This article is not dealing with the creation of Windows themes. Themes are replaced from the Windows settings and not from the Application settings. Themes change the face of Windows controls, such as ComboBox, TextBox, Buttons, etc. Most developers mislead by saying Theme but intended to say Skin. WPF has a built-in mechanism for loading styles based on the actual Windows theme (see this). For example: Classic, Luna, Royale, Aero, etc. The one you replace from the Display/Desktop setting. See applications such as Media Player, WinAmp and many others. If well designed, a skin can be created and/or edited by users. Skins change the face of the user interface, shapes, colors, backgrounds etc. Skins can be installed with the application, or can be downloaded later from the internet. Set of UI visual Resources and Styles that usually can be replaced at runtime by the user. I will also provide a helper class for loading and unloading themes. In this article, I will talk about different techniques for handling WPF themes and skins. There are several ways to implement such a mechanism each has its pros and cons. Based on this feature, one can design and implement a theme or a skin mechanism as introduced in many articles including this one. One of the best features in WPF is the ability to replace Resources, Styles, Control Templates and Data Templates at runtime.

Download source (Visual Studio 2005) - 117.74 KB (thanks to Andrew Wood for converting it to Visual Studio 2005).

How to install custom skins project m