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Re: Office Ribbon skin [message #11733 is a reply to message #11384]

Mon, 24 September 2007 02:51

sergei
Messages: 94
Registered: September 2007

Member

I just found this on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribbon_(computing):

Microsoft is in the process of acquiring a patent on the ribbon user interface concept[citation needed] and is licensing the ribbon design to third party developers royalty-free, as long as the user interface conforms to the Microsoft's design guidelines and they can get an approval from Microsoft. The ribbon design guidelines are confidential and an evaluation copy is only available when a non-disclosure agreement has been agreed to.[2][3] However, until the patent has been filed, one does not have to agree to the license to implement this user interface concept on their own.

Does this concern U++ in any way?

Regarding colors, there's GetSysColor API function for Win32 to get system colors. I don't know how Chameleon works, but ProfessionalColorTable does not provide a complete set of colors for an application, there are other colors needed (ProfessionalColorTable+SystemColors might be enough, though). For Linux, don't know, maybe this can be emulated, or just leave some XP theme as a skin. Here are system colors for default XP themes:

Color					Blue			Olive			Green
ActiveBorder			(212, 208, 200)	(212, 208, 200)	(212, 208, 200) 
ActiveCaption			(0, 84, 227)	(192, 192, 192)	(139, 161, 105) 
ActiveCaptionText		(255, 255, 255)	(14, 16, 16)	(255, 255, 255) 
AppWorkspace			(128, 128, 128)	(128, 128, 128)	(128, 128, 128) 
ButtonFace				(236, 233, 216)	(224, 223, 227)	(236, 233, 216) 
ButtonHighlight			(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255) 
ButtonShadow			(172, 168, 153)	(157, 157, 161)	(172, 168, 153) 
Control					(236, 233, 216)	(224, 223, 227)	(236, 233, 216) 
ControlDark				(172, 168, 153)	(157, 157, 161)	(172, 168, 153) 
ControlDarkDark			(113, 110, 100)	(113, 111, 100)	(113, 111, 100) 
ControlLight			(241, 239, 226)	(241, 239, 226)	(241, 239, 226) 
ControlLightLight		(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255) 
ControlText				(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0) 
Desktop					(0, 78, 152)	(88, 87, 104)	(157, 172, 189) 
GradientActiveCaption	(61, 149, 255)	(200, 200, 200)	(198, 210, 162) 
GradientInactiveCaption	(157, 185, 235)	(238, 239, 247)	(212, 214, 186) 
GrayText				(172, 168, 153)	(172, 168, 153)	(172, 168, 153) 
Highlight				(49, 106, 197)	(178, 180, 191)	(147, 160, 112) 
HighlightText			(255, 255, 255)	(0, 0, 0)		(255, 255, 255) 
HotTrack				(0, 0, 128)		(100, 139, 203)	(0, 0, 128) 
InactiveBorder			(212, 208, 200)	(212, 208, 200)	(212, 208, 200) 
InactiveCaption			(122, 150, 223)	(255, 255, 255)	(212, 214, 186) 
InactiveCaptionText		(216, 228, 248)	(162, 161, 161)	(255, 255, 255) 
Info					(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255) 
InfoText				(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0) 
Menu					(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255) 
MenuBar					(236, 233, 216)	(224, 226, 235)	(236, 233, 216) 
MenuHighlight			(49, 106, 197)	(187, 183, 199)	(147, 160, 112) 
MenuText				(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0) 
ScrollBar				(212, 208, 200)	(212, 208, 200)	(212, 208, 200) 
Window					(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255)	(255, 255, 255) 
WindowFrame				(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0) 
WindowText				(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0)		(0, 0, 0)

The tricky part is to find how ProfessionalColorTable builds its 56 colors from these system values (it probably does since it has UseSystemColors property). I used reflection to get out colors, few were returned as known colors, but most are just RGB values. Probably interpolations between system colors or something.

I could try to decipher these values. Would that help - can U++/chameleon paint stuff according to ProfessionalColorTable-like color palette?

[Updated on: Mon, 24 September 2007 02:55]

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