Colored/Blinking Controls and Dialogs with any Font

Introduction

In this article I want to introduce two template classes that can help you in simple dialog development. Very frequently we try to set different color or font to static, editbox or another control in our dialog. To simplify this work I wrote two classes CColorCtrl and CFontCtrl. These classes have two advantages. First of all, you don't need to throw out your beloved class. Because these classes are templates - they can be attached to any existing CWnd-based class. Second, there is no painting of any kind in these classes.

Control works in one of two modes:

• Simple Colored Mode
• Blinking Mode

You can customise:

• Text color(s)
• Background color(s)
• Blinking delay

If your control uses WM_CTLCOLOR message for painting (as almost all standard windows controls do), you can use this template. You can also use it for the whole dialog (see "About" dialog in system menu).

Usage:

1. Include ColorCtrl.h in your project.
2. Create a control with dialog editor.
3. Add a member variable for this control using the class wizard.
4. Replace CCtrlClass m_ctrl with CColorCtrl<CCtrlClass> m_ctrl
   e.g. replace

   CEdit m_edit;
   CStatic m_static;
   

   with

   CColorCtrl<CEdit> m_edit;
   CColorCtrl<CStatic> m_static;
   

Use the following functions to change colors:

void SetTextColor(COLORREF);
COLORREF GetTextColor();
void SetTextBlinkColors(COLORREF, COLORREF);

void SetBkColor(COLORREF);
COLORREF GetBkColor();
void SetBkBlinkColors(COLORREF, COLORREF);

To set the default color use CLR_DEFAULT as the argument. To set system colors use the macro CC_SYSCOLOR(index), where "index" is one of system color IDs (see help on ::GetSysColor). This macro doesn't call ::GetSysColor, but decorates the index for further usage.

Use the following functions to change the background pattern:

void SetBkPattern(UINT nResID);
void SetBkPattern(HBITMAP);
void SetBkBlinkPattern(UINT nResID1, UINT nResID2);
void SetBkBlinkPattern(HBITMAP, HBITMAP);

To remove a pattern use NULL as the argument.

The HBITMAP argument should not be attached to any CBitmap class (Use CBitmap::Detach() to detach it). Don't call DeleteObject() for any HBITMAP you send to these functions. For Windows 9x the size of the bitmap is restricted to 8*8 pixels.

Use the folowing functions to start/stop blinking:

void StartBlink(int iWho, UINT nDelay);
void StopBlink(int iWho);
UINT GetDelay();

The argument can be one of :

• CC_BLINK_TEXT
• CC_BLINK_BK
• CC_BLINK_BOTH

the argument nDelay can be one of:

• CC_BLINK_NOCHANGE - doesn't change blinking speed
• CC_BLINK_FAST
• CC_BLINK_NORMAL - default
• CC_BLINK_SLOW
• any other value specified in miliseconds

If you want to use only Solid colors - call UseSolidColors(TRUE). If you have problems with transparency of the text background call ForceOpaque(), but take note: if you use a pattern or a non-solid color in low-color resolution you'll have a rectangle under text that is different from another background.

There are two derived classes CColorCtrlEx and CBlinkCtrlEx that allow you to preset the control colors on a template level.

e.g. CColorCtrlEx<CStatic, RGB(255,0,0), RGB(0,255,0)> m_static; will create a static control with initial red text and green background.

Warning! Don't use these two classes together with one control.

Use this control if you want to change font style or font height of your control. This class supports combinations of the folowing styles:

• Bold
• Italic
• Underline
• Strikeout

Usage:

1. Include FontCtrl.h in your project.
2. Create a control with the dialog editor.
3. Add a member variable for this control using the class wizard.
   
4. Replace CCtrlClass m_ctrl with CFontCtrl<CCtrlClass> m_ctrl
   e.g. replace

   CEdit m_edit;
   CStatic m_static;
   

   with

   CFontCtrl<CEdit> m_edit;
   CFontCtrl<CStatic> m_static;
   

Use the following functions to change font style and height:

void ChangeFontStyle(int fAdd, int fRemove = 0, BOOL fRedraw = TRUE);
void ChangeFontHeight(int nHeight, BOOL fRedraw = TRUE);
void SetFont(CFont* pFont, BOOL bRedraw = TRUE);
void SetFont(LOGFONT& lf, BOOL bRedraw = TRUE);

The arguments fAdd and fRemove can be combined from the following values:

• FC_FONT_BOLD
• FC_FONT_ITALIC
• FC_FONT_UNDERLINE
• FC_FONT_STRIKEOUT

When you use functions SetFont together with ChangeFont* in any order the resulting font will have a combination of the styles and height specified in ChangeFontHeight (if not equal to zero).

There is derived class CFontCtrlEx, that allow you to preset font style and height on a template level. E.g. CFontCtrlEx<CStatic, FC_FONT_BOLD|FC_FONT_UNDERLINE, 30> m_static; will create a static control with bold, underlined text and text height equal to 30.

There are also four classes for basic styles: CBoldCtrl, CItalicCtrl, CUnderlineCtrl, CStrikeoutCtrl

Warning! Don't use these five classes together with one control.

If your control doesn't contain a font (e.g. you create it in code by a call to Create function) CFontCtrl cannot change font style/height. In this case use one of the SetFont functions to set the font to your control. If you create the control on base of one of five derived classes - don't worry - the predefined style/height will be added to selected font.

Common Notes

Any function of any class can be called even before the window created.

You can use both classes together for single control:

CFontCtrl<CColorCtrl<CStatic> > m_static;
// or
CColorCtrl<CFontCtrl<CStatic> > m_static;
// or
typedef CFontCtrl<CStatic> CFontStatic;
CColorCtrl<CFontStatic> m_static;
// or even
typedef CFontCtrlEx<CStatic, 
                    FC_FONT_BOLD|FC_FONT_UNDERLINE, 
                    30> CBoldUnderlineStatic;
CColorCtrlEx<CBoldUnderlineStatic, 
             RGB(255,0,0), RGB(0,255,0)> m_static;

Visit my Home Page

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)