AppSettings Model – BetterWinTab Configuration Reference

AppSettings is the root configuration object for BetterWinTab. It encompasses hotkey bindings, thumbnail behavior, appearance theming, clipboard history, pinned windows, and startup preferences. All settings are loaded and saved by SettingsService and survive application restarts.

Settings are persisted at %APPDATA%\BetterWinTab\settings.json using JSON serialization with camelCase property names and indented formatting. If the file is missing or corrupt, SettingsService.Load() silently returns a new AppSettings instance with all defaults.

AppSettings

Folder Configuration

Folders

List<WindowFolder>

default:"[]"

The saved folder configuration. Each entry is a WindowFolder that groups windows by type (Manual, SmartProcess, SmartRules, etc.). Folders are displayed in SortOrder order in the sidebar. See the WindowFolder reference for the full schema.

Hotkey Binding

HotkeyModifiers

uint

default:"0x0002"

Bitmask of modifier keys for the global activation hotkey, passed to RegisterHotKey. Use the Windows API constants to combine modifiers:

Constant	Value	Key
`MOD_ALT`	`0x0001`	Alt
`MOD_CONTROL`	`0x0002`	Ctrl
`MOD_SHIFT`	`0x0004`	Shift
`MOD_WIN`	`0x0008`	Win

The default 0x0002 maps to Ctrl only. Combine values with bitwise OR — for example, 0x0006 = Ctrl + Shift.

HotkeyVKey

uint

default:"0x09"

The virtual key code for the hotkey trigger, used alongside HotkeyModifiers. The default 0x09 is VK_TAB, producing the Ctrl + Tab activation chord. Any valid Windows virtual key code is accepted.

Thumbnail & Preview

ShowLivePreviews

bool

default:"true"

When true, window cards display live DWM thumbnails rendered via the Desktop Window Manager thumbnail API. When false, static process icons are used instead. Disabling live previews can improve performance on lower-end hardware or with many open windows.

ThumbnailWidth

int

default:"320"

Width in pixels of each window thumbnail preview card. Applies when ShowLivePreviews is true.

ThumbnailHeight

int

default:"200"

Height in pixels of each window thumbnail preview card. Applies when ShowLivePreviews is true.

Appearance & Theming

Appearance

AppearanceSettings

default:"new AppearanceSettings()"

The active theme color configuration. All 15 color token fields are hex strings (e.g., "#39FF14"). An empty or null string for any individual token reverts that token to its default. See AppearanceSettings below for all available tokens.

CustomPresets

List<ThemePreset>

default:"[]"

A list of user-saved named theme presets. Each ThemePreset carries a Name string and a full AppearanceSettings snapshot. Custom presets are displayed in the Settings panel for one-click theme switching.

public class ThemePreset
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = "";
    public AppearanceSettings Appearance { get; set; } = new();
}

Startup

RunAtStartup

bool

default:"false"

When true, SettingsService.SetRunAtStartup(true) writes the executable path to HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run under the key BetterWinTab, causing the app to launch automatically when the current user logs in to Windows. Setting this to false removes the registry entry.

Pinned Windows

PinnedWindows

List<PinnedWindowId>

default:"[]"

A list of pinned window identifiers that survive application restarts. Because Win32 window handles (HWND) are volatile and change across reboots, each entry uses a PinnedWindowId record (process name + title pattern) to re-identify the same logical window after a restart. Pinned windows appear first in every folder view and are surfaced regardless of folder filtering. See PinnedWindowId below.

Clipboard History

ClipboardHistoryMaxItems

int

default:"50"

The maximum number of clipboard history entries retained in memory and displayed in the Clipboard folder. Once the limit is reached, the oldest item is evicted when a new one is added.

ClipboardHistoryEnabled

bool

default:"true"

Master switch for clipboard history tracking. When false, the app stops monitoring clipboard change events and the Clipboard folder remains empty.

PinnedClipboardItems

List<string>

default:"[]"

Text strings for clipboard items explicitly pinned by the user. Pinned clipboard items survive the ClipboardHistoryMaxItems eviction policy and application restarts. Each entry is the raw copied text content.

Onboarding

HasCompletedOnboarding

bool

default:"false"

Tracks whether the first-run onboarding walkthrough has been completed or explicitly skipped. When false, the onboarding flow is presented on next launch. Set to true after the user completes or dismisses the walkthrough.

AppearanceSettings

AppearanceSettings holds all 15 color token fields that drive BetterWinTab’s visual theme. Every field is a hex color string (e.g., "#RRGGBB" or "#AARRGGBB" for values with alpha). Call AppearanceSettings.Default() to get a fresh instance pre-populated with all default values.

AccentColor

string

default:"\"#39FF14\""

Primary accent color. Used for active selection highlights, focused borders, and interactive element emphasis. Default is Neon Green.

