forum.vdsworld.com

[Serge]

hi all,

i just got a laptop from work with xp installed on it and found some disturbing differences (for me anyway) between vds under win98 and xp

(1) the SMOOTH style for progress bars does not seem to work under xp

(2) i can have a coloured GROUP element under win 98 but it is not displayed in colour under xp...a good example of that is my skins program available from vdsworld...it works fine under win 98...but under xp, the group item is not coloured

(3) same thing with the checkbox

am i missing something or is that normal?

serge

[jules]

It should look the same if you choose the Windows Classic style. Under the XP theme, a different common controls DLL is used, and in order for everything to match in with the XP theme, the user-selected colors for dialog elements are ignored.

[PGWARE]

I can verify what Jules says is absolute truth. Windows XP will override certain control styles - for instance you cannot have a smooth style for a progress bar. Windows XP likes to have a non-smooth progress bar with green bars in it. Groups and panels color also cannot be modified unless you directly subclass the control and paint on it after XP has done it's thing to it - this may be possible in VDS but I doubt it since subclassing controls isn't native.

If you absolutely want to maintain a visual apperance then do not include the MANIFEST file inside your exe - this has the side effect that buttons and other controls will not use XP style theme but your controls should maintain their features since they are using the older commctrls.

[CodeScript]

Alternatively you can selectively disable the XP theme for a single control and try - can be done easily with vdsgui dll. it may help with some controls and not with some others U can give it a try.

[Serge]

thanks for all your replies...i will have a look at each of your suggestions...what a bother!

serge