how can I change the "search panel" color?

[Faithope]

I did a pink (:D) recolor of royale using stylebuilder, but the search panel is still in brownish color:

How do I change that? can't seem to find a way :huh: :blush:

oh, and also the folder type watermark image (such as music, pictures, etc) doesn't show up :

please bare with me, as this is the first time I ever toy with stylebuilder. thanks in advance :)

[dreamz Veteran]

1. you need to edit shellstyle.dll.

2. in system properties > advanced > performance settings > check "use a background image for each folder type"

[smsmith]

To change the background colors of the search pane, you need to edit the [ExplorerBar] and the [ExplorerBar.NormalGroupBackground] at a minimum.

In [ExplorerBar], edit the GradientColor1 (that's the top of the dark blue background part) and GradientColor2 (that's the bottom, or darker, part).

In [ExplorerBar.NormalGroupBackground], edit the FillColor.

[smsmith]

To change the background colors of the search pane, you need to edit the [ExplorerBar] and the [ExplorerBar.NormalGroupBackground] at a minimum.

In [ExplorerBar], edit the GradientColor1 (that's the top of the dark blue background part) and GradientColor2 (that's the bottom, or darker, part).

In [ExplorerBar.NormalGroupBackground], edit the FillColor.

I quote myself, because I can't figure out how to edit my previous entry. Anyway, I said BLUE, when your screenshot shows the OLIVE color. Sorry about that!

:p

[Faithope]

1. you need to edit shellstyle.dll.

2. in system properties > advanced > performance settings > check "use a background image for each folder type"

I've edited shellstyle.dll using reshacker and I think everything supposed to be fine... at least that's how is should be, considering all the bitmaps included are fine but the watermark image still doesn't show up, when I use any other VS it shows up just fine :huh:

also about the olive color on search pane, I didn't find any rgb value in shellstyle.dll that points to anything that looks like olive :no:

To change the background colors of the search pane, you need to edit the [ExplorerBar] and the [ExplorerBar.NormalGroupBackground] at a minimum.

In [ExplorerBar], edit the GradientColor1 (that's the top of the dark blue background part) and GradientColor2 (that's the bottom, or darker, part).

In [ExplorerBar.NormalGroupBackground], edit the FillColor.

sorry, but where do I find that? I can't find them... maybe you can direct me to a more specific place to find it? in the stylebuilder (msstyle) or in the shellstyle.dll ? can't find them on both...

ok I found explorerbar in stylebuilder, it contains rebar and toolbar but neither have gradientcolor... and I still can't find [ExplorerBar.NormalGroupBackground] :wacko:

I really think I missed something obvious :huh:

Edited December 6, 2006 by treeag

[Faithope]

ok scratch my previous post, I've found a way to change the search pane color, thanks to smsmith :)

but for the background image for the folder type, it still doesn't show up :huh:

[smsmith]

ok scratch my previous post, I've found a way to change the search pane color, thanks to smsmith :)

but for the background image for the folder type, it still doesn't show up :huh:

You're welcome. Of course, I should have told you it was in the msstyles file, I just thought after having edited one before, the names would have jumped out at you. Mea culpa! :)

Did you check your system properties the way dreamz described?

[Faithope]

yeah I did checked it, and just like I expected, it was checked... I knew that because the images show up just fine when I switch to another visual style...

I'm really puzzled, I'm sure the shellstyle.dll already has all the bitmaps in it :huh:

thanks again for helping me, this is really weird.....

[dreamz Veteran]

yeah I did checked it, and just like I expected, it was checked... I knew that because the images show up just fine when I switch to another visual style...

I'm really puzzled, I'm sure the shellstyle.dll already has all the bitmaps in it :huh:

thanks again for helping me, this is really weird.....

are you sure the correct shellstyle.dll is being used? make sure you put it in the correct folder, e.g.: c:\windows\resources\themes\xyz\shell

where 'xyz' is the name of the visual style folder.

[smsmith]

are you sure the correct shellstyle.dll is being used? make sure you put it in the correct folder, e.g.: c:\windows\resources\themes\xyz\shell

where 'xyz' is the name of the visual style folder.

You also need to make sure the shellstyle is in the right subfolder of the shell folder. For instance, in Luna, the Shell folder has these subdirectories:

NormalColor

Homestead

Metallic

NormalColor is the blue, Homestead is the Olive and Metallic is the silver. You need to have your shellstyle in the right subfolder, too. So, if you edited the Olive color of the royale theme, you'll need to make sure your shellstyle is in the Olive color's subfolder.

You can find out the correct subfolder names through your msstyles file. In resedit, the file you need to look at is in the "COLORNAMES".

[Faithope]

I'm pretty sure it's been in the correct folder, if it's not, the task pane wouldn't be in the correct color, right? But it was in pink already, while the bg image wasn't showing up...

I'm really curious, nobody had experienced this, huh?

[Faithope]

or maybe I will upload the file and send it to you? that way (if you're willing, of course) you can help me inspect the file :unsure:

[Faithope]

ok, sorry for bothering you all, and for 3 posts in a row (I can't find a way to edit my posts :blush: ), I've found my mistake. the images won't show up because when I recolored them, the white backgrounds' rgb value are not 255 255 255 anymore, it was 250 250 250, so it wasn't truly white :blush:

but it still bugging me though, as the other recolor I did has the background image 254 253 250 and it still appears, maybe anyone of you can explain to me the limitation? ;)

thank you smsmith and dreamz for helping me :D

[oddbasket]

Explorer Bar

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

INI

---

[ExplorerBar]

GradientColor1 =

GradientColor2 =

[ExplorerBar.HeaderBackground]

FillColorHint =

[ExplorerBar.NormalGroupBackground]

FillColor =

TextColor =

[ExplorerBar.NormalGroupHead]

TextColor =

[ExplorerBar.SpecialGroupBackground]

TextColor =

FillColorHint =

Bitmaps

-------

EXPLORERBARHEADERBACKGROUND

EXPLORERBARHEADERCLOSE

EXPLORERBARHEADERPIN

IE_PERSONALBARMENU

NORMALGROUPBACKGROUND

NORMALGROUPCOLLAPSE

NORMALGROUPEXPAND

NORMALGROUPHEAD

SPECIALGROUPBACKGROUND

SPECIALGROUPCOLLAPSE

SPECIALGROUPEXPAND

SPECIALGROUPHEAD

These are what i changed to get the Royale blue explorer bar to finish the Royale Noir explorer bar

Certain areas' colors need to be very specific, ie those that are defined in the ini, such as transparency color. You either retain these colors or edit the ini to your new color.