New features available in version 9

Added the following new surfaces

SURFACE_GEL_SHAPED

SURFACE_VISTA_AERO

SURFACE_OFFICE_2003

SURFACE_OFFICE_2007

Added new shapes for the spotlight

Added support for reflectivity of the picture displayed on the button

Added the possibility to obtain the bitmap, in form of a HBITMAP, of the 3D button in various situations

Cells can now be sized and positioned in both percentage and pixels

Added the following new styles with several dedicated rendering options

STYLE_PROGRESS_BAR

STYLE_SPLIT_BUTTON

Embedded support for tooltips on development environments not supporting tooltips directly

Added support for managing full alpha channel transparency for pictures in "Transparent PNG" format assigned to the following items:

Picture property

PictureMouseOver property

PicturePressed property

PictureDisabled property

Cells

New properties:

SpotlightType

PictureReflectivityEnabled

PictureReflectivityPerc

PictureReflectHeightPerc

VistaColorGlossyEffectUpper

VistaColorGlossyEffectLower

VistaColorGlossyEmphUpper

VistaColorGlossyEmphLower

VistaColorGlossyEmphUpperPressed

VistaColorGlossyEmphLowerPressed

VistaColorBackgroundChecked

VistaColorBackgroundCheckedMouseOver

VistaColorGlowBack

VistaColorGlowBottom

VistaColorGlow

VistaColorGlowChecked

VistaColorGlowCheckedMouseOver

VistaColorOuterBorder

VistaColorMiddleBorder

VistaColorInnerBorder

VistaColorInnerBorderPressed

VistaOpacityGlossyEffectUpper

VistaOpacityGlossyEffectLower

VistaOpacityGlossyEmphUpper

VistaOpacityGlossyEmphLower

VistaOpacityGlossyEmphUpperPressed

VistaOpacityGlossyEmphLowerPressed

VistaLook

VistaGlossyShape

VistaGlossySmoothFactor

VistaOuterBorderWidth

VistaMiddleBorderWidth

VistaInnerBorderWidth

ProgressBarType

ProgressBarMin

ProgressBarMax

ProgressBarValue

ProgressBarColor

ProgressBarFillMode

Office2007ColorBackground

Office2007ColorNorthTop

Office2007ColorNorthBottom

Office2007ColorSouthTop

Office2007ColorSouthBottom

Office2007ColorBorder

Office2007ColorBackgroundMouseOver

Office2007ColorNorthTopMouseOver

Office2007ColorNorthBottomMouseOver

Office2007ColorSouthTopMouseOver

Office2007ColorSouthBottomMouseOver

Office2007ColorBorderMouseOver

Office2007ColorBackgroundPressed

Office2007ColorNorthTopPressed

Office2007ColorNorthBottomPressed

Office2007ColorSouthTopPressed

Office2007ColorSouthBottomPressed

Office2007ColorBorderPressed

Office2007OuterBorderWidth

Office2007InnerBorderWidth

Office2003ColorNorth

Office2003ColorSouth

Office2003ColorBorder

Office2003ColorNorthMouseOver

Office2003ColorSouthMouseOver

Office2003ColorBorderMouseOver

Office2003ColorNorthPressed

Office2003ColorSouthPressed

Office2003ColorBorderPressed

Office2003BorderWidth

ToolTipEnabled

ToolTipTextNormal

ToolTipTextChecked

SplitButtonPicture

SplitButtonType

SplitButtonArrowOffsetX

SplitButtonArrowOffsetY

SplitButtonArrowColor

SplitColorHighlight

SplitColorShadow

SplitButtonSizePerc

New methods:

GetControlBitmap

CellsManager.CellAdd

CellsManager.CellDelete

CellsManager.CellGetCount

CellsManager.CellFind

CellsManager.CellGetLogFont

CellsManager.CellSetLogFont

CellsManager.CellGetUniqueID

CellsManager.CellGetPos

CellsManager.CellSetPos

CellsManager.CellGetSize

CellsManager.CellSetSize

CellsManager.CellSetPictureFromHandle

DoClickFull

New events:

SplitButtonClick

SplitButtonMouseIn

SplitButtonMouseOut

New features available in version 8

New user interface for “design time” editing: 3D Button Visual Editor is now fully integrated.

Improved the rendering speed.

Reduced the amount of memory required by the button caching system.

Final application .exe files are now smaller in size.

Added transparent GIF and PNG formats for button image export.

Added support for independent cells containing text and pictures.

Added support for lighting directions.

Added support for alpha channel transparency.

Added the possibility to perform custom graphic rendering over the control surface.

