Vista Glass

[SteveDude]

Just curious if anyone has done any dialogs with the Vista Glass effect. If so how about sharing a screenshot. I am looking for ideas on this.

Thanks

[RobertKozak]

I haven't yet because the rest of the controls don't properly support glass. For example you can't get the glow behind text on glass so that it is readable.

-- Robert Kozak
Senior Software Architect
Nowcom Corporation

[SteveDude]

That's why I posted this. I have yet come up with a workable use for the feature although I'm sure there is. Just looking for ideas.

[MichaelNesmith]

Actually, the glow behind text is a custom painting effect, and not a standard control (or property) in Windows.

Most of the controls support Glass - you can put them on a form inside a glass region, and they will paint properly.

Artistic creations are of course a little harder to achieve Hopefully we will see a nice Glass theme soon. Call to MVPs

[RobertKozak]

Although technically correct that doesn't add to our conversation here.

The controls that InstallAware uses are Delphi VCL controls which are not Standard Window controls either. What is needed is for the paint routines for those VCL controls to be rewritten to support the glow effect (possibly via a property to adjust GlowSize) using DrawThemeTextEx().

-- Robert Kozak
Senior Software Architect

[MichaelNesmith]

The controls that InstallAware uses are Delphi VCL controls which are not Standard Window controls either.

Of course not. The VCL is simply an object oriented visual abstraction layer on top of the Windows API. Its not like a third party control library (such as QT) with non-standard controls. Every VCL object is a true standard Windows control.

Again, the standard windows text control on Vista does not draw with a text glow. That is achieved with the addition of the API you mentioned.

[SteveDude]

Hoping v7 will have some real world samples of the Glass Effect. It's widely promoted and a good sample would validate its usefullness.

[giaviv]

Dear IA users,

In InstallAware 10.10, Aero/Glass is supported. The following new Aero controls are now available: AeroButton, AeroBackButton, AeroPNGButton, and AeroPNGImage.
Furthermore, Aero and Glass themes are also available and the Official dialog theme and the Web Update dialogs have been updated for Aero.

Thanks!