Product history
New features available in version 9
Added the following new surfaces
SURFACE_GEL_SHAPED
SURFACE_VISTA_AERO
SURFACE_OFFICE_2003
SURFACE_OFFICE_2007
Added new shapes for the spotlight
Added support for reflectivity of the picture displayed on the button
Added the possibility to obtain the bitmap, in form of a HBITMAP, of the 3D button in various situations
Cells can now be sized and positioned in both percentage and pixels
Added the following new styles with several dedicated rendering options
STYLE_PROGRESS_BAR
STYLE_SPLIT_BUTTON
Embedded support for tooltips on development environments not supporting tooltips directly
New properties:
SpotlightType
PictureReflectivityEnabled
PictureReflectivityPerc
PictureReflectHeightPerc
VistaColorGlossyEffectUpper
VistaColorGlossyEffectLower
VistaColorGlossyEmphUpper
VistaColorGlossyEmphLower
VistaColorGlossyEmphUpperPressed
VistaColorGlossyEmphLowerPressed
VistaColorBackgroundChecked
VistaColorBackgroundCheckedMouseOver
VistaColorGlowBack
VistaColorGlowBottom
VistaColorGlow
VistaColorGlowChecked
VistaColorGlowCheckedMouseOver
VistaColorOuterBorder
VistaColorMiddleBorder
VistaColorInnerBorder
VistaColorInnerBorderPressed
VistaOpacityGlossyEffectUpper
VistaOpacityGlossyEffectLower
VistaOpacityGlossyEmphUpper
VistaOpacityGlossyEmphLower
VistaOpacityGlossyEmphUpperPressed
VistaOpacityGlossyEmphLowerPressed
VistaLook
VistaGlossyShape
VistaGlossySmoothFactor
VistaOuterBorderWidth
VistaMiddleBorderWidth
VistaInnerBorderWidth
ProgressBarType
ProgressBarMin
ProgressBarMax
ProgressBarValue
ProgressBarColor
ProgressBarFillMode
Office2007ColorBackground
Office2007ColorNorthTop
Office2007ColorNorthBottom
Office2007ColorSouthTop
Office2007ColorSouthBottom
Office2007ColorBorder
Office2007ColorBackgroundMouseOver
Office2007ColorNorthTopMouseOver
Office2007ColorNorthBottomMouseOver
Office2007ColorSouthTopMouseOver
Office2007ColorSouthBottomMouseOver
Office2007ColorBorderMouseOver
Office2007ColorBackgroundPressed
Office2007ColorNorthTopPressed
Office2007ColorNorthBottomPressed
Office2007ColorSouthTopPressed
Office2007ColorSouthBottomPressed
Office2007ColorBorderPressed
Office2007OuterBorderWidth
Office2007InnerBorderWidth
Office2003ColorNorth
Office2003ColorSouth
Office2003ColorBorder
Office2003ColorNorthMouseOver
Office2003ColorSouthMouseOver
Office2003ColorBorderMouseOver
Office2003ColorNorthPressed
Office2003ColorSouthPressed
Office2003ColorBorderPressed
Office2003BorderWidth
ToolTipEnabled
ToolTipTextNormal
ToolTipTextChecked
SplitButtonPicture
SplitButtonType
SplitButtonArrowOffsetX
SplitButtonArrowOffsetY
SplitButtonArrowColor
SplitColorHighlight
SplitColorShadow
SplitButtonSizePerc
New methods:
GetControlBitmap
CellsManager.CellAdd
CellsManager.CellDelete
CellsManager.CellGetCount
CellsManager.CellFind
CellsManager.CellGetLogFont
CellsManager.CellSetLogFont
CellsManager.CellGetUniqueID
CellsManager.CellGetPos
CellsManager.CellSetPos
CellsManager.CellGetSize
CellsManager.CellSetSize
CellsManager.CellSetPictureFromHandle
New events:
SplitButtonClick
SplitButtonMouseIn
SplitButtonMouseOut
New features available in version 8
New user interface for “design time” editing: 3D Button Visual Editor is now fully integrated.
Improved the rendering speed.
Reduced the amount of memory required by the button caching system.
Final application .exe files are now smaller in size.
Added transparent GIF and PNG formats for button image export.
Added support for independent cells containing text and pictures.
Added support for lighting directions.
Added support for alpha channel transparency.
Added the possibility to perform custom graphic rendering over the control surface.
