Changing Colors At Runtime

• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by vikassethi

  Vikas Sethi

  New Delhi, India, India

  Joined 19 years ago

  Hi,
  

  
  I am having 100 odd forms in my application and there are average 25 controls like textbox,
  labels, Picture control etc. on each form.
  

  
  I want to implement color themes in my application. i.e. the user will choose the theme he would
  like to work from the Options Menu and based on his preference I want to change the backcolor
  and forecolor properties of each form when the form is loaded.
  

  
  My questions are:
  1. Will it slow down the form loading process if I change the color of each control on form load?
  2. Is there another better way of doing stuff like this?
  

  
  Thanks.

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• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by Tony Ho

  Tony Ho

  Lexington, KY, United States

  Joined 18 years ago

  Dang man, what are you trying to create?!?!  100 forms with 25 controls in each? Thats like overkill for me!! ;D
  

  
  Answers:
  1) Shouldn't really be noticeable, but you have 100 forms.... so it might take awhile to load it all
  2) Are you doing it in .NET or VB6?
  

  
  If its in .NET you can probably try making an array of forms... like
  

  
  

  Code:

  
      dim forms(100) as system.windows.forms.form
      dim i as integer
      dim color as color
      color = color.aqua
  

  
      for i = 1 to 100
          forms(i).backcolor = color
      next i
  

  
  

  
  that should do it , but then you have to get all the controls on the form thru runtime... (big pain in the ass)
  

  
  just an idea
  

  
  

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  18 years ago

  by Thushan Fernando

  Thushan Fernando

  Australia :: Melbourne, Australia

  Joined 19 years ago

  hmmmmm....
  

  
  thats an awful lot of forms, too many acctually. Try reducing it because everytime you hav another form it adds a few more kb's onto your total size... now multiply by hundred(dont forget to inclde all those controls) and you have a GodZilla! A) Waste of size B) iTs a resorce hogger.
  

  
  OKay off to your problem.
  

  
  1. Definetly! Even if your seeing the form at different times it's still going overkill.
  2. Not sure.
  

  
  Trust me... you wanna reduce the forms
  

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  18 years ago

  by Tony Ho

  Tony Ho

  Lexington, KY, United States

  Joined 18 years ago

  I definitely agree with Websoftware, wayy too many forms!  But if you still want, I have found another solution that will work for .NET and VB6, but with .NET you'll have to declare the form.
  

  
  Now I am not verygood with VB6 but heres the theory behind it.  Ok create a sub procedure that would take an argument that is actually a color...In the sub procedure do this:
  

  
  form1.backcolor = newColor
  form2.backcolor = newColor
  form3.backcolor = newColor
  form4.backcolor = newColor
  

  
  etc...
  

  
  What are you trying to do that requires so many forms?  We can probably come up with a better way instead of having 100 different forms

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• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by vikassethi

  Vikas Sethi

  New Delhi, India, India

  Joined 19 years ago

  I am trying to create a Share Market software...It involves different aspects of the market like accounting, price history etc....
  

  
  So the conclusion is that if I change the color of the form and its controls before loading the fomr...it will fractionally delay the form loading...Right??

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• • Reply

  18 years ago

  by LouisRose

  Louis Rose

  Yorkshire / Midlands, England, United Kingdom

  Joined 19 years ago

  Right - it'll detract slightly from load time but you won't notice on a decent spec machine.
  

  
  I agree with most people who have posted on this thread though... you probably have too many forms. Think of even the biggest MS Apps, or other companies. There's no way they have 100 forms and with all due respect, their programs are likely to be more powerful than yours.
  

  
  But if you're comfortable with it then go for it... If it aint broke, don't fix it.
  

  
  Regards,
  Louis Rose.

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