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How to manage colors of Office 2003 style

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The control can assume the appearance of a Office 2003 style button by setting its Surface property to SURFACE_OFFICE_2003.

The Office 2003 style carries new dedicated colors which replace the default colors set through the BackColor and ColorSurfaceNormal properties (with the exception of the outer border drawn when the SpecialEffect property is set to a value different from SPECIAL_EFFECT_NONE).

Office 2003 buttons are rendered through the use of a vertical linear gradient made up of 2 colors, one set to the North of the button and one set to the South of the button. If needed, an optional color can be applied to the border.

3dabm_i00014c

Depending upon the button state, all predefined colors may be changed; below a summary of colors applied (with involved properties) in various button states:

 

Normal

Office2003ColorNorth

Office2003ColorSouth

Office2003ColorBorder (if left undefined, the border will not be rendered)

 

Pressed

Office2003ColorNorthPressed

Office2003ColorSouthPressed

Office2003ColorBorderPressed (if left undefined, the border will not be rendered)

 

Mouse over

Office2003ColorNorthMouseOver

Office2003ColorSouthMouseOver

Office2003ColorBorderMouseOver (if left undefined, the border will not be rendered)

The border's width, expressed in pixels, can be modified through the Office2003BorderWidth property.

 

The simplest way to change colors and options applied to the Office 2003 style is to use, inside 3D Button Visual Editor, the Office 2003 style tab. At run-time each of these properties can be referenced by name.

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

 

3dabm_i00014a

 

Item name

Description

Corresponding property


North color normal

The gradient color used for the Northern side of the vertical linear gradient in normal state

Office2003ColorNorth


South color normal

The gradient color used for the Southern side of the vertical linear gradient in normal state

Office2003ColorSouth


Border color normal

The color used to render the button's border in normal state: if this color is left undefined the border won't be rendered.

The undefined state is represented with the 3dabm_i00005a symbol inside the color box. Once the color has been defined, it can be reset back to the undefined state by double-clicking the relative color box (not the "..." button).

Office2003ColorBorder


North color mouse over

The gradient color used for the Northern side of the vertical linear gradient in mouse over state

Office2003ColorNorthMouseOver


South color mouse over

The gradient color used for the Southern side of the vertical linear gradient in mouse over state

Office2003ColorSouthMouseOver


Border color mouse over

The color used to render the button's border in mouse over state: if this color is left undefined the border won't be rendered.

The undefined state is represented with the 3dabm_i00005a symbol inside the color box. Once the color has been defined, it can be reset back to the undefined state by double-clicking the relative color box (not the "..." button).

Office2003ColorBorderMouseOver


North color pressed

The gradient color used for the Northern side of the vertical linear gradient in pressed state

Office2003ColorNorthPressed


South color pressed

The gradient color used for the Southern side of the vertical linear gradient in pressed state

Office2003ColorSouthPressed


Border color pressed

The color used to render the button's border in pressed state: if this color is left undefined the border won't be rendered.

The undefined state is represented with the 3dabm_i00005a symbol inside the color box. Once the color has been defined, it can be reset back to the undefined state by double-clicking the relative color box (not the "..." button).

Office2003ColorBorderPressed


Border width

The width in pixels of the button's border

Office2003BorderWidth