VB.Net XP Styles How To

To create XP styles in a .net program is very simple...follow these steps and you can learn how:

first, you need to add this sub inside the form class:

VB Code:

<System.STAThread()> _
        Public Shared Sub Main()
 
            System.Windows.Forms.Application.EnableVisualStyles()
            System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(New Form1) ' Change Form1 the the name of your Form
        End Sub

then, you just add this to each control you want to transform into an XP style:

VB Code:

FlatStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FlatStyle.System

Keep in mind that some won't NEED to have that appended because they are going to transform now by default. You will just have to try that code and see.

you can pick from three other style besides System

Check out and play with the sample project to see this...you will notice that when in design mode, the controls look normal but when you run, the controls take on a different look...the ones you see at first are like that by default now and when you click on the actual form, the ones that STILL look normal will change...I did this to demonstrate how you can do this on the fly.

I updated this a little after posting it to add MainMenu's...Theming doesn't affect these controls :(