The VistaSkin component automatically skins windows forms applications in the style of the new Microsoft Windows Vista graphical user interface.

In order to skin your application you only need to drop this component onto the main form of your application at design-time.

Using the properties available on the VistaSkin component you can determine what colorScheme to use, what forms and controls should be skinned and whether to apply translucent shadows to your forms.

Use the ColorScheme property to determine the application color scheme skin. Use the TargetControls property to determine what forms or controls you wish to have the skin applied. The ShadowVisible and ShadowStyle affects the visibility and appearance of the form shadow.

This class cannot be inherited.

The following tables list the members exposed by VistaSkin.

Public Constructors

 NameDescription
StaticPublic methodVistaSkinOverloaded. Initializes a new instance of the VistaSkin class.
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Public Properties

 NameDescription
Public propertyColorSchemeSpecifies what color scheme to use.
Public propertyContainerGets the IContainer that contains the Component. (inherited from Component)
Public propertyCustomBackgroundPaintSpecifies whether to enable custom background painting, this only applies to the client region of the Form, Panel and UserControl controls.
Public propertyExcludeTagSpecifies a global tag,

any Control or Formwhose Tag value matches this string will automatically have the skin removed, regardless of the TargetControls setting.

Public propertyHookSystemColorsSpecifies whether to override system colors and replace them with the skin palette.
Public propertyHookSystemDrawingSpecifies whether to skin parts that are directly drawn by the OS platform.
Public propertyIncludeTagSpecifies a global include tag,

any Control or Formwhose Tag value matches this string will automatically get skinned, regardless of the TargetControls setting.

Public propertyShadowStyleSpecifies the shadow style to apply to all forms.
Public propertyShadowVisibleSpecifies whether the form shadow is visible. The form shadow is a translucent drop shadow effect applied to all application forms.
Public propertySiteOverridden. Overridden, see Site
Public propertySkinCommonDialogsSpecifies whether to skin the common dialog components, such as the OpenFileDialog, SaveFileDialog, FontDialog etc.
Public propertySkinModeSpecifies how application forms and controls will be skinned.

Use Manual to manually skin forms and controls.

Use Automatic to automatically skin all application forms and controls.

Public propertySkinSystemControlsSpecifies whether to skin all native system controls and dialogs.
Public propertyTargetControlsSpecifies which application controls will have the skin applied.

Use None to skin no application forms or controls,

Use Forms to skin only application forms,

Use Controls to skin only application controls,

Use FormsAndControls to skin all application forms and controls,

Use TaggedControls to skin all tagged application forms and controls,

Public propertyToolStripStyleSpecifies what ToolStrip render style to use. Use System to render toolstrips with skinned elements.

Use Professional to render toolstrips with professional skinned colors.

Use Mixed to render toolstrips with a combination of system and professional styles.

Public propertyUseSystemFontsSpecifies whether to use system fonts in place of the skin fonts.
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Public Methods

 NameDescription
Public methodStaticApplySkinOverloaded. Manually applies the skin to the entire application, the application skin is restored using the current settings.
Public methodBeginUpdateMaintains render performance whilst setting the VistaSkin properties, and prevents any unnecessary skin painting until the EndUpdate method is called.
Public methodCreateObjRefCreates an object that contains all the relevant information required to generate a proxy used to communicate with a remote object. (inherited from MarshalByRefObject)
Public methodDisposeReleases all resources used by the Component. (inherited from Component)
Public methodEndUpdateResumes skin rendering after painting is suspended by the BeginUpdate method.
Public methodEqualsDetermines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (inherited from Object)
Public methodGetHashCodeServes as a hash function for a particular type. (inherited from Object)
Public methodGetLifetimeServiceRetrieves the current lifetime service object that controls the lifetime policy for this instance. (inherited from MarshalByRefObject)
Public methodGetTypeGets the Type of the current instance. (inherited from Object)
Public methodInitializeLifetimeServiceObtains a lifetime service object to control the lifetime policy for this instance. (inherited from MarshalByRefObject)
Public methodRefreshRefreshes the application skin using the current settings.
Public methodStaticRemoveSkinOverloaded. Manually removes the skin from the entire application
Public methodShutdownManually shuts down the skin engine and disposes all resources.
Public methodToStringReturns a String containing the name of the Component, if any. This method should not be overridden. (inherited from Component)
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Public Events

 NameDescription
Public eventDisposedOccurs when the component is disposed by a call to the Dispose method. (inherited from Component)
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Explicit Interface Implementations

 NameDescription
StaticPrivate methodVistaSkinOverloaded. Initializes a new instance of the VistaSkin class.
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See Also

Syntax based on .NET Framework version 2.0.
Documentation version 1.0.0.0.