syntax problem, in your resources you did

replace
new

where it should be

new
replace

im just fixing the last couple of picture resources in your replace section and then ill be done.

I don't think so. I have colorize before UMs and it works fine.

the order doesn't change anything...There's nothing about that in the Skinning docs.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Basilis
I don't think so. I have colorize before UMs and it works fine.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by blessedguy
the order doesn't change anything...There's nothing about that in the Skinning docs.

---

i got it right already...
just renamed directory tag

yes colorize has to preceed ums it cannot be placed after them, i did pick up on a few more syntax errors, its not that he typed anything wrong just that things were not in correct sequence, the only thing i will mentions is icon 724 blessedguy tryed to put an msgvsta source in there which isnt valid on icongroups it could be done on just normal icon but not icongroup, ive taken that line out so everything works and ill leave it with you to work out how you want to fix that blessedguy.

files attached in zip file

EDIT:

glad to hear that you fixed options panel but please download the new version of the skininfo as i think youll stil have problems with the old one based on what i saw in there. hope this helps.

Are you rly sure of the 724 icon thing?? I've based on Willz skinning guide and Evo's SkinInfo.xml (BASED, NOT COPIED) and he has done in that same way...and  according to what I know...in XML, the order of the blocks doesn't change anything...Just the Order of the "families"(for example...

<a>
<b></b><d></d><c></c>
</a>

being the same as:

<a>
<b></b><c></c><d></d>
</a>
and
<a>
<b></b>
</a>

being diffrent from

<b>
<a></b>
</a>)

If it is important...patchou should have included that in the skinning docs!!


Edit...And 724 DOES HAVE msgvista source..im in vista and the change of 724 hasn't been applied...it was working tough, with the msgvista source...

Edit: I will still "fix" that though

all i know is when i used the schema to validate the skininfo file it said that certain tags appeared where they wasnt expected, now i use xmlspy and on left hand side as you are positioned after or before a tag it tells you what text can be entered at that location and the order in which they need to be entered, i just followed that, yes i agree patchou should have put some kind of warning in the skinning documentation.

as for msgvsta thingy well you can try and see if it works, i dont doubt the image itself has a vista property as per willz skinning guide but according to the plusskin schema icongroup doesnt support it as a valiud source.

well heres howe i did my url

quote:

---

            <Control xsi:type="LinkControl" Id="AboutUrl">
                <Position Top="0" Width="170" Left="280"/>
                    <TextColor>
                        <Red>255</Red>
                        <Green>255</Green>
                        <Blue>255</Blue>
                    </TextColor>
                <Caption>365 Skin: Created by UK Skins United (2007 - 2008)</Caption>
            </Control>

---

quote:

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blessedguy has just replied to a thread which you have subscribed to at the Messenger Plus! Live Forums. This thread is titled [HELP] Creating A Custom Skinops Panel. Here is an excerpt of the message:--well...right or not, it workedwith the msgvista source, and only with the msgvista source...and...just one last question...how to put your URL in the panel??(like clickable, with the website url but showing something like "website") I've tried

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Originally posted by stuartbennett
well heres howe i did my url



sey linkcontrol to AboutUrl which gets its value from your skininfo file and set caption to whatever you want the wording to be.

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yes heres how i just did it on mine

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            <Control xsi:type="LinkControl" Id="AboutUrl">
                <Position Top="0" Width="170" Left="280"/>
                <Attributes>
                    <Underline>Never</Underline>
                </Attributes>
                    <TextColor>
                        <Red>255</Red>
                        <Green>255</Green>
                        <Blue>255</Blue>
                    </TextColor>
                <Caption>365 Skin: Created by UK Skins United (2007 - 2008)</Caption>
            </Control>

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Thanks a lot!!

your welcome, glad i could help.

in the messages above it states that the plain area where the ok and cancel buttons reside cannot have there background edited, so tell me then how did this get done in "rasta live messenger 3.1" as shown below?



if i could do this in my skin options panel id be a very happy man.