Environment: VC6 SP4, NT4, Win2000, Win9x

Abstract

To show this new feature I've decided to reproduce the look and feel of CxShadeButton. I've extracted from the original code the class called CxDib and the code that creates and draws the background effects. All credits for this code snippets go to Davide Pizzolato.

Virtual functions

CButtonST makes available two virtual functions.

OnDrawBackground

This function is called every time the button background needs to be painted.
If the button is in transparent mode this function will NOT be called.

// Parameters:
//        [IN]    pDC
//                Pointer to a CDC object that indicates the device context.
//        [IN]    pRect
//                Pointer to a CRect object that indicates the bounds of the
//                area to be painted.
//
// Return value:
//        BTNST_OK
//               Function executed successfully.
//
DWORD OnDrawBackground(CDC* pDC, LPCRECT pRect)

OnDrawBorder

This function is called every time the button border needs to be painted.
If the button is in standard (not flat) mode this function will NOT be called.

// Parameters:
//        [IN]    pDC
//                Pointer to a CDC object that indicates the device context.
//        [IN]    pRect
//                Pointer to a CRect object that indicates the bounds of the
//                area to be painted.
//
// Return value:
//        BTNST_OK
//               Function executed successfully.
//
DWORD OnDrawBorder(CDC* pDC, LPCRECT pRect)

The developer derives a class from CButtonST then implements these two functions in the new class.

Example

The CButtonST demo application includes a page that shows how to implement new effects. A class called CShadeButtonST has been derived from CButtonST and the new effects has been implemented mainly in the OnDrawBackground method.

Remarks

This architecture makes possible to produce a whole range of buttons not available by default. If someone implements the look and feel of the new buttons found in Windows XP, I will happy to include his code in the next CButtonST demo application.

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