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05.09.2008 at 01:10PM PDT, ID: 23390710
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Custom (non-native) window title bars in VB.NET

Tags: Microsoft, Visual Studio .NET, 2005, Visual Basic .NET
I am the graphic designer for a an application written in Visual Studio .NET. I am completely new to Visual Studio and I want to know what my limitations are before I begin designing.

The program will have multiple tiled windows within it. The main thing I would like to be able to do is to have custom windows, so that each window title bar will be a different color. The windows will also need to have custom controls/icons instead of the native close/minimize, etc., which can run whatever code I want.

Is this possible? Are there any other limitations I should know before I begin designing?

Thanks!
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Question Stats
Zone: Programming
Question Asked By: smartpss
Solution Provided By: DarkoLord
Participating Experts: 2
Solution Grade: B
Views: 4
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05.09.2008 at 01:21PM PDT, ID: 21536155

Rank: Master

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05.09.2008 at 01:31PM PDT, ID: 21536222

Rank: Wizard

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05.09.2008 at 01:32PM PDT, ID: 21536231

Rank: Wizard

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05.09.2008 at 01:59PM PDT, ID: 21536372

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05.09.2008 at 02:32PM PDT, ID: 21536525

Rank: Wizard

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05.09.2008 at 02:38PM PDT, ID: 21536551

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05.09.2008 at 02:43PM PDT, ID: 21536570

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05.09.2008 at 01:21PM PDT, ID: 21536155

Rank: Master

Hi,

this is possible and there are practically no limitations on what you CAN do, however it is wise to consider how much work will the programmer have to do to implement your design.

For example, it is easy to display an image on the button if there is only one image. However, if you have let's say three images for each button (normal, hover, pressed state), there is much more work needed to make it work...

Hope this helps.

Darko
 
05.09.2008 at 01:31PM PDT, ID: 21536222

Rank: Wizard

Definitely agree that while you CAN do almost anything, in practice you SHOULD do very little to depart from the standard controls.  And it goes beyond the implementation expense.  The standard controls are standard for a very good reason:  User's are familiar with them.  A design that ignores them is just begging to be inundated with support requests.
 
05.09.2008 at 01:32PM PDT, ID: 21536231

Rank: Wizard

Another idea:  download an express edition of either C# or VB.Net.  Create a new project and use the forms designer to lay out your screens.  Not being a programmer you won't be able to actually wire things up, but you should be able to get an idea for what the screens can look like.
 
05.09.2008 at 01:59PM PDT, ID: 21536372
How does Windows Media Player do it? Their title bar has a very similar effect to what I am going for: non-native (the Vista look in XP), different enough to stand out, similar enough to be familiar.

Same goes for ESTSoft's programs:
http://www.softpicks.net/screenshots/ALZip.gif
 
05.09.2008 at 02:32PM PDT, ID: 21536525

Rank: Wizard

The link you posted looks like it uses pretty much all standard controls, with the exception of the annoying cartoon character (reminds me of Word's 'Clippy').  I see a standard windows form.  Inside of that is a menu, a toolbar with image buttons (and a web browser control), a split pane with a tree control on one side and a grid on the other, and a status bar with three areas, two of which hold labels.  All pretty standard.

The rule isn't "Never deviate from standard."  It's "Don't deviate too much from standard, and know what you're doing when you do it."  There's a very important difference there.

Media players are a little different.  For whatever reason, people have decided that they should be 'skinnable', but almost everybody uses the default skin.  Part of that is that media players need to be able to intelligently go to a 'full screen' mode, but still be able to have a small pop-up for playback control in that mode.
 
05.09.2008 at 02:38PM PDT, ID: 21536551

Rank: Master

WMP probably uses custom controls to imitate the Vista Glass experience. Although creating custom user controls to implement the design is not difficult, it might take the programmer quite some time. It all depends on the details and number of different controls you want to skin. The best thing would be to consult with the actual programmer, so they could tell you which of your ideas might take too much time to implement.
Accepted Solution
 
05.09.2008 at 02:43PM PDT, ID: 21536570
Re: ALZip, I was referring just to the title bar - I think the cartoon character was an aftermarket addition to the screen shot :) The title bar is made to look similar to XP's Luna, but the shading is a bit different and the close/maximize buttons are custom.

Another example of a similar effect is AIM Pro:
http://images.betanews.com/screenshots/929853714-4.png
 
 
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