tags:

views:

92

answers:

1
Q: 

What's the second-best way to make a skinnable user interface component?

I've been asked to make one of the components, which mimics a real-world appliance, in our application have a custom appearance, which varies depending on the make of the appliance being mimicked, so I need to make it skinnable.

Now, I'm aware that the best way to do custom appearances in user interfaces, is not to do that at all; but I don't think I'll be able to get that past management, so...

What's the the second-best way to make a skinnable user interface component? Our app is winforms-based so I was wondering whether it makes sense to use a WebBrowser control, write the skins in HTML, and somehow hook the DOM elements up to our app's events. Should I do it that way, or is there a simpler (and free) way of doing it?

+5  A: 

I would use WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) or a skinnable component library like DevExpress (let's you design your own skins).

DevExpress Skin Creation Tutorial

Rauhotz  2009-11-19 13:41:56
I'd agree that WPF ought to be the way to go.
Murph  2009-11-19 13:46:04
I'm afraid ours is a winforms app, not WPF, but I'll have a look at DevExpress - thanks.
Simon  2009-11-19 13:52:25
Changing a non-skinnable UI to a skinnable one is almost certainly a complete rewrite, so the fact that your existing app is Winforms shouldn't hold you back from using WPF.
Robert Rossney  2009-11-19 17:58:21

related questions

Displaying Flash content in a C# WinForms application
How to get the value of built, encoded ViewState?
Unhandled Exception Handler in .NET 1.1
How do I connect to a database and loop over a recordset in C#?
How do I most elegantly express left join with aggregate SQL as LINQ query
Get a new object instance from a Type in C#
.NET Testing Framework Advice
Automatically update version number
What is the difference between an int and an Integer in Java/C#?
How to write to Web.Config in Medium Trust ?
WinForms ComboBox data binding gotcha
How do you sort a C# dictionary by value?
Adding Scripting functionality to .NET applications
Floating Point Number parsing: Is there a Catch All algorithm?
How do I print an HTML document from a web service?
Decoding T-SQL CAST in C#/VB.net
Anatomy of a "Memory Leak"
How do I get a distinct, ordered list of names from a DataTable using Linq
Reliable Timer in a Console Application
How do I fill a DataSet or a DataTable from a LINQ query resultset ?
What's the difference between Math.Floor() and Math.Truncate() in .NET?
How do I calculate relative time?
How do I calculate someone's age in C#?
Are there any conversion tools for porting Visual J# code to C#?
When setting a form's opacity should I use a decimal or double?