How to see the parameters of the default style?

[XylemFlow 8]

I'm trying to create a 'Dark Mode' for my Windows application, but I want to keep the basic style of the controls and just change the colours. I have downloaded a VCL style (Windows 10 Charcoal) and converted it to an FMX style using the Bitmap Style Designer. It looks mostly ok. However, there are some annoying differences. The main one being that there's a thicker border around the forms. There are a few other issues with some controls.

 

I can open the Style Designer to edit the parameters, but it's difficult to know what to change. I'd like to compare the parameters with the default style to see what's different, but how do I do that? The default style seems to be hardcoded and not visible in the Style Designer.

Edited June 1, 2023 by XylemFlow
Windows

[programmerdelphi2k 237]

did you try save in disk using "WriteComponent" function?

[XylemFlow 8]

On 6/1/2023 at 11:13 PM, programmerdelphi2k said:

did you try save in disk using "WriteComponent" function?

I'm not sure what you mean. The style object for my normal mode doesn't contain anything because only hard coded styles are used.

 

Attached is a basic example of the issues I'm having. I build it in Delphi 11.2 for Windows 32-bit. When run you can click the checkbox to switch between styles. I have 2 issues when in Dark Mode.

1. The borders of the form change. All the components on the form shift because of this. I'd like only the colours to change. I assume that I need to change some parameters in windowborderstyle in the Style Designer, but playing around with those parameters hasn't helped much.
2. The main menu behaves differently. In normal light mode I can click File for example and then move the cursor over Edit and Edit will automatically open and File will close. However, that doesn't happen in Dark Mode. File just stays open. I don't know what to change in the style to fix it.

If I had all the parameters of the default style (light) then I could compare with the parameters of the dark style to try to work out what the differences are and maybe fix these issues. But I don't know how to do that?

Dark Mode Demo.zip

[programmerdelphi2k 237]

@XylemFlow

 

Here I am RAD 11.3/FMX and using StyleBook 2:

1. 1 StyleBook Default = Empty
2. 1 StyleBook Dark = Win10ModernDark.Style

Unfortunately, some components store their properties in Hexadecimal values, so it's not possible to see the values directly, you'll need to convert them. This usually happens for properties with "images", value trees, etc...
The "WriteComponent" function is found in TStream subclasses such as TMemoryStream etc... as well as "ReadComponent".
Here I will try to demonstrate a way to do it, note that using "MEMO" or any other class that makes use of "TStrings", together with "themes/skins/styles", will be very painful in general, because there is much more involved than just change the skin of the component!

 

NOTE: if you dont need show nothing in "memo", for example, the process is very quickly!!!

 

type
  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    mmResourceBin: TMemo;
    BtnStyleLight: TButton;
    BtnStyleDark: TButton;
    stylebookDefault: TStyleBook;
    stylebookDark: TStyleBook;
    BtnWriteComponentOnMemo: TButton;
    BtnHexaToText: TButton;
    Layout1: TLayout;
    mmHexaToString: TMemo;
    mmObjectToText: TMemo;
    procedure BtnStyleLightClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure BtnStyleDarkClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure BtnWriteComponentOnMemoClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure BtnHexaToTextClick(Sender: TObject);
  private
    { Private declarations }
  public
    { Public declarations }
  end;

var
  Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.fmx}

procedure TForm1.BtnStyleLightClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
  mmObjectToText.Lines.Clear;
  mmResourceBin.Lines.Clear;
  mmHexaToString.Lines.Clear;
  //
  Self.StyleBook := stylebookDefault;
end;

procedure TForm1.BtnStyleDarkClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
  mmObjectToText.Lines.Clear;
  mmResourceBin.Lines.Clear;
  mmHexaToString.Lines.Clear;
  //
  Self.StyleBook := stylebookDark;
end;

procedure TForm1.BtnWriteComponentOnMemoClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  LMemoryStream : TMemoryStream;
  LStringStream : TStringStream;
  LText         : string;
  LBeginPosition: integer; // int64...
  LEndPosition  : integer; // ""
  LOffSet       : integer;
begin
  if (Self.StyleBook = nil) then
    begin
      mmObjectToText.Text := '"StyleBook = nil"';
      //
      exit;
    end;
  //
  LMemoryStream := TMemoryStream.Create;
  try
    LStringStream := TStringStream.Create(LText);
    try
      LMemoryStream.WriteComponent(Self.StyleBook);
      LMemoryStream.Position := 0;
      //
      ObjectBinaryToText(LMemoryStream, LStringStream);
      LStringStream.Position := 0;
      //
      //
      LBeginPosition := -1;
      LEndPosition   := -1;
      LOffSet        := 'ResourcesBin = {'.Length;
      LBeginPosition := Pos('ResourcesBin = {', LStringStream.DataString);
      //
      if (LBeginPosition > 0) then
        begin
          LBeginPosition := LBeginPosition + LOffSet + 1;
          LEndPosition   := Pos('}', Copy(LStringStream.DataString, LBeginPosition)) - 1;
          //
          if (LEndPosition > LBeginPosition) then
            begin
              // trying avoid slow ...
              mmObjectToText.BeginUpdate;
              try
                mmObjectToText.Text := LStringStream.DataString;
              finally
                mmObjectToText.EndUpdate;
              end;
              //
              mmResourceBin.BeginUpdate;
              try
                mmResourceBin.Text := Copy(LStringStream.DataString, LBeginPosition, LEndPosition).Trim
              finally
                mmResourceBin.EndUpdate;
              end;
            end
          else
            mmResourceBin.Text := '"}" was not found!';
        end
      else
        mmResourceBin.Text := '"ResourcesBin = {" was not found!';
    finally
      LStringStream.Free;
    end;
  finally
    LMemoryStream.Free;
  end;
end;

procedure TForm1.BtnHexaToTextClick(Sender: TObject);
var
  LHexaString: string;
  LBytes     : string;
  LIndex     : integer;
  LNewText   : string;
begin
  LHexaString := mmResourceBin.Text.Replace(slinebreak, '').Replace(' ', '');
  LIndex      := 0;
  //
  if (LHexaString.Length = 0) then
    begin
      mmHexaToString.Text := 'mmResourceBin normalized is empty!';
      //
      exit;
    end;
  //
  try
    for var i: integer := 0 to (LHexaString.Length - 1) div 2 do
      begin
        LIndex := (i * 2) + 1;
        //
        LBytes := LBytes + ',' + StrToInt('$' + Copy(LHexaString, LIndex, 2)).ToString;
      end;
    //
    for var V in LBytes.Remove(0, 1).Split([',']) do
      LNewText := LNewText + Chr(StrToInt(V));
    //
    mmHexaToString.BeginUpdate;
    try
      mmHexaToString.Text := LNewText;
    finally
      mmHexaToString.EndUpdate;
    end;
  except
    on E: Exception do
      mmHexaToString.Text := E.Message;
  end;
end;

 

 

Edited June 7, 2023 by programmerdelphi2k

[XylemFlow 8]

14 hours ago, programmerdelphi2k said:

@XylemFlow

 

Here I am RAD 11.3/FMX and using StyleBook 2:

1. 1 StyleBook Default = Empty
2. 1 StyleBook Dark = Win10ModernDark.Style

Unfortunately, some components store their properties in Hexadecimal values, so it's not possible to see the values directly, you'll need to convert them. This usually happens for properties with "images", value trees, etc...
The "WriteComponent" function is found in TStream subclasses such as TMemoryStream etc... as well as "ReadComponent".
Here I will try to demonstrate a way to do it, note that using "MEMO" or any other class that makes use of "TStrings", together with "themes/skins/styles", will be very painful in general, because there is much more involved than just change the skin of the component!

 

Thanks for sharing that. But your stylebookDefault shows nothing as I expected. That's my issue. I can see all the parameters of the dark style but not the parameters of the default style to compare against.

Edited June 8, 2023 by XylemFlow