Windows Developer Power Tools

2.1 Getting “That WinXP Look” with XP Common Controls

How often have you tried to make your applications look like products from Microsoft, responding to customers’ wishes that they resemble Outlook, Word, or some other Microsoft application? Achieving that look can be difficult, though, because development products from Microsoft don’t traditionally include components that let developers create applications with “that WinXP look.”

You can solve this problem by using XP Common Controls (XPCC). XPCC provides controls that correspond to the definitions of Microsoft’s Windows XP Visual Guidelines (XPTaskBox, XPLetterBox, etc.), plus some controls that were incomplete in or absent from those guidelines (such as a grouped listbox and balloon tips).

XP Common Controls at a Glance
Tool	XP Common Controls
Version covered	Version 3.0 (for .NET 2.0)
Home page	http://www.steepvalley.net
Power Tools page	http://www.windevpowertools.com/tools/59
Summary	A collection of free Windows XP UI controls
License type	Freeware
Online resources	Forum
Supported Frameworks	.NET 1.1, 2.0, Mono (see note in “Getting Started,” next)
Related tools in this book	Krypton Toolkit, DockPanel Suite

Getting Started

XPCC requires version 1.1 or 2.0 of the .NET Framework, although it should also work if you’re developing with the Mono Framework as long as you don’t use any API-enhanced controls (discussed in the next section). Using Visual ...