Themes for WinForms | ComponentOne
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    Creating a Custom Theme
    In This Topic

    This QuickStart guide will walk you through creating a new theme based on a built-in theme template using the C1ThemeDesigner. The topic comprises of two steps:

    Step 1: Create a new theme in ThemeDesigner

    In this step, you will create a new theme based on the Standard built-in theme template. For more information, see C1ThemeDesigner Application Overview.

    1. Double-click on the C1ThemeDesigner  from the C:\Program Files (x86)\ComponentOne\Apps\v4.0 folder.
    2. Click on Create New Theme from the Topic Bar. The New Theme dialog box appears.
    3. Select the Standard built-in theme template and enter BlueandPink for the theme Name and Click OK.
    4. Select Control Text from the BaseThemeProperties in the Theme tree.
    5. Click on the Control Text dropdown arrow and click the Custom tab.
    6. Set the BackColor to 151; 45; 85.
    7. Click on the dropdown arrow next to Window Text and select the Reference tab.
    8. Select the Control Text in the Reference tab.

      ReferenceTabforWindowText

      Notice the icon appears as a visual indicator that the Window Text property is referenced from the BaseThemeProperties Control Text.

      ReferenceAddedwithicon

    9. Expand C1Command| C1MainMenu| | Bar| BackColor.
    10. Click on the BackColor dropdown arrow and select the Custom tab.
    11. Select the Light pink so the numbers appear as 255; 231; 242. Notice the new settings appear in the Preview pane.

      ModifiedTheme

    12. Select File | Save As from the File menu to save the current theme in .c1themez file format. For example, BlueandPink. The new location appears at the top of the C1Theme Designer.

    Step 2: Using Theme in Visual Studio

    1. Open a form belonging to your application in the Visual Studio's forms designer. In this example we will open a ComponentOne WinForms sample, SimpleTextEditor2.
    2. Add the C1ThemeController from the toolbox onto your form. Make sure to provide reference to C1.C1Zip.4.dll in your project.
    3. Click on the C1ThemeController component's Add theme... action item. This will show a file open dialog.
    4. Browse and select the theme file (.c1themez) and click OK. The selected theme will be added to your C# or VB project as an embedded resource in a Themes folder, and will be available for selection from the themes list provided by the C1ThemeController.
    5. Run and observe your changes.