XP Style

[Michael King]

Has anybody used XP styles with their vb add-in? The common method for a
stand alone exe is to add a .manifest file to the resource or in the
application path, but this does not seem to work for my Outlook add-in

http://www.vbaccelerator.com/home/V...yles/Using_XP_Visual_Styles_in_VB/article.asp

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

So far from VB we've only been able to add a global manifest file to
Outlook and not a local manifest for a DLL or OCX in a COM addin or as
an entry in a Resource file.

If you create a global manifest file (outlook.exe.manifest) and place
it in the same folder as outlook.exe all addins will show WinXP
styles, which could create a problem with other addins you didn't
write. If they display radio buttons in a frame control the button
text will be one long unreadable blob.

Dmitry has been able to use Delphi and create a local manifest file as
a resource that doesn't create this problem but we've been unable so
far to replicate his efforts in VB. To do so you would have to paint
each form and control you used in the forms instead of letting VB
create them for you. That would demand Win32 API access to the forms
and controls and as I mentioned so far we've not been able to get
everything to work correctly.

 

[Michael King]

Ken,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I definately don't want to create a global manifest file. Is there a place
where I might find the answer when someone figures it out?

Mike

 

[Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook]]

If and when we do figure out how to do it in VB we'll probably publish
it on Slipstick, Microeye or on my Web site.

However I wouldn't hold my breath, at the moment I don't have the
bandwidth to work on it and the other people that were working on it
with me are also very busy right now.

What I'm doing for the moment in my addins is supplying a global
manifest with instructions and caveats in a readme file. The user can
move it to the outlook.exe folder if the want and if any of their
addins misbehave they can remove it. Only 1 global manifest is
required for any or all addins, BTW, it doesn't matter which addin the
manifest references it affects all of them.

 

[Michael King]

Thanks for your help. Same situation here as bandwidth goes.

Mike