Sample Image - sample.gif

Introduction

With this class you can easily give a professional look to your buttons in few steps. No resources are needed - all bitmaps are generated at runtime. Parts of the code come from the CxSkinButton article.

Add "xShadeButton.cpp" and "xShadeButton.h" to the project.
Include "xShadeButton.h" in the header file where the controls are defined
Create (or edit) a member variable for each button you want to customize as CxShadeButton. If the Class Wizard doesn't show the CxShadeButton type, select CButton and then edit the code manually.

In the window initialization add the CxShadeButton methods:

BOOL CxShadeButtonDemoDlg::OnInitDialog()
{
	//	...
	m_btn1.SetTextColor(RGB(255,0,0));
	m_btn1.SetToolTipText("Button1");
	m_btn1.SetShade(SHS_DIAGSHADE,8,10,5,RGB(55,255,55));
//	...

CxShadeButton Class Members & Operations

CxShadeButton is derived from CButton. CxShadeButton uses 6 member functions to tune the button appearance.
The BS_OWNERDRAW style is added automatically, you don't need to set the "Owner draw" property in the resource editor.

void SetShade(UINT shadeID=0,BYTE granularity=8,BYTE highlight=10,BYTE coloring=0,COLORREF color=0);

shadeID : can be one of these effects:
SHS_NOISE = 0 SHS_DIAGSHADE = 1 SHS_HSHADE = 2 SHS_VSHADE = 3 SHS_HBUMP = 4 SHS_VBUMP = 5 SHS_SOFTBUMP =6 SHS_HARDBUMP = 7 SHS_METAL = 8
granularity : this parameter add an uniform noise to the button bitmaps. A good value is from 5 to 20; 0 to disable the effect. The noise has a positive effect because it hides the palette steps.
highlight : sets the highlight level when the mouse is over the button. A good value is from 5 to 20; 0 to disable the effect.
coloring : sets the percentage of color to blend in the button palette. The value can range from 0 to 100; 0 to disable the effect.
color : if coloring is greater than zero, color is mixed with the standard button colors.
Remarks : the coloring and color parameter should be used carefully to guarantee a good aspect in all the situations.

void SetToolTipText(CString s);

Sets or changes the tool tip text.

COLORREF SetTextColor(COLORREF new_color);

Sets or changes the button text color. Returns the previous button text color.

void SetIcon(UINT nIcon, UINT nIconAlign=BS_CENTER);

nIcon : ID number of the icon resource
nIconAlign : icon alignment, can be one of the following values:
BS_CENTER BS_LEFT BS_RIGHT
Remarks : the button text is automatically placed so that the icon and the text don't overlap.

void SetTextAlign(UINT nTextAlign=BS_CENTER);

nTextAlign : button text alignment, can be one of the following values:
BS_CENTER BS_LEFT BS_RIGHT

void SetFlat(bool bFlag);

bFlag : sets the border style:
FALSE = standard 3D border.
TRUE = flat border.

Release History

v1.00 - 12/05/2001

basic implementation and interface.

v1.10 - 23/05/2001

added text shift on button down.
fixed many CxDib bugs.
fixed SHS_HARDBUMP bug.
added icon support.
added text alignment.
added flat style.

Compatibility

Win95,WinNT = Yes, requires IE3.0 or higher
Win98, WinME, W2K, WinXP = Yes

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.
Andre Brogli, Richard Cunday, Shanker Chandrabose,
Luis, Rainer Mangold, Gilad, Rui Lopes, Tom Archer for suggestions, debugging & support.