United BOINC

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This page describes how to customize the appearance of the BOINC Manager. Skins allow you to customize how the BOINC Manager looks in the simple view, the advanced view, and wizard dialogues. Skins are all collected in the "skins" subdirectory of the working directory. A skin.xml file needs to be created for any customized skin. This page describes the layout of the skin.xml file.

A skin.xml file should be contained within its own directory under the 'skins' directory.

An example would look like this:

+ /BOINC | +---+ /skins

   |    +---+ /Skin_Name        
   |        +---+ skin.xml        
   |        +---+ <skin resources> 

Localization

BOINC Manager attempts to find and use localized skin references. It falls back to a suitable language and if none can be found it will fall back to English. Overriding the language being searched for can be done in the Advanced GUI's option dialog.

If the current locale is 'pt_BR' and it cannot be found in the selected skin then the next language searched for is 'pt'. If 'pt' cannot be found then the manager resorts to 'en'.

Layout

The skin.xml file is described as follows:

<skin>     
   <pt_BR>         
	<simple />         
	[ <advanced /> ]         
	[ <wizards /> ]     
    </pt_BR>     
    <pt>         
	<simple />         
	[ <advanced /> ]         
	[ <wizards /> ]     
    </pt>     
    <en>         
	<simple />         
	[ <advanced /> ]         
	[ <wizards /> ]     
    </en> 
</skin> 

Both the advanced and wizards collections are optional.

Samples

• World Community Grid skin
• Skin examples

Skin Collections

Simple

The Simple collection contains all the elements need to construct the Simple GUI.

The Simple collection contains the following elements:

The Simple collection is described as follows:

<simple>     
    <background_image />     
    <spacer_image />     
    ... 
</simple> 

Advanced

The Advanced collection contains all the elements need to construct the Advanced GUI.

The Advanced collection contains the following elements:

The Advanced collection is described as follows:

<advanced>     
    <application_name />     
    <application_icon />     
    ... 
</advanced> 

Wizards

The Wizards collection consists of two elements which are broken out into the attach to project wizard and the attach to account manager wizard.

The attach to project element is described like this:

<attach_to_project>     
    <title>Attach to Project</title>     
    <logo>graphic/logo.png</logo> 
</attach_to_project> 

The title is displayed in the wizard's title bar.

The logo is placed on each wizard page and should have a height of 280px and a width of 115px. Logos can be any of the following types: PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP. The logo location should be specified as a path relative to the skin.xml description file. The path separator should be a '/' for all platforms.

The attach to account manager element is described like this:

<attach_to_account_manager>     
    <title>Attach to Account Manager</title>     
    <logo>graphic/logo.png</logo>     
    <account_info_message></account_info_message> 
</attach_to_account_manager> 

The title is displayed in the wizard's title bar.

The logo is placed on each wizard page and should have a height of 280px and a width of 115px. Logos can be any of the following types: PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP. The logo location should be specified as a path relative to the skin.xml description file. The path separator should be a '/' for all platforms.

The account_info_message is text that is displayed when the user is asked for username/email address and password information for the account manager.

The Wizards collection is described as follows:

<wizards>     
    <attach_to_project />     
    <attach_to_account_manager />     
    ... 
</wizards> 

Skin Basic Elements

Image

Images are used for backgrounds and miscellaneous visual elements.

Images are described as follows:

<image>     
    <imagesrc>graphics/image.jpg</imagesrc>     
    [ <background_color>255:0:255</background_color> ] 
</image> 

imagesrc describes the name and location of the image in question. Images can be any of the following types: PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP. The image location should be specified as a path relative to the skin.xml description file. The path separator should be a '/' for all platforms.

NOTE: we have had reports of JPG files not working with background_image, project_area_background_image, dialog_background_image, and workunit_area_background_image. If you experience this issue switch the image file format to PNG. We'll try to address this issue in 5.10.x.

background_color is optional and describes the background color that should be painted on to the dialog before the image is drawn over the top of it. The color is represented as an RGB value with the token being ':'.

Icon

These elements are used to describe the taskbar icons in various states.

Icons are described as follows:

<image>     
    <imagesrc>graphics/image.jpg</imagesrc>     
    <transparency_mask>255:0:255</transparency_mask> 
</image> 

imagesrc describes the name and location of the image in question. Images can be any of the following types: PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP. The image location should be specified as a path relative to the skin.xml description file. The path separator should be a '/' for all platforms.

transparency_mask describes the background color that should be used as the transparency mask. The color is represented as an RGB value with the token being ':'.

Simple Tab

The different types of simple tabs represent the different states an active task can be displayed as.

Tabs are described as follows:

<tab>     
    <imagesrc>graphic/icon.png</imagesrc>     
    <border_color>51:102:102</border_color>     
    <gradient_from_color>51:102:102</gradient_from_color>     
    <gradient_to_color>134:179:176</gradient_to_color> 
</tab> 

imagesrc describes the name and location of the image in question. Images can be any of the following types: PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP. The image location should be specified as a path relative to the skin.xml description file. The path separator should be a '/' for all platforms.

border_color describes the color that surrounds the tab. The color is represented as an RGB value with the token being ':'.

gradient_from_color describes the color that should start the gradient effect. The color is represented as an RGB value with the token being ':'.

gradient_to_color describes the color that should finish the gradient effect. The color is represented as an RGB value with the token being ':'.

Simple Link

Links are images that cause an action to happen. Links do not change state when clicked.

Links are described as follows:

<image>     
    <imagesrc>graphic/image.png</imagesrc> 
</image> 

imagesrc describes the name and location of the image in question. Images can be any of the following types: PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP. The image location should be specified as a path relative to the skin.xml description file. The path separator should be a '/' for all platforms.

Simple Button

Buttons are images that cause an action to happen. Buttons can be at rest or in a clicked state. When the button is clicked it changes to the clicked image.

Buttons are described as follows:

<button>     
    <imagesrc>graphic/button.png</imagesrc>     
    <imagesrc_clicked>graphic/button_clicked.png</imagesrc_clicked> 
</button> 

imagesrc describes the name and location of the image in question. Images can be any of the following types: PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP. The image location should be specified as a path relative to the skin.xml description file. The path separator should be a '/' for all platforms.

imagesrc_clicked describes the name and location of the image in question. Images can be any of the following types: PNG, JPG, GIF, and BMP. The image location should be specified as a path relative to the skin.xml description file. The path separator should be a '/' for all platforms.

Stencils

Making skins is simplified with the use of the following 3 'stencils' (these are transparent GIFs).

• To use the templates, use a graphical application such as Photoimpact that supports objects in multiple layers, allowing you to move the templates above the appropriate (background-) image to the desired position.
• The meaning of the template colors is as follows: The green lines / edges serve the positioning of the template above the respective (background-) image. The area tagged with red lines corresponds to the space to cut / paste for sequential images.
• The source for the creation of a skin is an existing, complete background image with the size of 410 x 540 pixels.
• Beginning with template_1 (to be moved, positioned and copied across the background_image) the creation of the workunit_area_background_image and the project_area_background_image takes place.
• Now, if desired, the workunit_area_background_image and the project_area_background_image can be designed separately depending on the desired effects (i.e. transparency).
• Subsequently template_2 (by copying, moving or positioning) can be used on the background_image, workunit_background_image or project_background_image to achieve the desired effects (i.e. transparency) in order to create further desired images (i.e. workunit_tab_area_background_image, workunit_gauge_background_image etc.)