Quppa.net

Tag: windows

  • ResEdit doesn't work with the Windows SDK 8.0 and above (use 7.1 or below)

    ResEdit is a nice resource file editor for Windows programs. Regrettably, it has some issues with the latest versions of the Windows SDK (8.0 and 8.1) – it’s possible to create a resource script (.rc) file, but you won’t be able to open it again later. Even if %PROGRAMFILES(x86)%Windows Kits8.1Include is set as include path,…

  • Enabling the compatibility property sheet for (almost) all programs in Windows 8/8.1

    Windows 8 and 8.1 hide the compatibility property sheet for certain programs (namely programs included with Windows, like Notepad, and those on a whitelist of programs known to run correctly on Windows 8/8.1 – defined in %WinDir%apppatchpcamain.sdb). In some cases, one can still run the ‘troubleshoot compatibility’ wizard by right-clicking on the file, which just…

  • Windows 8.1 Impressions

    Windows 8.1 is done, though Microsoft is apparently worried enough about driver and application support that not even loyal MSDN and TechNet subscribers will get it until October 17 this year. To no-one’s surprise, the RTM ISOs were promptly leaked, which leaves us in the odd situation where the only way to test your programs…

  • Theme Colours in Windows ‘Blue’

    As I noted in my earlier post, the method for selecting theme (‘accent’) colours in Windows ‘Blue’ build 9364 has changed from Windows 8 RTM. I’m not going to bother looking too closely at the updates to the functions in UxTheme.dll this early in the development process, but I did notice two new registry values…

  • Windows ‘Blue’ Build 9364 Observations

    Update (2013-04-21): the thin borders are all gone in build 9374. It looks like Microsoft isn’t changing tack with the next release of Windows – the recently leaked build 9364 of Windows ‘Blue’ contains a bunch of worthwhile changes to the Modern/Metro/Immersive environment, but the desktop seems to be basically untouched from Windows 8. If…

  • WPF ToolTip Drop Shadows in Windows 8

    The standard ToolTip control template for the Windows 8 theme in WPF (‘Aero2’) has no drop shadow, whether or not the HasDropShadow property is set. The background colour and margins are also slightly off compared to the native style. The following template produces a result that’s closer to the real thing: <Style TargetType="{x:Type ToolTip}"> <Setter…

  • Image Background Remover Tool

    View source on GitHub. Inspired by Window Clippings, my preferred screenshot tool (which unfortunately crashes a lot under Windows 8 RTM), I wrote a small program for making image backgrounds transparent. It comes with a command-line interface and a basic GUI (pictured above). The GUI supports dragging-and-dropping images, and you can switch the black and…

  • Windows Update Notification Tool for Windows 8

    I was apparently part of the 5.82% of Windows 7 users who preferred to be notified about updates rather than have them installed automatically. Annoyingly, Windows 8 no longer displays the familiar balloon tip and notify icon when new updates are available, instead placing a notice on the lock screen (which I almost never have…

  • Pixel-perfect Multi-DPI Images in WPF (Part 2)

    View source on GitHub. See also: Part 1 and Part 3. In Part 1 of this series, I explored the issue of displaying pixel-perfect bitmap images in the Windows Presentation Foundation. In this article, I’ll describe a method of displaying different images depending on the system DPI setting using a custom Markup Extension and multi-image…

  • Pixel-perfect Multi-DPI Images in WPF (Part 1)

    View source on GitHub. See also: Part 2 and Part 3. I’ve written previously about DPI-awareness in the Windows Presentation Foundation and how to specify measurements in pixels rather than Device Independent Units (DIUs). Something else to consider is image scaling – unlike the Windows Ribbon control or WinRT, WPF has no in-built mechanism for…