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Release Notes

BCGControlBar Professional Edition

Version: 37.6. Released: 09/29/2026

  1. Implemented built-in support for the Windows light and dark themes (see screenshot): the virtual theme BCGP_VISUAL_THEME_SYSTEM was added to the CBCGPWinApp::BCGP_VISUAL_THEME enumerator. By default, the library activates the MS Office 2024 white theme when the Windows app mode is set to light and the MS Office 2024 black theme when the mode is set to dark; however, you can specify your preferred themes by calling the new CBCGPWinApp method SetSystemVisualThemeOptions (see BCGPVisualStudioGUIDemo, where we show the system light theme is associated with the Visual Studio 2026 light and dark theme with Visual Studio 2026 dark). This theme was added to most examples and samples and Application Wizard-generated source code. If you wish to add this theme to your UI, please add a new constant BCGP_THEMES_LIST_SYSTEM to the list of themes passed to the CBCGPWinApp method SetApplicationLookMenu, and the "Use System Setting" item will be added to the "Theme" menu (see screenshot).

  2. Ribbon Bar
    1. Added the collapsed panel icon style. Call a new method of the CBCGPRibbonBar class SetPanelDefaultButtonIconStyle to specify the icon style (visual manager-specific, always simplified or original) and GetPanelDefaultButtonIconStyle to obtain this style.
    2. CBCGPRibbonCustomizationOptions::m_strCustomizationFilePath specifies the initial folder for the import/export file dialog. If this member is empty (by default), the current folder will be used.
    3. A new class, CBCGPRibbonColorComboBox, implements the ribbon combo box with the color items (see screenshot). You can add accent, standard (Web), system or custom colors. The RibbonGadgets sample demonstrates this addition.

  3. Toolbars and Menus
    1. CBCGPExplorerToolBar: implemented the ability to specify the address bar margins. The method EnableAddressBar has a new, optional parameter, 'rectAddressBarMargins.'
    2. A new class CBCGPToolbarColorComboBoxButton, implements the toolbar combo box with the color items (see screenshot). You can add accent, standard (Web), system or custom colors. You can see this new control in our BCGPControls example and ViewsDemo sample.

  4. Gauge Controls
    1. CBCGPCircularProgressIndicatorImpl: implemented interactive mode (see screenshot). When the interactive mode is enabled (the SetInteractiveMode method was called), the user can change the progress position by mouse or keyboard. The BCGPGaugesDemo example ("Other interactive gauges" view) illustrates this addition.
    2. CBCGPCircularGaugeImpl: a new virtual method IsClickOnBorderAllowed specifies whether clicking on the gauge border changes the value of the interactive gauge. By default, this method returns FALSE.

  5. Visual Manager and Themes
    1. CBCGPVisualManagerVS2026: added a focus border to the SDI view (see screenshot). When the SDI view window is focused, the focus border is drawn around the view that makes the appearance consistent with other UI areas, such as in the docking panes or MDI tabs. If you don't like this addition, you can disable it by setting the new member of the CBCGPFrameWnd class 'm_bOutlineActiveView' to FALSE in your CBCGPFrameWnd-derived class (usually CMainFrame) constructor.
    2. Improved the appearance of the Gantt chart in the Office 2016-2025 and Visual Studio 2026 visual themes (see screenshot). The colors are now matched to the other theme colors, the header of the Gantt chart has the same look as the corresponding grid control header, and in the Visual Studio 2026 visual theme, the base color is now used for rendering the Gantt chart areas.
    3. The switch control now has more contrast in certain visual themes, whereas in previous product versions, the switched-off control appeared disabled in some themes.

  6. Grid and Report Controls
    1. Modernized appearance of the grid item data bars (used in the conditional formatting):
      • Visual Studio 2013-2026 and MS Office 2013-2024 visual themes: the current accent color is being used for the data bar drawing (see screenshot).
      • Native Windows and other visual themes: the data bars now have the green background color (see screenshot) instead of the light blue color that was used in the previous product versions.
    2. A new virtual method, IsAlignBordersToLeft, has been added to the CBCGPGridCtrl class. This method tells whether the item's borders and background should be extended to the left side in the case of hierarchical grids (like an extended tree control). In the "modern" visual themes such as Visual Studio 2022-2026 or MS Office 2021-2024, this method returns TRUE, and the rows are visually starting from the left (see screenshot). In addition, you may explicitly specify this appearance by calling the new CBCGPGridCtrl class method SetAlignBordersToLeft with the parameter TRUE or FALSE.

  7. Controls
    1. The CBCGPListCtrl and CBCGPTreeCtrl controls have been updated to include explorer-style support. Call the new method SetExplorerStyle to enable or disable the explorer style, and call the new method IsExplorerStyle to determine whether the explorer style is enabled for this control. When the visual theme is being changed, the control automatically detects which theme (dark or light) should be specified.
    2. CBCGPURLLinkButton: a new attribute, m_bLinkColors (default value is TRUE), specifies whether the foreground color is special. If this attribute is FALSE, the foreground color will be default (as in static controls).
    3. CBCGPHotSpotImageCtrl: added support for inversion of the SVG image luminosity in the dark themes. Call the new method InvertLuminosity to invert the luminosity of the whole image or InvertSVGElementLuminosity to invert the luminosity of the specific element (hot spot). Our sample application HotSpotDemo demonstrates this addition.
    4. CBCGPShellList: In the "Large Icons" mode, the extra-large (48x48) icons are displayed now instead of the standard large (32x32) icons (see screenshot). The old appearance can be restored by setting a new global flag, globalData.m_bExtraLargeShellIcons, to FALSE.
    5. CBCGPListBox now includes the ability to specify the vertical alignment of the content in list box items. The SetTextVertAlign and GetTextVertAlign methods were added to this class. The alignment can be either center (default) or top.

