The .bmp file contains all the graphics needed in your skin.
You can use any bitmap editor (from Paint to Photoshop) to modify or create it.
The bitmap will usually have a width of 1024, and a height of more than 768.
In the first 768 rows you'll find the background used for your skin.
The next rows are used to store additional graphics, like pushed or selected buttons.

The .xml file describes each element of your skin.
For each element, it defines what it should be used for, where are the graphics used for its various states (in coordinates from the .bmp file), and various other things.
The xml file can be edited from a simple text editor (like notepad), but it's more likely that you will install a specific xml editor (by the way, by default, Windows will open a .xml file in internet explorer where you can read it but can't modify it).

The xml file is composed of a root element (Skin), which contains all the elements of your skin.
There are 10 different types of elements:

Here is the list of the valid actions:

• nothing : Useful to make a zone react to the mouse (with over for example) with no action
• close : Close the software and return to Windows
• minimize : Minimize the software to the taskbar
• maximize : Switch to or from the fullscreen mode
• play : Play the song on desk "chan"
• play_n_loop : Start a loop on the first beats of the song (or exit the loop the second time).
• pause : Pause the song on desk "chan"
• stop : Stop the song on desk "chan"
• sync : play and synchronize the song on desk "chan"
• play_pause : Play the song on desk "chan" if it's paused, or pause it if it's playing
• cue_stop : Cue the song on desk "chan" if it's paused, or stop it if it's playing
• beatlock : Engage or disable the BeatLock
• mix : Start an auto-mix
• select : Set the desk "chan" as the active desk
• master_volume : Set the windows' soundcard volume
• headphone_volume : Set the volume of the headphones if any
• headphone_mix : Set the proportion of the active desk you can hear in the headphone in addition to the working desk
• mic_volume : Set the volume of the microphone if it's enabled on your soundcard
• pitch : Set the pitch of the desk
• pitch_reset : Smoothly reset the pitch to 100%
• pitch_bend : Add a value to the pitch without changing the display and the pitch slider
• crossfader : Set the crossfader value
• level : Set the level value
• gain : Set the gain value
• bass : Set the bass equalizer value
• kill_bass : Remove all bass from the song
• bassfader : Crossfade only the bass
• medium : Set the medium equalizer value
• kill_medium : Remove all medium from the song
• mediumfader : Crossfade only the mediums
• high : Set the high equalizer value
• kill_high : Remove all high from the song
• highfader : Crossfade only the highs
• eq_reset : Reset bass, medium and high to 0db
• menu : Change to the "value"th menu page
• settings : Open the settings configuration pannel
• effect : Activate the "value"th effect
• sample : Play the "value"th sample
• loop : Enter or exit a loop of "value" beats length
• shift_loop : Shift the loop from "value" beats
• loop_in : Set the entry point of a manual loop, or change the entry point if relative
• loop_in : Set the exit point of a manual loop, or change the exit point if relative
• loop_length : Set the length of a manual loop
• set_cue : Save the actual position in the "value"th cue point
• goto_cue : Go to the "value"th cue point
• song_pos : Set the playing position to "value"
• scratch : Scratch the song from "value" samples (must be relative)
• hold : Hold the disc
• nudge : Nudge the song from "value" samples (same as scratch, but without beatlock effect)
• skip_beat : Skip "value" beats in the song
• zoom : Zoom the rhythm window
• seek : Quickly move into the song
• edit_bpm : Open the "fix rhythm" window
• adjust_cbg : Manually adjust the CBG (obsolete, use edit_bpm instead)
• adjust_cbg4 : Manually adjust the 4/4 pattern of the CBG (obsolete, use edit_bpm instead)
• goto_mixpoint : Go to an automix point (obsolete, use edit_bpm instead)
• set_mixpoint : Set an automix point (obsolete, use edit_bpm instead)
• edit_comment : Open the "edit comment" window
• pannel : switch the pannel "value" and all its sub-components
• show_pannel : show the pannel "value" and all its sub-components
• hide_pannel : hide the pannel "value" and all its sub-components
• reset_xp10 : recalibrate the touch-sensitive device of the xp10
• lock_pannel : Lock or unlock a sidepannel in the browser (directories or playlist)
• favorite_folder : Set the current folder as favorite folder
• scan_hd : Scan the hard drive for audio files
• scan_cd : Scan a CD and add it in the search database
• delete_cd : Delete a CD from the search database
• automix : Enable or Disable the automatic playlist mixing
• randomize : Randomize the playlist
• onlynew : Remove all already-played songs from the playlist
• repeat_playlist : Enable or Disable the repeat mode of the playlist
• load_playlist : Load a playlist
• save_playlist : Save a playlist
• search : Go to the search page, and set the focus to the search box
• record : Start or stop the recording
• record_cut : Cut the recording to the next file or track
• load_effect : Load an effect
• load_sample : Load a sample

Here is the list of the valid value:

• "reset" : Bring a value back to its default
• "auto" : Set the matching value (for example, action="pitch" value="auto" set the pitch to match the other desk's BPM)
• "cut" : Like value="0"
• "boost" : Like value="4096"
• +xx : Increment the value by xx
• -xx : Decrement the value by xx
• xx : Set the value to xx. If the value is for a slider action, it ranges from 0 (min) to 4096 (max)
  
  
• "temporary" : Do this action only while the button or key is pressed, and reverse to the old value after

The syntax of the button element is <button action="" chan="" value="" rightclick="" dblclick="" leftclick="" pannel="">.