AccentDimColor

string

default:"\"#1A8A0A\""

Dimmed variant of the accent color. Used for secondary highlights and non-focused accent elements.

AccentSubtleColor

string

default:"\"#0D3D06\""

Subtle background tint derived from the accent color. Used for low-emphasis accent-tinted surfaces.

BackgroundColor

string

default:"\"#000000\""

The root application background color. Applied to the main overlay window surface. Default is pure black.

SurfaceColor

string

default:"\"#0A0A0A\""

Elevated surface color, used for panels and containers that sit above the background layer.

CardColor

string

default:"\"#111111\""

Card-level surface color. Applied to individual window preview cards and list items.

BorderColor

string

default:"\"#1A1A1A\""

Default border color for dividers, card outlines, and panel edges.

TextPrimaryColor

string

default:"\"#FFFFFF\""

Primary text color for window titles, folder names, and all high-emphasis labels.

TextSecondaryColor

string

default:"\"#AAAAAA\""

Secondary text color for supporting metadata such as process names and desktop labels.

TextMutedColor

string

default:"\"#666666\""

Muted text color for placeholder text, disabled labels, and low-priority information.

DangerColor

string

default:"\"#FF3344\""

Danger/error color. Used for destructive action confirmations and error state indicators.

FolderHoverColor

string

default:"\"#1A39FF14\""

Overlay color applied to a folder item in the sidebar on hover. Includes alpha channel (#AARRGGBB).

FolderSelectedColor

string

default:"\"#2939FF14\""

Overlay color applied to the currently selected folder item in the sidebar. Includes alpha channel.

WindowHoverBorderColor

string

default:"\"#6639FF14\""

Border color applied to a window card when the cursor hovers over it. Includes alpha channel.

WindowHoverBackgroundColor

string

default:"\"#0C39FF14\""

Background overlay color applied to a window card on hover. Includes alpha channel.

PinnedWindowId

PinnedWindowId identifies a logical window using its process name and a title pattern. Because Win32 HWND values are volatile and do not persist across reboots, BetterWinTab uses process name + title matching to re-identify and re-pin windows on each launch.

ProcessName

string

default:"\"\""

The executable name of the target process, without the file extension (e.g., "Code", "chrome", "notepad"). Matching is case-insensitive. Must match WindowInfo.ProcessName exactly (after case normalization) for the pin to apply.

TitlePattern

string

default:"\"\""

A pattern matched against the window’s title bar text. Supports * as a wildcard character at the start and/or end of the string for flexible substring matching. All comparisons are case-insensitive.

Pattern	Behavior	Example match
`""` or `"*"`	Matches any title for the given process	—
`"MyApp"`	Exact title match	`"MyApp"` only
`"report"`	Contains match	`"Q3 report final"`
`"*final"`	Ends-with match	`"Q3 report final"`
`"Draft*"`	Starts-with match	`"Draft v2"`

`Matches(WindowInfo window)` Method

The Matches method first checks ProcessName with an ordinal case-insensitive equality test. If the process name does not match, it returns false immediately. Otherwise it evaluates TitlePattern as follows:

// 1. An empty pattern or bare "*" matches any title.
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(TitlePattern) || TitlePattern == "*")
    return true;

// 2. Strip leading/trailing '*' to extract the core string.
bool startsWild = pattern.StartsWith('*');
bool endsWild   = pattern.EndsWith('*');
var  core       = pattern.Trim('*');

// 3. Dispatch to the appropriate string comparison.
if (startsWild && endsWild) return window.Title.Contains(core, OrdinalIgnoreCase);
if (startsWild)             return window.Title.EndsWith(core,   OrdinalIgnoreCase);
if (endsWild)               return window.Title.StartsWith(core, OrdinalIgnoreCase);
                            return window.Title.Equals(core,     OrdinalIgnoreCase);

Wildcards are only recognized at the very start and end of TitlePattern. A * in the middle of the string is treated as a literal character during the Trim('*') step and will not match as a wildcard.

Models

Services

AppSettings Model – BetterWinTab Configuration Reference

AppSettings

Folder Configuration

Hotkey Binding

Thumbnail & Preview

Appearance & Theming

Startup

Pinned Windows

Clipboard History

Onboarding

AppearanceSettings

PinnedWindowId

`Matches(WindowInfo window)` Method

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Models

Services

Documentation Index

​AppSettings

​Folder Configuration

​Hotkey Binding

​Thumbnail & Preview

​Appearance & Theming

​Startup

​Pinned Windows

​Clipboard History

​Onboarding

​AppearanceSettings

​PinnedWindowId

​Matches(WindowInfo window) Method

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

AppSettings

Folder Configuration

Hotkey Binding

Thumbnail & Preview

Appearance & Theming

Startup

Pinned Windows

Clipboard History

Onboarding

AppearanceSettings

PinnedWindowId

`Matches(WindowInfo window)` Method