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How to change the control colors 

The simplest way to change the button colors is to open, at Design-time, the 3D Button Visual Editor application from inside the Visual Studio.NET IDE as described inside the chapter Editing control properties through the 3D Button Visual Editor application contained inside the "How to use the product in your projects" section and selecting the editor "Color" tab; as you will see on the table below the image, you can reach all of these settings at runtime using the corresponding property. 

This section focuses on the shading of the button, not the button's text. To review that topic, go to How to put text over the control. 

Note: The images below have hot links to take you to explanations of the various button settings. 

 

 

	Item name	Description	Corresponding property
	Normal state (Up)	Background color settings of the button surface in Normal state.	ColorSurfaceNormal
	Normal state with special effects	Background color settings of the internal part of the button surface when a special effect has been applied (see SpecialEffect property for details about special effects).  If this color is left undefined, the ColorSurfaceNormal property settings apply.	ColorSurfaceInternal
	Mouse over state	Background color settings of the button surface when the mouse pointer is over the button area.  If this color is left undefined, the ColorSurfaceNormal property settings apply.	ColorSurfaceMO
	Pressed state (Down)	Background color settings of the button surface in Pressed state.  If this color is left undefined, the ColorSurfaceNormal property settings apply.	ColorSurfacePressed
	Disabled state	Background color settings of the button surface in Disabled state.  If this color is left undefined, the ColorSurfaceNormal property settings apply.	ColorSurfaceDisabled
	Focus state	Background color settings of the button surface when the button has the input focus.  If this color is left undefined, the ColorSurfaceNormal property settings apply.	ColorSurfaceFocus
	Background highlight	The color used to highlight the raising and sunken effect on a button.  If this color is left undefined, its value is automatically calculated using the current surface color of the button.	HighlightColor
	Background shadow	The shadow color of the button which applies when the button has a raised or sunken special effect.  This color is also used to render the shadow set through the ShadowMode property.  If this color is left undefined, it would be automatically calculated using the current surface color of the button.	ShadowColor
	Swap special effect colors	When a special effect has been selected through the SpecialEffect property, swaps the colors set for the external and internal portions of the button's surface.	SwapEffectsColor

The properties ColorSurfaceNormal, ColorSurfaceMO, ColorSurfaceInternal, ColorSurfaceFocus, ColorSurfaceDisabled and ColorSurfacePressed are internally implemented as "expandable objects" of class SurfaceColor: thanks to this "object oriented" approach, each of these properties have a set of sub-properties that allow a better control of the following aspects of the "Gradient 3D color rendering": 

	Item name	Description	Corresponding property
	Selected item primary color	Color associated to the selected item	SurfaceColor.BackColor
	Selected item secondary color	Secondary color used when the SurfaceColor.Render3DType property is set to COLOR_RENDER_2_COLORS	SurfaceColor.BackColor2
	"Change..." button	This button will open the color choice dialog box
	"Undefine" button	This button will set the color associated to the selected item to an undefined state: when the primary color is set to undefined, the selected item will use the ColorSurfaceNormal property settings.  The undefined state is represented with the symbol in place of the color.
	Best color match	Causes the button to adopt a gradient algorithm that will maintain the chosen color characteristics	SurfaceColor.Render3DType set to ColorRenderType.BestMatch
	Best 3D rendering	Causes the button to adopt a gradient algorithm that will enhance the 3D look of the button surface	SurfaceColor.Render3DType set to ColorRenderType.Best3D
	Linear color match	Causes the button to adopt a linear gradient algorithm that will maintain the chosen color characteristics	SurfaceColor.Render3DType set to ColorRenderType.LinearMatch
	Hyper 3D rendering	Causes the button to adopt an extended 3D gradient algorithm that will further enhance the 3D look of the button surface	SurfaceColor.Render3DType set to ColorRenderType.Hyper3D
	Bicolor	Causes the button to adopt a 3D gradient algorithm that makes use of two colors	SurfaceColor.Render3DType set to ColorRenderType.TwoColors
	Gradient type	Chooses the type of gradient 3D rendering	SurfaceColor.GradientType
	Gradient factor	Chooses the factor applied to the gradient 3D rendering algorithm	SurfaceColor.GradientFactor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2003-2005 MultiMedia Soft 

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