The syntax of the slider element is <slider action="" chan="" value="" dblclick="" rightclick="" leftclick="" pannel="" orientation="" direction="" relative="">.
The properties values are:

The browser element sets the space that will be used to draw the windows (search, files, ...).
You can only have one browser element in a given skin file, but you do have to define one.

The syntax of the browser element is <browser>.

The browser definitions are:

• <size width="" height=""> : Give the width and height of the browser window
• <pos x="" y=""> : Give the position of the browser window on the screen
• <text font="" size="" weight="" color="" over="" selected=""> : Give the main text's font, size and colors
• <options font="" size="" weight="" color="" over="" selected=""> : Give the options text's font, size and colors
• <widgets font="" size="" weight="" color="" facecolor="" lightcolor="" shadowcolor="" highlightcolor="" darkshadowcolor="" stripescolor="" trackcolor1="" trackcolor2=""> : Give the colors and font for the widgets (scrollbars, ...)
• <colormatrix rr="" rg="" rb="" gr="" gg="" gb="" br="" bg="" bb=""> : Set a color transformation matrix that will be applied on the built-in graphics (icons, ...)

The rhythm element defines where and how the rhythm curves will be displayed.

The syntax of the rhythm element is <rhythm>.

The rhythm definitions are:

• <size width="" height=""> : Give the width and height of the rhythm window
• <pos x="" y=""> : Give the position of the rhythm window on the screen
• <up x="" y=""> : give the background graphic to be used
• <chan1 x="" y=""> : give the graphic to be used when drawing the curve for the first desk
• <chan2 x="" y=""> : give the graphic to be used when drawing the curve for the second desk
• <both x="" y=""> : give the graphic to be used when drawing a point that belong to both curves
• <color back="" chan1="" chan2="" both=""> : (optional) Give simple colors to the curves. The colors must be a key in the standard VGA palette. This can be faster on slower systems than to use the chan1, chan2 and both definitions (see below)
• <grid1 width="" mainwidth=""> : Set up the CBG (computed beat grid) for the default channel. The <grid1> element has these sub-elements :
  • <size width="" height=""> : Give the width and height of the CBG window
  • <pos x="" y=""> : Give the position of the CBG window on the screen
  • <up x="" y=""> : give the background graphic to be used
  • <down x="" y=""> : give the CBG graphic to be used
• <grid2 width="" mainwidth=""> : Same as <grid1>, but for the active channel

The songpos is a special slider that is used to display and set the song position, display the song's structure, display and set the first five cue points.

A scratch zone defines a zone where the user can scratch using the mouse.

The syntax of the scratch element is <scratch chan="" factor="">.
The properties values are:

• chan can take its value between "1", "2", "default" (default), or "active".
• factor : (optional) multiply the mouse movement by factor/4096

• <size width="" height=""> : Give the width and height of the scratch zone
• <pos x="" y=""> : Give the position of the scratch zone on the screen
• <mousemask x="" y=""> : Give the coordinate of the B&W graphic that should be used as a mask to decide if the mouse is over the scratch zone
• <mouserect x="" y="" width="" height=""> : Set a simple rect zone as a mouse mask
• <mousecircle x="" y="" r=""> : Set a simple circle zone as a mouse mask
• <center x="" y=""> : Give the center of the circular mouse movement

The syntax of the textzone element is <textzone chan="" resetcounter="" pannel="">.
The properties values are:

A visual is a zone that changes its display to reflect various things.

The syntax of the visual element is <visual source="" factor="" type="" chan="" pannel="" orientation="" direction="">.
The properties values are:

A dropzone is a zone where a file could be dragged over in order to load it.

The syntax of the dropzone element is <dropzone chan="" pannel="">.
The properties values are:

A grabzone define a zone that can be used to move the VirtualDJ's window if it is not maximized.
If no grabzone is defined, any zone that is not a defined element act as a grabzone.

The syntax of the grabzone element is <grabzone>.
The grabzone definitions are:

• <size width="" height=""> : Give the width and height of the grabzone
• <pos x="" y=""> : Give the position of the grabzone on the screen
• <mousemask x="" y=""> : Give the coordinate of the B&W graphic that should be used as a mask to decide if the mouse is over the grabzone
• <mouserect x="" y="" width="" height=""> : Set a simple rect zone as a mouse mask
• <mousecircle x="" y="" r=""> : Set a simple circle zone as a mouse mask

A pannel is a zone that group together several other elements, in order to hide or show all of them at once.
Pannels are very usefull if you want to put several groups of elements on the same place, and switch from one group to another with a button or a shortcut.

The syntax of the pannel element is <pannel visible="" id="" group="">.
The properties values are:

• visible : "yes" to have it shown at the begining (when the skin is loaded), or "no" to have it hidded
• id : every element which has a pannel="" equal to this id will belong to this pannel
• group : only one pannel from a common group can be shown at a time (that means that when you show a pannel belonging to a group, all the other pannels from that group will be hidded)

• <size width="" height=""> : Give the width and height of the pannel
• <pos x="" y=""> : Give the position of the pannel on the screen
• <down x="" y=""> : Give the coordinate of the graphic to use when the pannel is displayed
• <up x="" y=""> : Give the coordinate of the graphic to use to erase the pannel when it is hidded
• <clipmask x="" y=""> : Give the coordinate of the B&W graphic that should be used as a clip mask when drawing the pannel