Encoding and Decoding UIB

This section sheds some light on the UIB data encoding mechanism introduced in Windows Live Messenger 2009. For developers of Messenger Plus! skins, it is purely informative and you won't miss anything by skipping it. Other software developers however may be interested to learn more about the mysterious "4010" resource type, what it's about and more importantly, how to work with it.

UIB: What is that?

UIB is the acronym of... well, we honestly don't know, and that alone sums-up the problem. The best guess we could come up with is User Interface Blob but only a developer of one of the Windows Live teams at Microsoft could give you the real answer. This new data type appeared in Messenger in one of the latest betas of 2008 and it now completely replaces the old windows' definitions and styles types ("4004" and "4005").

Many have speculated about the reasons causing this change but speed-optimization was probably on top of the list when Microsoft decided to do it. Previously, Messenger had to parse 2 text files every time a different window was open in Messenger. Parsing text was time consuming, especially for some of the more complex windows as the program needed to handle all sorts of syntax variations. A nice side-effect, for add-on and patch developers, as well as skinners, was that the plain text file was easy to modify to achieve all sorts of visual results. Messenger Plus! itself relied on those text files to add its buttons in various Messenger windows and to let skin developers change the windows' structures.

In its latest releases, Messenger comes bundled with an encoded version of the 2 text files previously describing each window. These new files are kept in resource type "4010" and are called UIB files by some people because of the "UIB" tag that starts each and every file. Note that it is important to make a difference between "encoded" and "encrypted". The UIB files in Messenger are not encrypted and can be understood with some research and patience, which is what was done in Messenger Plus!.

How are UIB files handled by Messenger Plus! ?

Support for UIB files was added in Messenger Plus! Live 4.80. Encoded files are automatically decoded by the Resource Extractor when skinners need to take a peek at what's inside Messenger. When the text files are distributed in a skin, Messenger Plus! re-encodes them automatically when a window is loaded. In order to make the transition as smooth as possible for developers used to the old system, Messenger Plus! produces decoded versions of the UIB files that are almost identical to what used to be seen in Messenger 8. The only noticeable difference is the <*PlusSkin */> line that starts every file and gives Messenger Plus! some important information regarding its origins. This will be mostly useful for future versions of the UIB system and for that reason, that line must be kept in place in all the files.

Like before, 2 text files are generated for each window: a definition file and a style sheet file. Both are required to re-create a UIB file, however, Messenger Plus! skins are exempt of this restriction: when a skin is loaded, if either a definition file or a style file is missing for one window, Messenger Plus! decodes the internal UIB data to generate the missing piece before re-encoding the whole thing. It slows things down a little but this way, nothing needs to be changed in the way you're used to write your skins. Also, because Messenger Plus! is now in charge of all the parsing when encoding, the Skin Trace file now includes more detailed information about errors encountered while loading a window. This also allows Plus! to load the original version of the window in case an error occurs, which is handy for end-users but means you need to be extra-careful when doing changes in your skin. Always check if a trace file has been generated after testing your skin and you'll be fine.

This is all fine if you stay in the environment provided by Plus! but what if you simply want to use the encoding and decoding functionalities for your own purposes?

Adding UIB encoding and decoding to your software

The world of Messenger has always been full of add-ons and patches of all kinds. Messenger Plus! was the first one and there's no reason why it should be the last, at least not so soon. Unfortunately, some of the changes brought by Windows Live Messenger 2009 made us fear some programs wouldn't be able to survive the upgrade. For that reason, we decided that UIB encoding and decoding should be offered to everybody which is what was finally done in Messenger Plus! Live 4.80.

A lot of work was necessary to create the two fully-functional parsers that decode and re-encode the files. If you're the developer of a program that changes Messenger's windows files, you can let Messenger Plus! do the work without worrying about it anymore. Two options are offered to you:

• If you need to make live changes to the windows files, for example, when applying options selected by your users at run time, your program will need to call MPTools.exe on your users' computers to decode and re-encode the file after it's been modified.
• If you only need to make static changes in one particular version of Messenger and redistribute the result, then you can use the same MPTools.exe program on your own computer and distribute the re-encoded UIB file directly.

