Visual Styles Reference

This section describes the following API elements used with Visual Styles.

Functions

Topic Contents
BeginBufferedAnimation Begins a buffered animation operation. The animation consists of a cross-fade between the contents of two buffers over a specified period of time.
BeginBufferedPaint Begins a buffered paint operation.
BeginPanningFeedback Notifies the system to send feedback about a target window affected by panning gestures.
BufferedPaintClear Clears a specified rectangle in the buffer to ARGB = {0,0,0,0}.
BufferedPaintInit Initialize buffered painting for the current thread.
BufferedPaintRenderAnimation Paints the next frame of a buffered paint animation.
BufferedPaintSetAlpha Sets the alpha to a specified value in a given rectangle. The alpha controls the amount of transparency applied when blending with the buffer onto the destination target device context (DC).
BufferedPaintStopAllAnimations Stops all buffered animations for the given window.
BufferedPaintUnInit Closes down buffered painting for the current thread. Called once for each call to BufferedPaintInit after calls to BeginBufferedPaint are no longer needed.
CloseThemeData Closes the theme data handle.
DrawThemeBackground Draws the border and fill defined by the visual style for the specified control part.
DrawThemeBackgroundEx Draws the background image defined by the visual style for the specified control part.
DrawThemeEdge Draws one or more edges defined by the visual style of a rectangle.
DrawThemeIcon Draws an image from an image list with the icon effect defined by the visual style.
DrawThemeParentBackground Draws the part of a parent control that is covered by a partially-transparent or alpha-blended child control.
DrawThemeParentBackgroundEx Used by partially-transparent or alpha-blended child controls to draw the part of their parent in front of which they appear. Sends a WM_ERASEBKGND message followed by a WM_PRINTCLIENT.
DrawThemeText Draws text using the color and font defined by the visual style.
DrawThemeTextEx Draws text using the color and font defined by the visual style. Extends DrawThemeText by allowing additional text format options.
EnableThemeDialogTexture Enables or disables the visual style of a dialog window's background.
EnableTheming Enables or disables visual styles for the current user in the current and later sessions.
EndBufferedAnimation Renders the first frame of a buffered animation operation and starts the animation timer.
EndBufferedPaint Completes a buffered paint operation and frees the associated buffered paint handle.
EndPanningFeedback Terminates any existing animation that was in process or set up by BeginPanningFeedback and UpdatePanningFeedback.
GetBufferedPaintBits Retrieves a pointer to the buffer bitmap if the buffer is a device-independent bitmap (DIB).
GetBufferedPaintDC Gets the paint DC. This is the same value retrieved by BeginBufferedPaint.
GetBufferedPaintTargetDC Retrieves the target DC.
GetBufferedPaintTargetRect Retrieves the target rectangle specified by BeginBufferedPaint.
GetCurrentThemeName Retrieves the name of the current visual style, and optionally retrieves the color scheme name and size name.
GetThemeAppProperties Retrieves the property flags that control how visual styles are applied in the current application.
GetThemeBackgroundContentRect Retrieves the size of the content area for the background defined by the visual style.
GetThemeBackgroundExtent Calculates the size and location of the background, defined by the visual style, given the content area.
GetThemeBackgroundRegion Computes the region for a regular or partially transparent background that is bounded by a specified rectangle.
GetThemeBitmap Retrieves the bitmap associated with a particular theme, part, state, and property.
GetThemeBool Retrieves the value of a BOOL property from the SysMetrics section of theme data.
GetThemeColor Retrieves the value of a color property.
GetThemeDocumentationProperty Retrieves the value for a theme property from the documentation section of the specified theme file.
GetThemeEnumValue Retrieves the value of an enumerated type property.
GetThemeFilename Retrieves the value of a filename property.
GetThemeFont Retrieves the value of a font property.
GetThemeInt Retrieves the value of an int property.
GetThemeIntList Retrieves a list of int data from a visual style.
GetThemeMargins Retrieves the value of a MARGINS property.
GetThemeMetric Retrieves the value of a metric property.
GetThemePartSize Calculates the original size of the part defined by a visual style.
GetThemePosition Retrieves the value of a position property.
GetThemePropertyOrigin Retrieves the location of the theme property definition for a property.
GetThemeRect Retrieves the value of a RECT property.
GetThemeStream Retrieves a data stream corresponding to a specified theme, starting from a specified part, state, and property.
GetThemeString Retrieves the value of a string property.
GetThemeSysBool Retrieves the Boolean value of a system metric.
GetThemeSysColor Retrieves the value of a system color.
GetThemeSysColorBrush Retrieves a system color brush.
GetThemeSysFont Retrieves the LOGFONT of a system font.
GetThemeSysInt Retrieves the value of a system int.
GetThemeSysSize Retrieves the value of a system size metric from theme data.
GetThemeSysString Retrieves the value of a system string.
GetThemeTextExtent Calculates the size and location of the specified text when rendered in the visual style font.
GetThemeTextMetrics Retrieves information about the font specified by a visual style for a particular part.
GetThemeTransitionDuration Gets the duration for the specified transition.
GetWindowTheme Retrieves a theme handle to a window that has visual styles applied.
HitTestThemeBackground Retrieves a hit test code for a point in the background specified by a visual style.
IsAppThemed Reports whether the current application's user interface displays using visual styles.
IsCompositionActive Determines whether Desktop Window Manager (DWM) composition effects are available to the theme.
IsThemeActive Tests if a visual style for the current application is active.
IsThemeBackgroundPartiallyTransparent Retrieves whether the background specified by the visual style has transparent pieces or alpha-blended pieces.
IsThemeDialogTextureEnabled Reports whether a specified dialog window supports background texturing.
IsThemePartDefined Retrieves whether a visual style has defined parameters for the specified part and state.
OpenThemeData Opens the theme data for a window and its associated class.
OpenThemeDataEx Opens the theme data associated with a window for specified theme classes.
SetThemeAppProperties Sets the flags that determine how visual styles are implemented in the calling application.
SetWindowTheme Causes a window to use a different set of visual style information than its class normally uses.
SetWindowThemeAttribute Sets attributes to control how visual styles are applied to a specified window.
SetWindowThemeNonClientAttributes Sets non-client attributes to control how visual styles are applied to a specified window.
UpdatePanningFeedback Updates clients about state of a window resulting from a panning gesture. This function can only be called after a BeginPanningFeedback call.

