After the VisualStyler.Net setup has completed, start Visual Studio and then open or create a new Windows Forms Project. Open the main application Form in the forms designer, and you will notice a new Toolbox tab named 'SkinSoft VisualStyler' with the VisualStyler component in this tab. Visual Studio Express uses will need to manually add VisualStyler to the toolbox using the following steps

Installing the VisualStyler Add-in

The VisualStyler add-in supports the Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010 IDE's. If you wish to use the VisualStyler design-time skinning features then you will need to activate the VisualStyler add-in. On the main Visual Studio toolbar select Tools->Add-in Manager to show the Add-in Manager dialog. Please note, if you are using Visual Studio 2008 on Windows Vista, then you will need Administrator permissions in order to configure Add-in settings on this platform.

In the dialog under available add-ins you will see an entry for the VisualStyler component, please check this item in the 'Available Add-ins' column and also check the 'Startup' column. Click OK, the add-in will now automatically load when Visual Studio starts. If you are using the add-in with Visual Studio 2008 then you will need to start Visual Studio as an Administrator in order to configure add-in settings.

Now drag the VisualStyler component from the Toolbox onto the form, after doing this the component will be visible in the component tray, and the VisualStyler designer will automatically display with the default options. When you click on the form you will also notice the VisualStyler add-in is visible alongside the other Visual Studio toolbars. If you wish , you can now move this to a preferred location and Visual Studio will remember its position at startup.

Installing the Add-in on Visual Studio 2008 under Windows Vista

Visual Studio 2008 runs as a 'Standard User' account on Windows Vista ( even though you may have an Administrator account ) and when you open the add-in manager and attempt to select the VisualStyler component, Visual Studio is unable to save the setting to the registry because of insufficient access rights.

Please carry out the following steps to resolve this issue :-

1. Run Visual Studio has an Administrator using one of the following methods :-
   
   • Launch "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" as Administrator.
     
   • Modify your shortcut to VS2008 by bringing up the shortcut properties, click Advanced and check the 'Run as Administrator' box.
     
   
   
2. Bring up the Add-In manager you will see the Startup checkbox is now enabled, you need to check just this column.
   
3. You could could continue to run VS2008 has Administrator by modifying the shortcut as described above, or run in the standard
   user mode in which case the Startup checkbox will be checked but disabled.