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The concept / WinLIFT 64-bit 8.00 (is attached to this post)
« Last post by Patrice Terrier on August 03, 2026, 05:22:16 pm »WinLIFT 8.00 - Major update
WinLIFT 8.00 is a major evolution of my native Win32 skinning framework.
BBRTV (BassBox Radio/TV) was used as the development laboratory for this release and is provided as a working example showing how to use the new WinLIFT 8.00 API in a real-world application.
What's new in WinLIFT 8.00
BBRTV - WinLIFT 8.00 example
BBRTV is not the subject of this release; it is the application I used to develop, test and demonstrate the new WinLIFT 8.00 functionality.
Its source code provides practical examples of the new Grid API, WebView2 integration, compositor, snapshot facility and window effects.
(A different effect is selected at each startup in loop mode).
The current C/C++ BBRTV executable is only: 67 KB
WinLIFT 8.00 remains a native 64-bit Unicode Win32 SDK framework, without MFC or .NET, designed for applications where full control of the Windows interface and a small native footprint are important.
WinLIFT 8.00 is a major evolution of my native Win32 skinning framework.
BBRTV (BassBox Radio/TV) was used as the development laboratory for this release and is provided as a working example showing how to use the new WinLIFT 8.00 API in a real-world application.
What's new in WinLIFT 8.00
- New Grid control
A native WinLIFT Grid control with headers, multiple columns, text, images, edit/combo/button support, hidden columns, selection management, scrolling and resizable columns. - New image compositor
WinLIFT can compose the complete application window into an image, including the non-client area, child controls, scrollbars and GDImage content. - Tighter GDImage integration
WinLIFT and GDImage now cooperate more closely, especially for WM_PRINT rendering and image composition. - DWM popup overlay support
The compositor can integrate GDImage DWM-composited popup overlays used by applications such as MBox64 and ObjReader64. - Integrated snapshot
CTRL+SCREENSHOT can be used at any time to create a snapshot of the fully composed application window. The picture is saved beside the executable. - New window animation engine
skShowWindow() can display a window using one of the new WinLIFT effects:
SK_EFFECT_FALLZOOM
SK_EFFECT_TRANSLUCENTSPIRAL
SK_EFFECT_CURL_FROM_BOTTOMLEFT
SK_EFFECT_CURL_FROM_BOTTOMRIGHT
SK_EFFECT_CURL_FROM_TOPRIGHT
SK_EFFECT_CURL_FROM_TOPLEFT
SK_EFFECT_LIQUIDFILL
SK_EFFECT_BLURFOCUS
The Curl effects are directional and the new effects are generated entirely at runtime from the composed window image. - WebView2 integration
WinLIFT provides a compact native API for embedding WebView2 into a skinned application. - Embedded DLL memory loader
A DLL stored inside the WinLIFT RCDATA resources can be loaded directly from memory, without extracting it to disk.
This is used to keep the WebView2/WRL implementation isolated from the main WinLIFT runtime while preserving single-DLL deployment. - DPI scaling helpers
WinLIFT itself does not claim Windows DPI awareness.
It provides built-in DPI scaling helpers instead. The host Windows DPI is used by default and the .sks USE_DPI property can provide an explicit scaling value when required.
The image compositor is designed to remain compatible with the DPI environment of the host computer. - zVector
Internal STL vector usage has been replaced by the lightweight zVector implementation. - Windows 10/11 improvements
Several rendering and compatibility issues have been addressed, including TreeView focus, SYSHEADER rendering, scrollbar overlap and control redraw behavior. - Smaller runtime
Despite the new Grid, compositor, animation engine, WebView2 support and memory loader, considerable work has been done to reduce the WinLIFT64.dll footprint and external runtime dependencies.
The overall binary size is only 223 KB.
BBRTV - WinLIFT 8.00 example
BBRTV is not the subject of this release; it is the application I used to develop, test and demonstrate the new WinLIFT 8.00 functionality.
Its source code provides practical examples of the new Grid API, WebView2 integration, compositor, snapshot facility and window effects.
(A different effect is selected at each startup in loop mode).
The current C/C++ BBRTV executable is only: 67 KB
WinLIFT 8.00 remains a native 64-bit Unicode Win32 SDK framework, without MFC or .NET, designed for applications where full control of the Windows interface and a small native footprint are important.

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