Color Properties

MARTINDRENOVAC

I was wondering if SRP has any plans to add the same color technology to the ShortcutBar as it has done with its other controls. Presently the ShortcutBar is limited to specific themes. This complicates efforts to create a unified color theme for an application when the ShortcutBar is used.

Given the above, how does SRP deal with this in its own applications? Do you have a way to provide consistent color themes for your customer applications, or do they look different on each computer depending on the Windows theme employed?

Thanks.

DonBakke

Hi Don,

That is on our wish list. As many of our customers know, about half of our controls are written from scratch and the other half are based on a toolkit from Codejock. In the latter case, we have to work harder to implement some of our our technology, like custom colors and image support. The SRP ShortcutBar came with certain themes out of the box. It also has a provision for custom themes, but this does not work as easy as we would like so we have put this on the back burner.

The next release of the SRP ShortcutBar and SRP Controls Pro will include more themes (based on Office 2013), but this still does not resolve the problem you address. This was one of the reasons we replaced the SRP ShortcutBar with the SRP Tree control within our FrameWorks main MDI Frame. However, the SRP ShortcutBar is getting a new purpose within FrameWorks. We are now including it along the left side of standard MDI Child windows calling it the Action Bar. Very soon we will be making an announcement for the new release of FrameWorks, but here is a screen shot with the SRP Tree control on the MDI Frame and the SRP ShortcutBar on the MDI Child:


Our solution to the theme problem is to control all aspects of the theme within the application.

So for now, we have custom color support for the SRP ShortcutBar on our list, but we don't know when it might float to the top on its own accord. We are currently working on new controls and that will take priority for a little while, other than bug fixes. As with any other enhancement request, if a customer is eager to help fund the project we will find a way to get the work done sooner.

KevinFournier

We pick a theme that closely resembles what we are after. That being said, we tend to favor the tree control over the shortcut bar because we have better support and the menus can be a bit more complex if we need them to be. We can even get a tree to look pretty much like a shortcut bar if we want.

We do recognize the need for custom themes, so I've added it to the feature request database.

MARTINDRENOVAC

Hi Don,

Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't aware that the ShortcutBar was based on a third party control. At the moment, I'd be happy just to force the ShortcutBar color (3d Face?) to match Frame color, but I understand the limitations.

I really like the concepts embodied in the screen shot. Great job!