HOWTO: Change the Text Color of the Selected Property Sheet Tab

ID: Q206626

The information in this article applies to:

The Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), included with:
- Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions, versions 4.2b, 5.0, 6.0

SUMMARY

To change the color of text on the selected tab of a property sheet, you need to subclass the tab control associated with the property sheet and make it owner drawn.

Override the DrawItem method of your class derived from CTabCtrl and change the color of text before displaying it.

MORE INFORMATION

Create a new class called CMyTabCtrl deriving from CTabCtrl. Override the DrawItem method for CTabCtrl. Because ClassWizard does not show this method, this method needs to be added manually. The sample code below shows how to change the color of the text of the selected tab:


void CMyTabCtrl::DrawItem(LPDRAWITEMSTRUCT lpDIS)
{
     TC_ITEM tci;
     CDC* pDC = CDC::FromHandle(lpDIS->hDC);
     CRect rect(lpDIS->rcItem);
     char szTabText[256];
     memset(szTabText,'\0',sizeof(szTabText));
     
     tci.mask = TCIF_TEXT;
     tci.pszText = szTabText;
     tci.cchTextMax = sizeof(szTabText) -1;
     GetItem(lpDIS->itemID, &tci);
     
     if (lpDIS->itemAction & ODA_DRAWENTIRE)
     {
         pDC->TextOut(rect.left+5, rect.top+5, tci.pszText);
     }
     
     if ((lpDIS->itemState & ODS_SELECTED) && 
         (lpDIS->itemAction & (ODA_SELECT | ODA_DRAWENTIRE)))
     {
         //Make the color of text of the selected tab to be BLUE.
         pDC->SetTextColor(RGB(0,0,255));
         pDC->TextOut(rect.left+5, rect.top+5, tci.pszText);
     }
}

Create a new class, CMyPropertySheet, derived from CPropertySheet and add a member variable m_myTabCtrl of type CMyTabCtrl.

Add a handler for WM_INITDIALOG message. After the call to the base class OnInitDialog, add the code as shown below to subclass the tab control and make it an owner-drawn control:
```
BOOL CMyPropertySheet::OnInitDialog()
{
   BOOL bResult = CPropertySheet::OnInitDialog();

   /* Subclass the tab control. */ 
   m_myTabCtrl.SubclassWindow(GetTabControl()->m_hWnd);

   /* Make it owner drawn. */ 
   m_myTabCtrl.ModifyStyle(0,TCS_OWNERDRAWFIXED);

   return bResult;
}
 
```

Now, use CMyPropertySheet instead of CPropertySheet in your application.

REFERENCES

Additional query words: CTabCtrl CPropertySheet DrawItem owner draw

Keywords : kbMFC kbPropSheet kbVC kbVC420 kbVC500 kbVC600 kbGrpMFCATL
Version : winnt:4.2b,5.0,6.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbhowto