By
kurtykurtyboy
GuiFlatButton is a UDF to easily create regular buttons with different colors for background, foreground, border, hover, focus, etc..
This started as an effort to change the background color of a button and eventually grew into a full UDF.
If you've looked around forums for changing button background colors, you have probably noticed that each proposed workaround has its own set of issues/side-effects. The answers usually circle back to 'use ownerdrawn buttons' and 'not worth it'. Well, now it is possible for anyone to easily create ownerdrawn buttons - totally worth it!
Some issues with other workarounds such as drawing with GDI+ or using a colored label as a 'button':
Not 'real' buttons so you lose built-in functionality that windows gives to buttons
Messy / inefficient code in the main while loop to check for mouse position
Slow to respond to click, paint, etc...
Having to deal with GUIRegisterMsg messages
Not straight-forward to implement
GuiFlatButton is not a workaround; it is a technique to respond to Windows' built-in owner-drawn button events.
With minimal effort, we can now create true simple colored buttons.
The idea is to create an owner-drawn button using GUICtrlCreateButton then subclass the GUI and controls to handle the button-specific events to paint it however we want.
This UDF magically does all of this for us! No need to worry about event handling or main while loop logic.
How to use
It couldn't be any easier! Simply create a new button using the familiar syntax. This creates an ownerdrawn button with default colors.
$mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 1", 78, 20, 120, 40)
If you want to change the background and text colors:
GuiFlatButton_SetBkColor(-1, 0x5555FF)
GuiFlatButton_SetColor(-1, 0xFFFFFF)
Advanced Usage
Set background/text/border all at once
GuiFlatButton_SetColors(-1, 0x0000FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0x9999FF)
Set ALL colors for ALL button states! (normal, focus, hover, selected)
Local $aColorsEx = [0x0000FF, 0xFFFFFF, -2, 0x4444FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xAAAAFF, 0x6666FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xCCCCFF, 0x0000EE, 0xFFFFFF, 0x7777EE]
GuiFlatButton_SetColorsEx(-1, $aColorsEx)
Set default colors to apply to any future buttons
;set colors
GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColors(0x0000FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0x9999FF)
;create buttons
$mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 1", 12, 20, 120, 40)
$mybutton2 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 2", 143, 20, 120, 40)
Set ALL color defaults
;set colors
Local $aColorsEx = [0x0000FF, 0xFFFFFF, -2, 0x4444FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xAAAAFF, 0x6666FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xCCCCFF, 0x0000EE, 0xFFFFFF, 0x7777EE]
GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColorsEx($aColorsEx)
;create buttons
$mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 1", 12, 20, 120, 40)
$mybutton2 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 2", 143, 20, 120, 40)
Available Functions
Simple Example
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>
#include "GuiFlatButton.au3"
Example()
;GUI with one button
Func Example()
Local $hGUI, $mybutton1
$hGUI = GUICreate("GuiFlatButton Ex0", 275, 120)
GUISetBkColor(0x333333)
$idLabel = GUICtrlCreateLabel("Click the button", 10, 100, 150, 30)
GUICtrlSetColor(-1, 0xFFFFFF)
;create new button then set the background and foreground colors
$mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 1", 78, 20, 120, 40)
GuiFlatButton_SetBkColor(-1, 0x5555FF)
GuiFlatButton_SetColor(-1, 0xFFFFFF)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hGUI)
Local $i = 0
Local $iMsg
While 1
$iMsg = GUIGetMsg()
Switch $iMsg
Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
ExitLoop
Case $mybutton1
$i += 1
GUICtrlSetData($idLabel, $i)
ConsoleWrite($i & @CRLF)
EndSwitch
Sleep(10)
WEnd
GUIDelete()
EndFunc ;==>Example
Menu/Toolbar Example
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <MsgBoxConstants.au3>
#include "GuiFlatButton.au3"
Example()
;Example GUI with toolbar
Func Example()
Local $hGUI, $idLabel, $aButtons, $iTbSize
$hGUI = GUICreate("GuiFlatButton Ex2", 300, 200)
GUISetBkColor(0x444444)
$idLabel = GUICtrlCreateLabel("Click a button", 10, 180, 150, 30)
GUICtrlSetColor(-1, 0xFFFFFF)
$aButtons = createToolbar()
$iTbSize = UBound($aButtons)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hGUI)
Local $i = 0
Local $iMsg
While 1
$iMsg = GUIGetMsg()
Switch $iMsg
Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
ExitLoop
Case $aButtons[0] To $aButtons[$iTbSize - 1]
ConsoleWrite("1")
GUICtrlSetData($idLabel, GuiFlatButton_Read($iMsg))
EndSwitch
Sleep(10)
WEnd
GUIDelete()
EndFunc ;==>Example
Func createToolbar()
Local $aButtons[6]
Local $bkColor = 0x777777
Local $textColor = 0xFFFFFF
Local $borderColor = 0x999999
Local $aBtnClrs[12] = [0x777777, 0xFFFFFF, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT, 0x888888, 0xFFFFFF, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT, 0x999999, 0xFFFFFF, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT, 0x666666, 0xFFFFFF, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT]
For $i = 0 To UBound($aButtons) - 1
$aButtons[$i] = GuiFlatButton_Create("B" & $i, $i * 50, 0, 50, 17)
GuiFlatButton_SetColorsEx($aButtons[$i], $aBtnClrs)
Next
Return $aButtons
EndFunc ;==>createToolbar
I'm sure there are some use-cases I've forgotten, so feedback is welcome!
Update 2019-02-09
Added 2 new functions to set the button colors globally for all future buttons.
GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColors
GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColorsEx
Download the UDF and several examples: GuiFlatButton.zip
Credits to:
Melba23 (UDF template)
LarsJ (general subclassing code)
4ggr35510n (TrackMouseEvent example)
binhnx (disable dragging with $WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT)
GUIRegisterMsg in AutoIt Help (owner-draw button example)
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