How do I get a disabled ToolStripButton to paint its image in colour?

Question

We have a button which allows users to 'lock' a form. Users are not permitted to 'unlock' the form, so when pressed, we want the button to be disabled, so that the user receives appropriate visual feedback.

However, the customer reports that the greyed 'lock' icon suggests to them that the form is not locked, so we would like to display the button in a pressed state, but with the icon in colour, even though the button is disabled.

How do we do that, with the absolute minimum amount of overridden painting?

Answer 1

You can set the ToolStripButton Image as BackgroundImage
and then set the DiplayStyle to None.

The picture should stay in colour no matter what's the button Enabled value.

Answer 2

Actually I disagree with the approach. Your customer might have a valid point, but I don't think they have the correct suggestion for the fix. You should look into other ways to make the form appear "locked". Changing borders or font colours, having a big padlock icon appear or change from open to closed etc. Buttons look a certain way because that's what users expect. If you have a disabled button that looks like it might be enabled, that's going to confuse users who might not then understand why they can't click it.

Answer 3

Another way: don't set the button.Enabled = false at all. Just set the button.Checked = true or false and when someone clicks on the button test for the Checked state and do whatever you do. The button will then function as you want and stay colored too.