How do i enable Visual styles

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How do i enable Visual styles

Diya Al deen 20

How Do I enable Visual styles when using MSYS2 MinGW-w64, in the simplest way, like how Qt Does it, I am strugglinng trying to enable visual styles in mingw-w64, i just cant find a way

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Answer 1

Castorix31 88,061

Either with a Manifest as explained at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/controls/cookbook-overview or by code with

CreateActCtx/ActivateActCtx

By code (tested on Windows 10), at beginning, before any window is created :

	ULONG_PTR ul;
	HANDLE hActCtx = CreateAndActivateContext(&ul);

with :

HANDLE CreateAndActivateContext(ULONG_PTR* pul)
{
	HANDLE hActCtx = NULL;
	ACTCTX act = { 0 };
	TCHAR szPath[MAX_PATH];
	HINSTANCE hInstance = LoadLibrary(L"SHLWAPI.DLL");
	GetModuleFileName(hInstance, szPath, ARRAYSIZE(szPath));
	act.cbSize = sizeof(act);
	act.dwFlags = ACTCTX_FLAG_RESOURCE_NAME_VALID;
	act.lpResourceName = MAKEINTRESOURCE(123);
	act.lpSource = szPath;
	hActCtx = CreateActCtx(&act);
	if (hActCtx != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
		ActivateActCtx(hActCtx, pul);
	return hActCtx;
}

Diya Al deen 20 Reputation points

2024-02-13T13:07:19.54+00:00

Thank You So Much, It Works, Thank You Very Much. but when visual styles are enabled, the button still has a margin of a color, that color is always COLOR_WINDOW. it happens in both MSVC and MinGW/-w64 but i will solve it by setting the window class hbrBackground property to COLOR_WINDOW. I would also like to know how this works, and if there are any other simpler methods, But Thank You Very much.
RLWA32 47,786 Reputation points

2024-02-13T13:33:52.7833333+00:00

@Diya Al deen The simplest method is to use the resource utilities available with your MSYS2 MinGW-w64 installation to embed the manifest as a resource in your executable. Once this is done the system will automatically activate visual styles and no code is required.
Diya Al deen 20 Reputation points

2024-02-13T14:15:45.03+00:00

Thank You So Much, however in MinGW when you click on a button, the style gets the dots thing if you know what i am talking about, with qt that doesnt happen, but i am fine with that, Thank You Very Much
Diya Al deen 20 Reputation points

2024-02-14T12:47:50.03+00:00

Thank You So Much, You Solved My Problem, although the method baffles me, i am so happy that it got solved, than you very much.
Diya Al deen 20 Reputation points

2024-02-17T18:26:55.0033333+00:00

Is It possible to activate Visual styles after a windows is created
RLWA32 47,786 Reputation points

2024-02-18T00:16:44.2366667+00:00

Is It possible to activate Visual styles after a windows is created

Yes, but windows created before visual styles are activated will not receive them. Only windows created subsequent to the activation will have the visual styles.

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