The control now behaves like a real control container
Added the following 3D gradient algorithms
COLOR_RENDER_LINEAR_MATCH
COLOR_RENDER_HYPER_3D
COLOR_RENDER_2_COLORS
Added the following shapes
SHAPE_TRIANGLE
SHAPE_TRAPEZE
SHAPE_ARROW
SHAPE_HONEYCOMB_VERT
SHAPE_HONEYCOMB_HORIZ
SHAPE_HONEYCOMB_45
SHAPE_HONEYCOMB_135
SHAPE_DIAMOND
SHAPE_KEYHOLE,
SHAPE_4LEAFCLOVER_V
SHAPE_4LEAFCLOVER_D
SHAPE_ALFALFA
New properties:
LightDirection
SpotlightColor
SpotlightVisible
PictureTranspFactor
ShapeHeadFactor
ShapeLineFactor
SurfaceTransparentFactor
SurfaceTransparentZone
RectHardEdges
HollowFrame
CellsManager
SwapEffectsColors
New methods:
GetButtonCacheSize
EnableButtonCache
RefreshTransparentControl
SetTotalTransparentFactor
GetVersion
GetEdition
SetCustomPaintFunction
New events:
CellClick
PaintDone
New COM objects :
CellsManager with the following characteristics:
Properties
Visible
Text
TextDescriptor
TextHorzAlign
TextVertAlign
PictureHorzAlign
PictureVertAlign
BackTranspFactor
BackColor
BorderColor
BorderWidth
PictureNormal
PictureDisabled
PictureTranspFactor
Methods
AddCell
DeleteCell
GetCount
FindCell
GetLogFont
SetLogFont
GetCellUniqueID
GetCellPos
SetCellPos
GetCellSize
SetCellSize
SetPictureFromHandle
New features available in version 7
New user interface for “design time” editing
Improved the rendering speed.
Requires less time, memory and system resources when using sets of identical buttons.
Final application .exe size smaller than before when using JPG pictures.
UNICODE compliant.
Added GIF format for button image export.
Added ICO and TIF formats support for pictures loading.
Added antialiasing for surface and texts rendering .
Added double-space text rendering option.
Texts can be rendered in transparency (through alpha channel) .
Texts can have a surrounding border with variable color and an underlying color shadow .
Texts can have the following new effects:
EFFECT_HALO
EFFECT_RAISEDHALO
EFFECT_SUNKENHALO
EFFECT_FLOATINGHALO
Texts can be rotated of any angle between –90° and +90°.
Custom shaped buttons can now use also color masks in format BMP, PNG or GIF.
New object oriented COM interfaces for accessing set of properties (texts descriptors, textures and surface colors).
Custom shaped buttons support all of the special effects available for geometric buttons .
Improved the smoothing of the button surface.
Added a new geometric shape in place of the SHAPE_TEXT option:
SHAPE_GEM
Added the possibility to orient the SHAPE_ROUNDRECT and SHAPE_GEM shapes through the following directions :
DIR_NONE
DIR_WEST
DIR_NORTH
DIR_EAST
DIR_SOUTH
DIR_NW
DIR_NE
DIR_SE
DIR_SW
Added the following surface types:
SURFACE_SUNKEN
SURFACE_PLASTIC
SURFACE_LUCID
SURFACE_NEON
SURFACE_AQUA
SURFACE_GEL
SURFACE_PLASTIC_SH
SURFACE_NEON_SH
SURFACE_AQUA_SH
Added a new special effect for the button surface:
SPECIAL_EFFECT_SUNKEN_SIMPLE
Added the following new styles:
STYLE_FRAME
STYLE_PICTURE
STYLE_CHECKBOX_STD
STYLE_RADIOBUTTON_STD
STYLE_LABEL
Added the following 3D gradient types for the button surface color rendering:
COLOR_GRADIENT_CLASSIC
COLOR_GRADIENT_HORIZONTAL
COLOR_GRADIENT_DIAGONAL
COLOR_GRADIENT_VERTICAL
Improved the rendering of pictures over the button surface; picture can be tiled or stretched.
Added the multiline support for texts (can add Carriage Returns between lines).
Improved the animations management with a set of new methods.
New properties:
Orientation
ColorSurfaceNormal
ColorSurfaceMO
ColorSurfaceInternal
ColorSurfaceFocus
ColorSurfaceDisabled
ColorSurfacePressed
TextDescrCaption
TextDescrLT
TextDescrCT
TextDescrRT
TextDescrLM
TextDescrRM
TextDescrLB
TextDescrCB
TextDescrRB
Texture
FrameEffect
OptionGroupDelimiter
PictureVisible
TextCaptionAlignment
SpotlightOffsetX
SpotlightOffsetY
SpotlightResizeWidth
SpotlightResizeHeight
CornerFactor
New methods:
GetBackPicture
SetBackPicture
SetBackPictureVisible
AnimGetFramesRate
AnimSetFramesRate
AnimGetFramesCount
AnimShowFrame
AnimPause
AnimResume
AnimInvertPlay
New events:
ChangedSize
