Unicode Controls for VB6

Controls

In this document you'll find only properties/methods/events that we've added to standard VB6 controls. We suppose you already know how to use standard VB6 controls.

Common Properties

Font
(Very Important!!!)

Use Unicode Fonts like Arial Unicode MS
Check also this page

Text Property Panel

Permits you to use UNICODE strings in design mode for Caption,Tip and Text properties, don't use the VB6 property panel because it's ANSI only!

Picture Property Panel

Use this property panel for loading transparent and 32bpp alpha images (also .png and .tga are supported)

Tip

Unicode tooltip, don't use the ToolTipText VB6 property

BackColor / ForeColor

colors of the control

BorderColor

the color of the border (default=-1&)*

SelBackColor / SelForeColor

colors of the selector (lists, menus, combo, grid, etc...)

SelectorStyle

Style of the selector **

RoundSelector

Is the selector rounded?

RoundedBorders

Are the corners rounded? ***

Style

Widget style **

UseRoundRegions

Use a region for making the control rounded (By using a region you'll force Windows to use ad additional GDI object for every control you draw on the page but you don't need to use the BackColorOut property) ***

BackColorOut

When using rounded borders represents the color external of the border but internal of the control (default=-1&, you don't need to use this property if you don't use RoundedBorders or if you use the UseRoundRegions property. This property permits you to avoid the use of an additional Windows GDI objects when using round controls) * - ***

Caption

This is the text of the control;
Button, Check and Radio support AccessKeys: simply use the '&' char before the letter you want to use as AccessKey (ALT + Letter). Use && if you wish to display the & char into the Caption property.

Remarks

* The color -1& (&HFFFFFFFF) is not the White color (&HFFFFFF) and represents a null color treated by these controls in an automatic way.
When the BorderColor property is -1& the color is calculated by making the background color darker.
When the BackColorOut property is -1& the color is equal to the background color of control.
In the ctlUniStyler control the -1& is used to avoid color conversion when applying the style to a form.

** Control or Selector Style - Flat, Xp, Xp2, Vista, Vista2, Vista3, Vista4, Glass
By default every Style/SelectorStyle/BackStyle property is set by default to the enum constant iCtlBtnStyle_UseDefault (-1). The real value (when using the default) is equal to iCtlBtnStyle_Vista but can be set for every control in your application by using the DefaultButtonStyle() method of the clsCommonWrapper class.

*** Using RoundedBorders (VALID ONLY FOR CONTROLS WITH A WINDOW)
You can use round borders for your widgets in two ways:
1- Saving Memory - UseRoundRegions=false but you need to manually set the BackColorOut color to the Panel color
2- Saving Design Time - UseRoundRegions=true, the System uses one additional GDI graphical object (a rounded region)

By default controls use the Saving Memory choice.