CTabCtrl and WinXP

All of my CStatic controls that sit on a CTabCtrl have a different background color than the CTabCtrl.

What is going on and how do I fix it?

That's a bug in the Windows XP theming engine.

A workaround is to handle WM_CTLCOLOR and return a holow brush IIRC.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Marc G
That's a bug in the Windows XP theming engine.

A workaround is to handle WM_CTLCOLOR and return a holow brush IIRC.

---

What is the IIRC after hollow brush?

I tried the following (based on your suggestion):

Code:

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HBRUSH CMyDlg::OnCtlColor(CDC* pDC, CWnd* pWnd, UINT nCtlColor)
{
        HBRUSH hbr = CDialog::OnCtlColor(pDC, pWnd, nCtlColor);
       
        if(nCtlColor == CTLCOLOR_STATIC)
        {
                hbr = m_HollowBrush;
        }
       
        return hbr;
}

---

m_HollowBrush is created like this in the dialog's constructor:

Code:

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LOGBRUSH        lb;
lb.lbColor = lb.lbHatch = NULL;
lb.lbStyle = BS_HOLLOW;
m_HollowBrush.CreateBrushIndirect(&lb);

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This code does not work. The text in the static control still has the wrong background.
If I add

Code:

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pDC->SetBkColor(RGB(255,255,255));

---

to OnCtlColor(), it is almost okay, but the CTabCtrl background is not pure white.

Any suggestions?

I've never had any problems with the CStatic background colours in XP.

I do take it you're using a manifest to define the version of ComCtrl32 you're using ?

Are you using VC6 or VC7 ?

Darwen.

Oh sorry. I've only used CStatics on a property page. They work fine.

Darwen.

IIRC = if i remember correctly ;)

In your CMyDlg::OnCtlColor you also have to add:

Code:

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pDC->SetBkMode(TRANSPARENT);

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Whew!!
Got it working fine now. The solution turned out to be so simple that I am embarassed I didn't get it on my own. Soon I'll be giving up my crayons for colored pencils though!:blush:

A hollow brush and transparent background mode did the trick.

Code:

---

HBRUSH CMyDlg::OnCtlColor(CDC* pDC, CWnd* pWnd, UINT nCtlColor)
{
        HBRUSH hbr = CDialog::OnCtlColor(pDC, pWnd, nCtlColor);
       
        if(nCtlColor == CTLCOLOR_STATIC)
        {
                hbr = m_HollowBrush;
                pDC->SetBkMode(TRANSPARENT);
        }
       
        return hbr;
}

---

I am using a manifest, and VC6.
Thanks for all the help,
Geno

Oh yes, it shows statics really right with hollow brush, but what about other controls? I am using check & option boxes, spin and group box, all of them shown wrong and using hollow brush doesn't fixed it. I've got black nonrendered rectangles instead of controls or nothing at all... :confused:
I'd be happy to get some help on this subject. Thanks

P.S. I've tried it on VC7 and VC6+manifest with the same result...

I use XP and I have not noticed a problem. However I use the classic style, not XP styles. However since this is the first time I have read anyone having that problem, I sure have doubts whether it is a bug. A static control is supposed to be a different color than other controls. I think an edit control gets the same color as a static control when the edit control has the read-only style.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Marc G
That's a bug in the Windows XP theming engine.

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If it is a bug then it is documented by Microsoft. What KB article documents it?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sam Hobbs
I use XP and I have not noticed a problem. However I use the classic style, not XP styles.

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Yeah, if I set it to classic style - the tabs bg color is the same as bg color of dialog, statics, spin and all other controls, so then I have no problem, but when I use theme - tabs are painted using some light color which differs from color of all other controls. The method, described above, helped me to fix only static text appearance. I've attached screenshot, so you can see exactly what I mean.
Thanks

So which one of the two samples is an example of the problem?

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sam Hobbs
So which one of the two samples is an example of the problem?

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First one - is a default result of placing controls on CTabCtrl, and second - after use of hollow brush. You can see different background colors on a first image, that's the problem and it resolved for static text control using hollow brush, but other controls got black area where background is not rendered at all. I could simply set bg brush color to bg color of the CTabCtrl, but GetBkColor() is not valid for CTabCtrl, so can't find way to retreive this value.

Wow, Lexis' dialog is ugly!

I resolved my CStatic contol background as noted previouslym but I never had a problem with any of the other controls. Group boxes and check boxes work perfectly well in all my apps.

I have seen some very wierd behavior like this when using the TRANSPARENT style set. I just ried to duplicate it in one of my apps but was unable to do so. I recommend you look at that and turn OFF the transparent style.

The only other thing I can think of is that the manifest file is screwed up.

Geno

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sam Hobbs
If it is a bug then it is documented by Microsoft. What KB article documents it?

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I don't think there is a KB about it, but it certainly is a bug in the theming engine. The following article describes the problem in detail and gives a solution:
http://www.codeproject.com/wtl/ThemedDialog.asp

I tried all of the other approaches, and the best case was the correct background being painted, but the group box line was visible behind the group box label. A group box is really a button ( with a static label on it ), and so the button needs to paint the text background solid to draw over the group box line.

This solution creates a brush out of the background of the parent. So, this even works if the tab/dialog background is a drawn image.

The function below can be used for any control, but is only needed in this case for statics and group boxes.

Note that the CBrush (m_brush) is a member of the parent ( dialog )

HBRUSH CSomeDlg::OnCtlColor(CDC* pDC, CWnd* pWnd, UINT nCtlColor)
{
if ( nCtlColor == CTLCOLOR_STATIC )
{
return CreateCtrlBrush( this, pWnd, m_brush );
}

return CDialog::OnCtlColor(pDC, pWnd, nCtlColor);
}

// Reusable function for all of your dialogs
HBRUSH CreateCtrlBrush( CWnd* a_pDlg, CWnd* a_pCtrl, CBrush& a_brush )
{
CRect ctrlRect;
CRect dlgRect;

CDC* pTempDC = a_pDlg->GetDC();

a_pCtrl->GetWindowRect( &ctrlRect );
a_pDlg->GetWindowRect( &dlgRect );

// Map control rect to parent background
int x = ctrlRect.left - dlgRect.left;
int y = ctrlRect.top - dlgRect.top;
int w = ctrlRect.Width();
int h = ctrlRect.Height();

// Bitmap to hold background for control
CBitmap bkgndBitmap;
bkgndBitmap.CreateCompatibleBitmap( pTempDC, w, h );

// And a DC used to fill it in.
CDC dcBitmap;
dcBitmap.CreateCompatibleDC( pTempDC );
dcBitmap.SelectObject( bkgndBitmap );

// Copy background into bitmap
dcBitmap.BitBlt(0, 0, w, h, pTempDC, x, y, SRCCOPY);

if ( a_brush.m_hObject )
a_brush.DeleteObject();

a_brush.CreatePatternBrush( &bkgndBitmap );

a_pDlg->ReleaseDC( pTempDC );

return (HBRUSH) a_brush;
}