MPTools.exe is a program that's distributed with Messenger Plus!. It makes all sorts of calls to the main program for all kinds of reasons, it's a helper tool. Although it was also distributed in previous versions of Messenger Plus!, it was not meant to be used directly by end-users or other developers. This is not the case anymore as MPTools.exe can now decode and encode UIB files when the proper command line parameters are used.

Here is an example of how to decode a UIB file:

MPTools.exe /UIB=Decode /Src="C:\uibfile.uib" /Def="C:\deffile.txt" /Style="C:\stylefile.txt"

And here is another example of how to re-create a UIB file:

MPTools.exe /UIB=Encode /Def="C:\deffile.txt" /Style="C:\stylefile.txt" /Dest="C:\uibfile.txt"

Pretty straightforward isn't it? When decoding, the only input parameter that's needed is the UIB file you'll have to extract from Messenger's own resources (resource type "4010"). It can also be a UIB file that you previously generated with this tool. The decoding process produces two text files as specified in output parameters. If needed, only /Def or /Style can be set to speed things up (note however that you'll always need the two files to re-create a UIB file).

When encoding, the two required input parameters are the definition file and the style text file. These files are subject to the same rules previously applied by Messenger which means you should take great care when modifying them. MPTools.exe, unlike skins loaded by Plus!, does not produce detailed errors so don't hesitate to create a quick skin to make your life easier when testing new ideas. The one single output parameter is, of course, the name of the UIB file you want to be generated.

MPTools.exe is silent and will never prompt anything to the user if the proper parameters are specified. Fully-qualified paths should always be specified in the parameters and existing files will be overwritten when needed. As far as knowing the result of the operation, you have two ways to detect a success:

• Check if the output file(s) were generated (nothing is written on disk in case of failure).
• Verify the result code returned by the program. A result between 0 and 9 (inclusive) means failure. Results between 10 and 19 (inclusive) mean success.

Distribution

As mentioned above, you have the choice to either distribute a pre-encoded version of the UIB file or make live changes on your end-users computers. Rest assured that the UIB files generated by Messenger Plus! Live are 100% compatible with Messenger and do not require Messenger Plus! at all to be loaded. The first option may look more appealing to some as Messenger Plus! is not required on the end-user's computer but keep in mind that this also means you'll need to distribute updates of your program every time Microsoft changes the way UIB files are encoded in Messenger.

Messenger Plus! Live is a widely distributed add-on and its requirement shouldn't stop anybody from using your program. If you chose to make live changes to the Messenger's resources, check if Messenger Plus! is installed in your own setup. You also need to check if the user is using a recent version of Plus! that include UIB support. This can be done easily by checking the SoftwareBuild value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Patchou\Messenger Plus! Live. If the value is 4351 or above, you're good to go!

MPTools.exe cannot and must not be redistributed on its own. It depends on other files in the Messenger Plus! directory to function properly. If Messenger Plus! is not detected on the system (you can simply check if the registry value mentioned contains a valid value), you may choose to do one of the following:

• Invite the user to go to msgpluslive.net to download the latest version of Messenger Plus! Live.
• Download Messenger Plus!, launch the setup and let the user complete the installation (recommended way).
• Download Messenger Plus! and launch the setup in silent mode to quickly and transparently install Plus! on your users' computers. Make sure to display a notification while doing so to keep things straight.

Note: when downloading Messenger Plus!, always use http://download.msgpluslive.net/setup/MsgPlusLive-Setup.exe to automatically get the latest public version of the software. It is not recommended to bundle the setup directly but you're allowed to do so if necessary.

Finally, when launching MPTools.exe, you have to be careful of two things:

• Get the path where Messenger Plus! is installed on the user's computer from the AppDir value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Patchou\Messenger Plus! Live. Do not hardcode the path thinking it's always located in Program Files. "MPTools.exe" will always be called by that name though. As long as you load it from the proper directory, you'll have no problem.
• Wait for the process to end before checking the result. This may seem obvious but this is a common mistake.

Summary

Skin developers working in Messenger Plus! do not have to worry at all about what UIB is. For all the other developers, we hope that the encoding and decoding functionalities provided by our external tool will help keep your Messenger projects alive and kicking. Don't hesitate to visit our forum if you have any suggestion for improvements.

See Also

Specialized Subjects.