How to change the Visual appearance of VC++ application look like windows 7

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VS2005

Hi,

I have been migrating my old VC++ 6.0 application to Visual Studio 2005 for Windows 7. It's Functioning well. I have googled and added the below code to "StdAfx.h" to change the UI look like windows 7,

C++

#pragma comment(linker,"\"/manifestdependency:type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")

But, Still the background of dialog boxes,toolbar and menu bars are in the same old style. I want to make the entire application with win 7 look and feel. is there any way to apply the win 7 theme for the entire application????

Posted 1-Nov-12 2:33am

EshwarTamil

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Santhosh G_ · Answer 1 · 2012-11-01T05:31:00

I guess you need XP-style controls for your controls. To get XP-Style controls, you have to do the following things.
In StdAfx.h add the following lines.

C++

#ifdef _UNICODE
#if defined _M_IX86
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='x86' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
#elif defined _M_IA64
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='ia64' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
#elif defined _M_X64
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='amd64' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
#else
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
#endif
#endif

And InitInstance() of App class you should call InitCommonControlsEx().

C++

App::InitInstance()
{
	// InitCommonControlsEx() is required on Windows XP if an application
	// manifest specifies use of ComCtl32.dll version 6 or later to enable
	// visual styles.  Otherwise, any window creation will fail.
	INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX InitCtrls;
	InitCtrls.dwSize = sizeof(InitCtrls);
	// Set this to include all the common control classes you want to use
	// in your application.
	InitCtrls.dwICC = ICC_WIN95_CLASSES;
	InitCommonControlsEx(&InitCtrls);
}

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb773175%28v=vs.85%29.aspx