When you create a KryptonForm based application you get a custom chrome look for your form, because the default palette is Office 2007 Blue and that palette requests a blue themed border and caption area. You get the same custom chrome under Windows XP and Vista.

But something changes once you add the KryptonRibbon. Under XP you get the application button and quick access toolbar integrated into the caption bar area of the window. Likewise under Vista, except the border loses the blue theme and becomes glassy just like other Vista applications.

This change in border appearance under Vista is to the default when you have a ribbon because it is trying to mimic the operation of the Office 2007 applications.  Try running Word 2007 under XP and Vista and you will see the same thing, blue custom chrome under XP but glassy custom chrome under Vista. So krypton is defaulting to doing the same. Here you can see a krypton ribbon app under Vista… 

But some developers have noted that they do not want to follow the Office 2007 applications and instead would prefer to keep the blue custom border at all times. No problem, now you just set the AllowFormIntegration = False on the KryptonRibbon to get this…

So now the user gets the same border under both systems as long as they have themes enabled on both operating systems (note that custom chrome is only possible when using a theme such as Luna and Aero). Of course, you can still turn off custom chrome completely by setting the KryptonForm.AllowCustomChrome = False, in which case the ribbon downgrades to using a separate line for the app button and quick access toolbar…

Hopefully this will allow developers to get the appearance they want consistently.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 9:07 pm and is filed under Krypton Ribbon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.