[2005] how to make custom skins for our application?

[extreme.aly]

i have searched for it in the forum but could not find any good results... does anybody knows the simplest way to skin applications?

[JXDOS]

well.. you would have to draw each picture then load it into the backgroundimage property of each button/form/panel. A panel with a background image would be more realistic. Then if you want the button to be animated at mouse hove set mousehover handle with a gif background.

[extreme.aly]

what about the header (where minimize, restore/maximize and buttons are)?

[Maglor]

Well, you could make a picturebox there (on top of the screen) and choos "No border" on the form properties. I know there's a script somewhere that allows you to dragg your form while holding that picturebox. Google it...

[xoggoth]

Is it a full MDI app or could you get by with just some borderless forms? What version of windows does it need to run on?

Fairly easy to skin a borderless form, as long as it does not have to work in Win98 - use the colour/transparent colour as stated, but doing it with parent or child MDI forms with borders does not seem possible. Tried demos of a couple of commercial products but could not get them to install on Vista. You may have more luck with other Windows versions.

Even if you use borderless forms you still have to add code to simulate a control box and allow normal appearing resize/maximise/minimise. I could not fully sort out all the problems with it going through the resize event all the time but could post bits of code if they would help. I got the drag event mentioned working, you can have drag on the edge of the form without picture box. (But only seems to work on the right edge!!!)

[JXDOS]

the close maximize minimize buttons could be set to visible = false and put your own panels/buttons there.

[jmcilhinney]

The usual response is to remove the form's border and draw a faux border and title bar yourself. This works but is not ideal. You can change the appearance of the actual border and title bar, although it's not completely straightforward. The code is in C# but there are plenty of online code converters available.

http://geekswithblogs.net/kobush/art...rderForms.aspx

I do find it interesting that it seems universally to be those with low post counts that ask this question. The beginners always want to do the sexy stuff before they've got the meat and potatoes happening. I guess it's viewed as being more fun.

[robertx]

I use DevExpress forms which allow the user to customise the look and feel of the application. They have recently added Office 2007 skins (blue, black and silver) to their built-in range. If you are really keen, they also have a skin editor for creating your own customised skins.

Have a look at this thread:

http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=370353