  8. Miscellaneous
    1. A new class, CBCGPHistoryManager, simplifies application-specific actions management; this class behaves like a stack (FIFO) and can be used for navigation between the recent actions or objects. You can see how to use this class in our BCGPExplorer example (navigation between shell folders) and ExplorerBarDemo sample (custom nodes). Our themed file dialog (CBCGPFileDialogEx) also utilizes this new manager now.
    2. CBCGPDialog: the expandable area can now be used in resizable dialogs with the controls' layout (see screenshot). Don't create these dialogs with a maximize button, because if a collapsed dialog is maximized, there is no space for the expansion. The ResizableForm sample demonstrates this new feature.
    3. Added a new Vietnamese translation.
    4. CBCGPEditCtrl: implemented the content synchronization between other copies of the edit control for the following user actions:
      • Inserting/removing the markers, such as bookmarks or breakpoints.
      • Inserting code from the IntelliSense popup window.
      • Error correction.
    5. Added themed (with the visual managers' support) versions of the record view classes:
      • CBCGPRecordView
      • CBCGPOleDBRecordView
      These classes work like MFC CRecordView and COleDBRecordView, but they are derived from CBCGPFormView, so all form fields linked to the record set are themed. For example, this addition will be very useful if you are adding the dark theme to your old MFC application that utilizes the record views. You can exclude these classes from the build by uncommenting the BCGP_EXCLUDE_DB_VIEWS definition in the BCGCBProConfig.h file.

  9. Examples and Samples
    1. The new visual theme BCGP_VISUAL_THEME_SYSTEM was added to most of our examples and samples.
    2. BCGPControls: added explorer-style demonstration for the themed tree and list view controls, and the "Accent Color" toolbar combo box has been replaced with a new toolbar color combo box.
    3. BCGPExplorer and ExplorerBarDemo: demonstrates how to use a new CBCGPHistoryManager class for the navigation between folders.
    4. HotSpotDemo: added a demonstration of how to auto-inverse the SVG image in the dark theme.
    5. ResizableForm: a demonstration of the resizable dialog, which includes an expandable area, has been added.
    6. BCGPGaugesDemo: added a demonstration of the interactive circular progress indicator.
    7. RibbonGadgets: added a demonstration of the CBCGPRibbonColorComboBox control.

  10. Fixes
    1. Fixed some warnings in the complication with the latest version of Clang.
    2. CBCGPSliderCtrl: addressed some issues with the incorrect control behavior when the maximal value of the specified range exceeds 32767.
    3. CBCGPInfoBoxRenderer: fixed a bug with the incorrect layout when the information box caption is wider than the text.
    4. CBCGPInfoBoxCtrl: if the SetLink method is called after the control creation, the link tooltip is properly updated now.
    5. Addressed the issue with holding the local resource when the product message box or some other dialogs are displayed; if at this time the system visual theme was changed (e.g., from the light to dark mode) and the application needs to reload its internal resources, the current resource handle is correct now.
    6. When the Windows app mode is changed and the system visual theme is active, the following controls are now correctly handled for color changes:
      • CBCGPMessageBox (message foreground color).
      • CBCGPFontDialog and CBCGPTextFormatDlg (text preview boxes).
      • CBCGPRibbonTreeCtrl (used in the Ribbon customization dialogs).
      • CBCGPBaseVisualCtrl (base class of the diagrams, charts, gauges, and other data visualization controls).
    7. CBCGPFontComboBox: the internal font icons are auto-inverted now in the dark themes only if the control is visual theme-aware.
    8. CBCGPScrollBar: addressed some MSAA issues in the non-themed (rendered by Windows) scroll bar control.
    9. CBCGPFileDialogEx: addressed the issue of incorrect folder navigation using the "Back" and "Forward" buttons.
    10. Addressed some issues with restoring a temporary hidden frame menu bar.
    11. CBCGPDrawManager: the global graphics managers used inside DrawRoundRect and DrawTab are thread-safe now.
    12. CBCGPFileDialogEx: fixed a bug with the unnecessary loading of some folders' content several times. This solution dramatically improves the themed file dialog performance.
    13. Added a workaround for the incorrect menu bar checking in the child dialogs (such as CBCGPDialog). The value returned by calling CWnd::GetMenu for the child window is sometimes unexpected, and this method can cause unpredictable assertions.
    14. CBCGPToolbarEditBoxButton: addressed some issues with the incorrect painting of the edit box border when the parent toolbar is located in the DWM area. The problem occurred in some legacy visual themes such as Office 2000-2010 or Visual Studio 2005-2010.
    15. CBCGPDropDownListBox: the issue in the get_accName method has been addressed when the input index exceeds the valid range.
    16. BCGTranslator: addressed the issue of incorrect parsing of the multi-word popup menu name when the program is importing text labels from the application resource file.