Visual Styles Structures

Topic Contents
BP_ANIMATIONPARAMS Defines animation parameters for the BP_PAINTPARAMS structure used by BeginBufferedPaint.
BP_PAINTPARAMS Defines paint operation parameters for BeginBufferedPaint.
DTBGOPTS Defines the options for the DrawThemeBackgroundEx function.
DTTOPTS Defines the options for the DrawThemeTextEx function.
INTLIST Contains an array or list of int data items from a visual style.
MARGINS Returned by the GetThemeMargins function to define the margins of windows that have visual styles applied.
WTA_OPTIONS Defines options that are used to set window visual style attributes.

Enumerated Types

Topic Contents
PROPERTYORIGIN Returned by GetThemePropertyOrigin to specify where a property was found.
THEMESIZE Identifies the size of the visual style part to retrieve.
TM_PROPS Not currently supported.
WINDOWTHEMEATTRIBUTETYPE Specifies the type of visual style attribute to set on a window.

Visual Styles Topics

Topic Contents
Aero Style Classes, Parts, and States Describes the classes, parts, and states supported by the Aero theme, which defines the visual styles that Windows Vista uses by default
Theme File Format Discusses the format of Theme (.theme) files.
Format Values Lists the values that are used with the dwTextFlags parameter of the DrawThemeText and GetThemeTextExtent functions.
Hit Test Options Lists the option values that are used with the dwOptions parameter of the HitTestThemeBackground function.
Hit Test Return Values Lists the hit test code values that are returned in the pwHitTestCode parameter of the HitTestThemeBackground function.
Parts and States Describes the parts and states that you use to change the appearance of controls when visual styles are enabled.
Property Identifiers Contains information about defined values that are used to retrieve properties of visual styles.