Visualization manager

The BCGControlBar Library framework allows you to create various application "skins" and easily change the look and feel of user-interface elements. Although the product has more than 25 pre-built visual themes, you can easily implement your custom theme(s).

On the picture below, you can see a screenshot taken from the "BCGPMediaPlayer" and "BCGPMSMoneyDemo" examples:

The framework maintains a global object of CBCGPVisualManager class, that by default draws the following GUI elements:

• bar borders (OnDrawBarBorder)
• bar grippers (OnDrawBarGripper)
• button borders (OnDrawButtonBorder)
• caption buttons (OnDrawCaptionButton)
• menu borders (OnDrawMenuBorder)
• separators (OnDrawSeparator)
• fills bar background (OnFillBarBackground)
• fills button interior (OnFillButtonInterior)
• highlights menu items (OnHighlightMenuItem)

Each element is displayed by a separate virtual function.

To implement your own skin, you should perform the following steps:

1. Derive your own class from the CBCGPVisualManager class.
2. For each GUI element whose appearance you want to customize, override the relevant drawing function.
3. The CBCGPVisualManager object is a singleton. When you want to instantiate a visual manager object, you should delete the previous instance. Use the CBCGPVisualManager::GetInstance static function to get access to the current instance.

The following example shows how to switch between default and custom visual managers:

void CMyApp::SetCustomTheme(int iThemeIndex)
{
    switch (iThemeIndex)
    {
    case OFFICE_2016_CUSTOM_THEME:
        // CMyOffice2016Theme is derived
        // from CBCGPVisualManager2016 class:
        SetVisualTheme(
            BCGP_VISUAL_THEME_OFFICE_2016_COLORFUL, 
            RUNTIME_CLASS(CMyOffice2016Theme));
        break; 

    case VS_2017_CUSTOM_STYLE:
        // CMyVS2017Theme is derived 
        // from CBCGPVisualManagerVS2013 class
        SetVisualTheme(
            BCGP_VISUAL_THEME_VS_2013_BLUE, 
            RUNTIME_CLASS(CMyVS2017Theme));
        break; 
    }
}

Back to the Developer Area