ActiveX DLL Skinning Issues

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   This one is complicated, but I am sure I am not the only who codes this way.  Take the following scenarios
Main EXE application has Skin Framework on one form.  All other forms within the EXE skin properly.  When there is a tab control hosting a Picture Box and a Check Box the EnableThemeDialogTexture works just fine and the backcolor of the check box is correct.
If you use activex dll's or Exe's with forms the skin is passed to the these forms as well.  This is great, however, when you have the tab control problem you cannot EnableThemeDialogTexture and thus the backcolor of the Check box is incorrect.  
I have tried the following:
Added Skin Framework control to the form in the DLL.  I can then skin the form correctly.  Works fine with both applications in design mode.  If the DLL is run binary then when the form unloads the Skin on main exe is lost. If both apps are binary a hard crash occurs.
Added an event from the DLL to request skin support from the main exe.  After passing back the hwnd portions of the picture box pain correctly, but others do not.  Just to inconsistent. 
Added another picture box to house just the Check Box, and used the same event above to request skin support but the new picture box is not skinned at all.
Anybody else seeing these types of issues?
Since I am not applying any actual background textures all I really need is to be able to set the BackColor of the Check box and have render properly when a skin is applied.  
To me these issue are serious and will prevent me from deploying Skin Technology in my application.

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic
John31 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 08 December 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 70	Post Options Post Reply Quote John31 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: ActiveX DLL Skinning Issues Posted: 17 April 2006 at 3:56pm
	This one is complicated, but I am sure I am not the only who codes this way. Take the following scenarios Main EXE application has Skin Framework on one form. All other forms within the EXE skin properly. When there is a tab control hosting a Picture Box and a Check Box the EnableThemeDialogTexture works just fine and the backcolor of the check box is correct. If you use activex dll's or Exe's with forms the skin is passed to the these forms as well. This is great, however, when you have the tab control problem you cannot EnableThemeDialogTexture and thus the backcolor of the Check box is incorrect. I have tried the following: Added Skin Framework control to the form in the DLL. I can then skin the form correctly. Works fine with both applications in design mode. If the DLL is run binary then when the form unloads the Skin on main exe is lost. If both apps are binary a hard crash occurs. Added an event from the DLL to request skin support from the main exe. After passing back the hwnd portions of the picture box pain correctly, but others do not. Just to inconsistent. Added another picture box to house just the Check Box, and used the same event above to request skin support but the new picture box is not skinned at all. Anybody else seeing these types of issues? Since I am not applying any actual background textures all I really need is to be able to set the BackColor of the Check box and have render properly when a skin is applied. To me these issue are serious and will prevent me from deploying Skin Technology in my application.
	Regards John Layton

Oleg Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 21 May 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11234	Post Options Post Reply Quote Oleg Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 April 2006 at 11:04am
	John, you will save us a lot of time if create new application, recreate architecture (like Client/ActiveX), reproduce problem and attach it here. Thank you
	Oleg, Support Team CODEJOCK SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

John31 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 08 December 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 70	Post Options Post Reply Quote John31 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 April 2006 at 11:38am
	2006-04-18_113632_SkinControls.zip The attached zip file is a modification on your Skin Controls sample. There is a new folder with a compiled ActiveX dll that demos the problems. This one does not do the hard crash when run in binary, the skin on the host exe is lost. Let me know what else I can do to help
	Regards John Layton

Oleg Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 21 May 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11234	Post Options Post Reply Quote Oleg Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 April 2006 at 1:20pm
	Hello, I afraid you can only remove second SkinFramework from ActiveX and comment EnableThemeDialogTexture for PictureBoxes - anyway static text can't be drawn on PictureBox with Enabled Texture.
	Oleg, Support Team CODEJOCK SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

Oleg Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 21 May 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11234	Post Options Post Reply Quote Oleg Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 18 April 2006 at 1:21pm
	You can choose BackColor of PictureBoxes to match theme colors.
	Oleg, Support Team CODEJOCK SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

John31 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 08 December 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 70	Post Options Post Reply Quote John31 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 19 April 2006 at 11:27am
	The problem occurs if you set the backcolor of the picture box to something other then a system color like Button Face. When you do this the back color of the Check Box does not change even though you explicitly assign it a color. It stays with the forms default backcolor. In addtion, even changing the forms backcolor does not effect the backcolor of a check box. Can this be fixed?
	Regards John Layton

John31 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 08 December 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 70	Post Options Post Reply Quote John31 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 19 April 2006 at 11:50am
	This form is in ActiveX Dll and the host app is skinned using the Royale Theme. The BackColors have all been set in code, but the check box does not paint correctly.
	Regards John Layton

John31 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 08 December 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 70	Post Options Post Reply Quote John31 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 April 2006 at 1:25pm
	Can I please have some feedback from CJ on this issue? Is it something you are trying to fix in the next release or am I out of luck?
	Regards John Layton

Oleg Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 21 May 2003 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11234	Post Options Post Reply Quote Oleg Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 April 2006 at 9:07am
	Yes, we confirm this problem, trying to find solution for 10.2 Thanks
	Oleg, Support Team CODEJOCK SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS