Mike Saltzman said:

Hi James,

The appearance resolution process is actually quite complicated. The UltraTextEditor considers many factors: the Application style library, it's own appearances, and it's current state (edit mode, hottracking, etc.).

So getting the colors for every possible state really isn't practical.

If you just want to get the basic color, then what I would do is place an UltraTextEditor on the form (or use one that is already on the form, if you already have one). Then you can use the ResolveAppearance method to get the resolved appearance for the control in the normal state:

            AppearanceData appearanceData = new AppearanceData();
            AppearancePropFlags appearancePropFlags = AppearancePropFlags.AllRender;
            this.ultraTextEditor1.ResolveAppearance(ref appearanceData, ref appearancePropFlags);

There's no way to get the state-specific appearances, though. So you won't be able to get the HotTracking appearance, for example, unless you call the ResolveAppearance method while the control is currently HotTracked, which would be very difficult, if not impossible.

Hi Mike,

This looked promising for a while, but still doesn't see to work. perhaps I need to explain a bit more...

1. I drop controls on a form and don't style them at all
2. I give my users the option to restyle the app based on the template .isl files supplied with the App Stylist
3. I have a custom control that has a border and background that need to mimic what the UltraTextEditor is doing so that it looks consistent
4. I am controlling its appearance entirely in the Paint event

When I call ResolveAppearance on a text editor, I get nothing back in BorderColor, BorderColor2, BackColor, BackColor2 etc.

All I get is SystemColors.Control for the BorderColor3DBase property, which certainly doesn't match what I can see on screen!!

BTW... I am using v12.1 of the controls (stuck with a corporate standard build that doesn't support .net 4.0)

Cheers,

James