The control now behaves like a real control container

Added the following 3D gradient algorithms

COLOR_RENDER_LINEAR_MATCH

COLOR_RENDER_HYPER_3D

COLOR_RENDER_2_COLORS

Added the following shapes

SHAPE_TRIANGLE

SHAPE_TRAPEZE

SHAPE_ARROW

SHAPE_HONEYCOMB_VERT

SHAPE_HONEYCOMB_HORIZ

SHAPE_HONEYCOMB_45

SHAPE_HONEYCOMB_135

SHAPE_DIAMOND

SHAPE_KEYHOLE,

SHAPE_4LEAFCLOVER_V

SHAPE_4LEAFCLOVER_D

SHAPE_ALFALFA

New properties:

LightDirection

SpotlightColor

SpotlightVisible

PictureTranspFactor

ShapeHeadFactor

ShapeLineFactor

SurfaceTransparentFactor

SurfaceTransparentZone

RectHardEdges

HollowFrame

CellsManager

SwapEffectsColors

New methods:

GetButtonCacheSize

EnableButtonCache

RefreshTransparentControl

SetTotalTransparentFactor

GetVersion

GetEdition

SetCustomPaintFunction

New events:

CellClick

PaintDone

New COM objects :

CellsManager with the following characteristics:

Properties

Visible

Text

TextDescriptor

TextHorzAlign

TextVertAlign

PictureHorzAlign

PictureVertAlign

BackTranspFactor

BackColor

BorderColor

BorderWidth

PictureNormal

PictureDisabled

PictureTranspFactor

Methods

AddCell

DeleteCell

GetCount

FindCell

GetLogFont

SetLogFont

GetCellUniqueID

GetCellPos

SetCellPos

GetCellSize

SetCellSize

SetPictureFromHandle

New features available in version 7

New user interface for “design time” editing

Improved the rendering speed.

Requires less time, memory and system resources when using sets of identical buttons.

Final application .exe size smaller than before when using JPG pictures.

UNICODE compliant.

Added GIF format for button image export.

Added ICO and TIF formats support for pictures loading.

Added antialiasing for surface and texts rendering .

Added double-space text rendering option.

Texts can be rendered in transparency (through alpha channel) .

Texts can have a surrounding border with variable color and an underlying color shadow .

Texts can have the following new effects:

EFFECT_HALO

EFFECT_RAISEDHALO

EFFECT_SUNKENHALO

EFFECT_FLOATINGHALO

Texts can be rotated of any angle between –90° and +90°.

Custom shaped buttons can now use also color masks in format BMP, PNG or GIF.

New object oriented COM interfaces for accessing set of properties (texts descriptors, textures and surface colors).

Custom shaped buttons support all of the special effects available for geometric buttons .

Improved the smoothing of the button surface.

Added a new geometric shape in place of the SHAPE_TEXT option:

SHAPE_GEM

Added the possibility to orient the SHAPE_ROUNDRECT and SHAPE_GEM shapes through the following directions :

DIR_NONE

DIR_WEST

DIR_NORTH

DIR_EAST

DIR_SOUTH

DIR_NW

DIR_NE

DIR_SE

DIR_SW

Added the following surface types:

SURFACE_SUNKEN

SURFACE_PLASTIC

SURFACE_LUCID

SURFACE_NEON

SURFACE_AQUA

SURFACE_GEL

SURFACE_PLASTIC_SH

SURFACE_NEON_SH

SURFACE_AQUA_SH

Added a new special effect for the button surface:

SPECIAL_EFFECT_SUNKEN_SIMPLE

Added the following new styles:

STYLE_FRAME

STYLE_PICTURE

STYLE_CHECKBOX_STD

STYLE_RADIOBUTTON_STD

STYLE_LABEL

Added the following 3D gradient types for the button surface color rendering:

COLOR_GRADIENT_CLASSIC

COLOR_GRADIENT_HORIZONTAL

COLOR_GRADIENT_DIAGONAL

COLOR_GRADIENT_VERTICAL

Improved the rendering of pictures over the button surface; picture can be tiled or stretched.

Added the multiline support for texts (can add Carriage Returns between lines).

Improved the animations management with a set of new methods.

New properties:

Orientation

ColorSurfaceNormal

ColorSurfaceMO

ColorSurfaceInternal

ColorSurfaceFocus

ColorSurfaceDisabled

ColorSurfacePressed

TextDescrCaption

TextDescrLT

TextDescrCT

TextDescrRT

TextDescrLM

TextDescrRM

TextDescrLB

TextDescrCB

TextDescrRB

Texture

FrameEffect

OptionGroupDelimiter

PictureVisible

TextCaptionAlignment

SpotlightOffsetX

SpotlightOffsetY

SpotlightResizeWidth

SpotlightResizeHeight

CornerFactor

New methods:

GetBackPicture

SetBackPicture

SetBackPictureVisible

AnimGetFramesRate

AnimSetFramesRate

AnimGetFramesCount

AnimShowFrame

AnimPause

AnimResume

AnimInvertPlay

New events:

ChangedSize