These 4 files will give the functionality of changing the colors of your application via a simple color picker.

There are a few things that need to be done after copying the files to your project to make this work.

• Change the namespace in each of the 4 files appropriately

• Under Properties > Settings you will need Several variables (this is used to store the custom colors on the locally)

  • cusTxtColor
  • cusTxtBoxColor
  • cusButtonColor
  • cusGridColor
  • cusGridTxtColor
  • cusGridHeaderColor
  • cusActiveTxtBoxColor
  • cusInactiveTxtBoxColor
  • cusBackColor
  • cusGroupBoxColor
  • cusSecGridColor
  • cusSecGridTxtColor
  • cusGridSelectColor
  • cusGridSelectTxtColor
  • cusSecGridSelectColor
  • cusSecGridSelectTxtColor
  • cusTabColor
  • cusTabTxtColor
  • cusPressedTabColor
  • cusPressedTabTxtColor
  • cusTabBorderColor
  • cusHyperLnkColor
    • Each of the above will be listed in the Name column, each with the Type System.Drawing.Color you can leave the Scope as User and the value doesn't need to be adjusted (this value will be changed when the user selects their colors)
  • customThemeSet
    • This variable will also be listed in the Name column but will have the type bool. Leave the Scope as User and the value should be set to False - this variable is used to determine if the theme has changed or not
  • cusFont
    • This will be listed in the Name column and the type should be string. Set the value as Arial
  • cusFontSize
    • This will be listed in the Name column and the type should be float. Set the value as 8.25
  • cusFontInd
    • This will be listed in the Name column and the type should be float. Set the value as 8.25

• On each form you want to use this custom theme in, you will need to paste the following code right after you Initialize the form.

  •      if (Properties.Settings.Default.customThemeSet)
            themeClass.customTheme(this); //Sets the custom theme for the form
    

  • This statement calls the customTheme function that is inside the themeClass that you copied over, which will change all of the controls to the specified colors

• You will need to place the following code on the function/event (I use a toolsrip menuitem) you use to open the form to setup your desired colors (I put this within a button click function)

  •     //creates and opens the themeForm to select and set the desired custom colors
        var themeForm = new ThemeCreator();
        themeForm.ShowDialog();
    
        //checks if the theme is set
        if (Properties.Settings.Default.customThemeSet)
        {
            themeClass.customTheme(this);//calls the function to change the colors to the custom theme
        }
        else
        {
            themeClass.resetTheme(this);//calls the function to change the colors to default
        }
        Refresh();
    

• There are a few tools that will be tweaked to get the color theme to change appropriately

  • For all Button controls, it will use the FlatStyle Flat as standard gives a white border and system will not be changed.
  • TextBoxes and ListBoxes, it will use the BorderStyle FixedSingle as Fixed3D will give a white border
  • DataGridViews, it will use the Single RowHeadersBorderStyle and the ColumnHeadersBorderStyle because the raised and sunken styles give a white border

There is a known issue with the TabControl object. When it re-renders itself (coming out of minimized stat or leaving and coming back onto the screen), it will revert back to the original look. I am racking my brain on how to fix this, but in the meantime, you can work around this by adding a function/event (I added it to the tab control's selected index changed event) with the following code:

        if (Properties.Settings.Default.customThemeSet)
        {
            themeClass.customTheme(this);//Sets the custom theme for the form 
            Refresh();
        }

Unfortunately, at this time, this will not adjust the scrollbar colors.

Feel free to contact me with any issues or questions you have about this.