Exploiting Windows XP

Although assuring compatibility with Windows XP will be most developers’ first concern, they will want to consider exploiting many new features of Windows XP.

Windows XP’s new user interface gives Windows a much cleaner and less-cluttered look. The interface is defined by themes, and while no themes developer’s kit is available, developers can exploit themes with their applications by using the new common controls and icons.

The new common controls (ComCtl32 version 6) work in harmony with the theme manager. By using the theme manager to render the new controls, and the common controls to provide the programmatic logic, developers can give an application the new Windows XP look.

Icons now support up to 24-bit color depth, and an 8-bit mask in the alpha channel, and images can be 48 by 48 pixels. Icons also support a tile view, where the icon can have two to three lines of annotating text. And the common control can incorporate a developer’s customized image list of bitmaps with a button, reducing the need for developer-drawn buttons.