• Download source files - 7 Kb
• Download demo project - 84 Kb

With this class you can easily give a skin to your buttons in few steps:

1. Add "xSkinButton.cpp" and "xSkinButton.h" to the project.
   
2. Include "xSkinButton.h" in the header file where the controls are defined
   
3. In the resource editor check the "Owner Draw" property for the buttons that you want to customize
   
4. Create (or edit) a member variable for each button you want to customize as CxSkinButton. If the Class Wizard doesn't show the CxSkinButton type, select CButton and then edit the code manually.
   
5. Add the bitmap resource for the buttons:
   • NORMAL bitmap: default button image.
   • DOWN bitmap: pushed button image.
   • OVER bitmap:(optional) image to shown when the mouse is over the button. If NULL, NORMAL bitmap will be used.
   • DISABLED bitmap: (optional) image for the disabled state. If NULL, NORMAL bitmap will be used.
   • MASK bitmap: (optional) clipping region. If you don't use the MASK, the button will be a rectangular owner-draw control. The default transparent color is RGB(255,255,255).
6. In the window initialization add the CxSkinButton methods:

   BOOL CxSkinButtonDemoDlg::OnInitDialog()
   {
   //	...
   	m_btn1.SetTextColor(RGB(255,0,0));
   	m_btn1.SetToolTipText("Button1");
   	m_btn1.SetSkin(IDB_B1NORM,IDB_B1DOWN,IDB_B1OVER,IDB_B1GRAY,IDB_B1MASK,0,0,0);
   //	...
   

   The SetTextColor and SetToolTipText are self explaining; SetSkin is:
   void CxSkinButton::SetSkin(UINT normal,UINT down,UINT over,UINT disabled,UINT mask, short drawmode, short border, short margin)

   • normal,down,over,disabled,mask = bitmap resource IDs
   • drawmode = if mask is not NULL, this should be 0 (normal); else you can try 1 (stretch) or 2 (tiled).
   • border = if mask is not NULL or is not rectangular, this should be 0; else you can try 1 to draw the standard 3D border around the button.
   • margin = if mask is not NULL or is not rectangular, this should be 0; else you can try to change this value to draw a dotted rectangle over the button when the control has the focus.

Remarks

• only NORMAL and DOWN bitmaps are essential; OVER bitmap is a plus.
• DISABLED bitmap is not necessary if the button is always enabled. You can also use the button text (automatically etched) to show the disabled state.
• MASK bitmap is not necessary if the button is rectangular.
• for rectangular buttons you should set the margin parameter greater than 0 (4 is a good choice).
• for rectangular buttons you can use 'flat' bitmaps and set the border parameter to 1. In this situation, NORMAL and DOWN bitmaps can also share the same resource.

Release History

v1.00 - 15/03/2001

basic implementation and interface.

v1.10 - 28/03/2001

 enhanced mouse tracking implementation (by Milan Gardian).

• SetCapture removed: accelerators now are dispatched.
• Double-click handling.
• Better behavior during "button-pressed" (mouse button down & holding) phase

v1.20 - 02/04/2001

• new CreateRgnFromBitmap() implementation. Mask bitmap now works in any display color mode, any mask color depth and any mask size.

v1.21 - 14/04/2001

• OnMouseLeave cast error fixed.
• Fixed FocusRect defect when OVER bitmap was NULL.

Compatibility

For any questions, e-mail to: ing.davide.pizzolato@libero.it

Thanks to all the Code Project developers!
Special thanks to:
Milan Gardian for mouse and keyboard tracking code.
Andy Green and Cameron Epp for suggestions & debugging.