Mac OS X Theme for Windows Forms

Introduction

Some programmers might want to apply some themes or skins to their forms so that it will look cool, sophisticated, and attractive.  I have created a Mac OS X open source theme library for everyone and the usage of it is indicated on this article. 

Background

I'm a die-hard Apple Mac OS X fan. Unfortunately I can't buy a Mac so I want to have the look and feel of Mac OS X Applications on my Windows Forms Application. I created a library so I can use it on any of my WinForms. This idea of mine doesn't modify the non-client area of a form, but creates a new pre-designed mac themed borderless form and makes your target form as its child control. 

How it was created  

The theme was purely made up of a borderless form with lots of double-buffer enabled panels, each specially positioned to serve as the title bar, control buttons,resizing grips, and container of the form you want to apply the theme.  

This form includes several events such as resizing, moving, maximizing, minimizing, and closing. The target form (form where the theme is to be applied) was converted into a control and it will be owned by the Form Container (panel|bodypanel).

This mac themed form behaves normally the same way as a regular Windows border do. Here are some controls that make this custom theme similar to a regular Windows border.  

Titlebar 

-> This is where the form's text property is shown, via a centered label control. This part holds the caption and the control buttons (close, maximize/restore, and minimize buttons). You can move the window by dragging this part or maximize/restore the window by double-clicking.

Control Buttons 

-> Includes the close, maximize/restore, and minimize buttons. As a normal Windows border do, you can use these buttons to close the form, maximize, restore, and minimize the window.

Borders

-> These are the edges of the form where we can perform the resizing operations. 

Caption 

-> Displays the Form's Text property. 

Client Area

-> This is where the main graphical user interface of the application is found.

Controls that make up the Mac Theme

Here are the controls that are included in the mactheme Form class:

Each of these controls have event handlers for them to function accordingly. Resizing and moving functions use unmanaged codes (SendMessage and ReleaseCapture). 

The  image below shows a demo form. (Right=normal Windows theme|FormBorderStyle: Sizable; TopLevel:True;)  and (Left= Mac theme|FormBorderStyle:none;TopLevel:False;ParentForm:mactheme) 

Using the code   

This library can generate three types of Mac themed form:

1. Thick Borders | Sizable (no top corners resize) 

2. Thick Borders; Resize disabled | Dialog Window 

3. Thin Borders | Sizable ( no corner resize) 

 Namespaces Included:   

using System; 
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Text;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices; 

Here are the following functions to apply the theme.  [Recommended to be written the Load event for the form] 

using xthemecore_macos; 

A] Select Form where you want to apply the theme. Create a Load event for the form. 

B] Create instance: 

ThemeManager mgr = new ThemeManager(); 

C] Apply Theme  [only one can be applied for each form] 

1. Thick Borders | Resizable  

mgr.ApplyFormThemeSizable(name_of_form);

2. Thick Borders; Resize disabled | Dialog Window

mgr.ApplyFormThemeSingleSizable(name_of_form);

3. Thin Borders | Resizable (You can put null on the parentForm parameter if the dialog doesn't have any owner.

Remember: 

-> When assigning the owner of a form WITHIN a form that has this mac theme, do not type this, instead type this.ParentForm because your form becomes child control once you apply the mac theme. 

mgr.ApplyFormThemeDialog(name_of_form, name_of_owner); 

Some Code Snippets Included 

You can transform a form into a low level control by using these codes...

Form parentForm = new Form(); 
this.TopLevel = false; 
this.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None; 
parentForm.Controls.Add(this); 
parentForm.Show();

 This library uses some Windows API for the moving and resizing operation. 

internal const int WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN =161;
internal const int HT_CAPTION = 0x2;
internal const int HTBOTTOM = 15;
internal const int HTBOTTOMLEFT = 16;
internal const int HTBOTTOMRIGHT = 17;
internal const int HTRIGHT = 11;
internal const int HTLEFT = 10;
internal const int HTTOP = 12; 

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, uint Msg, long lParam, long wParam);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern bool ReleaseCapture();  

 I have used panels that are double-buffered enabled to prevent flickers. 

 public class panelmod : Panel
        {
        public panelmod()
            {
            //sets the DoubleBuffered property of the panel to true.
            this.DoubleBuffered = true;
            }
        }  

Some Minor Problems 

a] You may find resizing difficult especially on the thin border theme.  

b] Form ownership must be clearly stated. Remember that the Mac themed form will be the owner of the form where you applied the theme.

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If you discover some problems or bugs, just post a comment on this article or email me at john_november03@hotmail.com. Thank you. 

History 

This is the original version of this article.