GUI Design Studio Templates

These Templates represent complete designs or parts of a design that you can insert into your own GUI Design Studio projects.

They can be used with GUI Design Studio Professional version 4.0 and above. The Express edition does not support templates.

Templates either provide a basis for entire projects or represent design patterns that can be repeatedly inserted into existing projects then modified as necessary. The type of template should be clear from the description.

Note: full project templates can still be inserted into an existing project!

For detailed instructions, see the How-to section at the bottom of this page.

Ribbon App Template V1.0

Compatibility:GUI Design Studio Professional v4.0+
Requires:Ribbon Library v1.0+
Type:Full project
Install to:Templates \ Ribbon \ Applications \

This template will get you started quickly on an application design based on the Ribbon Bar UI paradigm. It includes the following connected designs:

  • Application frame window with ribbon bar and status bar
  • Application menu with predefined commands
  • Home ribbon
  • Insert ribbon
  • View ribbon

This template was put together very rapidly using the elements in the Ribbon Library.

Wizard Templates V1.0

Compatibility:GUI Design Studio Professional v4.0+
Type:Design Patterns
Install to:Templates \ Windows \ Wizards \

This set of templates can be used to add a Wizard interface to your desktop application comprising a number of steps, some processing and completion.

The first template includes all of the screens as a full sequence.

The remaining templates can be used to insert individual screens. This is particularly useful for adding steps to an existing wizard.

How to use GUI Design Templates

Design libraries can be downloaded and linked into your working projects so you have instant access to any of the design assets within them.

Although libraries can be used with earlier versions, these instructions are for GUI Design Studio 4.0 (all editions).

Step 1: Download

Download the template .gdt file to your computer. You can either download it to a temporary location then use GUI Design Studio to import it to the correct location (part of Step 2) or try to download it directly into the correct location.

To skip the Import step, first locate your shared GUI Design Studio template documents folder:

On Windows 8 / 7 / Vista:

\Users\Public\Documents\GUI Design Studio\Templates\

On Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\GUI Design Studio\Templates\


Then find or create a suitable category sub-folder. Now you can simply download the template .gdt file to that folder.

Step 2a: Create a new project from the template

Use this step if you want to create a new project based on a full project design template.

From the "New Project" dialog, click the "Based on" drop-down and choose "Select template..." from the list:

New Project Dialog

If you downloaded the template file to a temporary location, now is the time to import it. Browse to a suitable category or create a new one then click the "Import..." button and find the file you downloaded. Once it has been imported, you can delete the temporary download file.

Now you can simply select the template and hit "OK":

Select Template Dialog

Step 2b: Insert template into project

Use this step if you have an existing project and you want to insert a template design, or set of designs, into the project.

On the Project panel, right-click the folder you where you want to insert the template then select "Insert from Template...":

Project Context Menu

If you downloaded the template file to a temporary location, now is the time to import it. Browse to a suitable category or create a new one then click the "Import..." button and find the file you downloaded. Once it has been imported, you can delete the temporary download file.

Now you can simply select the template and hit "OK":

Select Template Dialog

That’s it! The template files will be inserted into your project.