Question

Does anybody know how to modify Windows XP appearance and color scheme using VBScript?

I have an application written in Visual C++ that needs Windows XP appearance (not classic) to be properly displayed and I want to set this properties from the Installation.

I use InstallShield to make the installer and VBScript to perform some custom actions. So it would be great if I can create a script in visual basic to change this properties.

Answer 1

What I did was creating a c++ dll that I use as a Custom Action in Install Shield. In this dll I use the uxtheme.dll to set the luna.msstyle file as a theme. This is the function that does the work:

bool SetVisualStyle()
{
    TCHAR szUxTheme[MAX_PATH+1];
    UINT nSize = ::GetSystemDirectory(  szUxTheme,
                                        MAX_PATH);
    szUxTheme[nSize] = '\0';

    wcscat_s(   szUxTheme,
                MAX_PATH - nSize,
                L"\\uxtheme.dll");

    HMODULE hModule = ::LoadLibrary(szUxTheme);
    if(!hModule)
    {
        return false;
    }

    typedef int (__stdcall *SETVISUALSTYLE) (   LPCWSTR szTheme, 
                                                LPCWSTR szScheme, 
                                                LPCWSTR szFontType, 
                                                int nReserved);
    SETVISUALSTYLE pFnSetVisualStyle;
    pFnSetVisualStyle = (SETVISUALSTYLE)GetProcAddress( hModule,
                                                        MAKEINTRESOURCEA(LOWORD(65)));
    if(pFnSetVisualStyle)
    {
        pFnSetVisualStyle(  L"C:\\WINDOWS\\Resources\\Themes\\Luna\\luna.msstyles", 
                            L"NormalColor",
                            L"NormalSize",
                            1|32);
    }

    ::FreeLibrary(hModule);
    return true;
}

It’s not perfect but it does what I need.

I hope that this can help someone else…if you have any doubt don’t hesitate in asking me.

Cheers.