Patent ID: 6886135
Filing Date: 2005-04-26
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. An extensible schema stored as computer-executable instructions on a computer readable medium for defining a respective visual appearance for a plurality of computer system components in accordance with a user interface skin theme, the schema comprising: a system schema file containing skin-theme metadata that describes allowable form and content of theme-authoring data that defines at least one display attribute for at least one user interface component, the system schema file including at least one definition of a plurality of user interface parts, wherein a theme packager uses the system schema file for validating contents of a theme-authoring file; the system schema file including a definition of a plurality of user interface part states corresponding to at least a respective one of the user interface parts; wherein at least one theme-aware control is displayed in accordance with the skin theme; wherein at least one of the at least one theme-aware control is a custom theme-aware control that specifies allowable form and content of data in a custom schema file; wherein the custom schema file includes at least one definition of a plurality of custom user interface parts; wherein the custom schema file includes a definition of a plurality of user interface part states corresponding to at least a respective one of the custom user interface parts; wherein the custom schema file is compiled into a dynamic link library of the custom theme-aware control; and wherein the dynamic link library of the custom theme-aware control is registered as a path value in a registry key.