Use a Palette in an Application

Oct 29, 2020
3 minutes to read

This topic describes how to export a palette from the Theme Designer and use it in your application. Palettes allow you to change an application’s colors without a Theme Designer theme assembly.

Export a Palette from the Theme Designer

Click the Export ribbon button on the Palette tab to export your palette as a class ( .cs file ).

Show the exported .cs file content example

C#
VB.NET

csharp

// The code sample below describes how to use the palette in an application.
// Refer to the Palettes topic (https://docs.devexpress.com/WPF/400728) for more information on how to use the palette in an application.

// ATTENTION! Add the DevExress.Xpf.Core.v*.dll and Mono.Cecil.dll references to the application.

using System.Windows.Media;
using DevExpress.Xpf.Core;

namespace CustomApp {
    public class App {
        static App() {
            var palette = new DevExpressThemePalette();
            var theme = Theme.CreateTheme(palette, Theme.Office2016ColorfulSE);
            Theme.RegisterTheme(theme);
            ApplicationThemeHelper.ApplicationThemeName = theme.Name;
        }
    }

    public class DevExpressThemePalette : ThemePalette {
        public NewTheme2ThemePalette() : base("DevExpressPalette") {
            SetColor("Backstage.Button.Background", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFFF7200"));
            SetColor("Backstage.Delimiter", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFA53F22"));
            SetColor("Backstage.Editor.Background", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFFF7200"));
            SetColor("Backstage.HoverBackground", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFDA532C"));
            SetColor("Backstage.SelectionBackground", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFF99D84"));
            SetColor("Backstage.Window.Background", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFFF7200"));
            SetColor("Focused", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFA53F22"));
            SetColor("Window.HeaderButton.HoverBackground", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFDA532C"));
            SetColor("Window.HeaderButton.SelectionBackground", (Color)ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFF99D84"));
        }
    }
}

'The code sample below describes how to use the palette in an application.
'Refer to the Palettes topic (https://docs.devexpress.com/WPF/400728) for more information on how to use the palette in an application.

'ATTENTION! Add the DevExress.Xpf.Core.v*.dll and Mono.Cecil.dll references to the application.

Imports System.Windows.Media
Imports DevExpress.Xpf.Core

Namespace CustomApp
    Public Class App
        Private Shared Sub New()
            Dim palette = New DevExpressThemePalette()
            Dim theme = Theme.CreateTheme(palette, Theme.Office2016ColorfulSE)
            Theme.RegisterTheme(theme)
            ApplicationThemeHelper.ApplicationThemeName = theme.Name
        End Sub
    End Class

    Public Class DevExpressThemePalette
        Inherits ThemePalette

        Public Sub New()
            MyBase.New("DevExpressPalette")
            SetColor("Backstage.Button.Background", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFFF7200"), Color))
            SetColor("Backstage.Delimiter", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFA53F22"), Color))
            SetColor("Backstage.Editor.Background", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFFF7200"), Color))
            SetColor("Backstage.HoverBackground", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFDA532C"), Color))
            SetColor("Backstage.SelectionBackground", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFF99D84"), Color))
            SetColor("Backstage.Window.Background", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFFF7200"), Color))
            SetColor("Focused", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFA53F22"), Color))
            SetColor("Window.HeaderButton.HoverBackground", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFDA532C"), Color))
            SetColor("Window.HeaderButton.SelectionBackground", CType(ColorConverter.ConvertFromString("#FFF99D84"), Color))
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Note

The Theme Designer exports the palette as a .cs file and saves it in the Your_Theme_Folder.td\Publish folder.

Apply the Palette to an Application

To use the .cs file exported from the Theme Designer, open your application, right-click the project, and select the Add Existing Item in the Add submenu. Select the generated .cs file.

To apply the palette on the application startup, copy the static App() section from the .cs file to the App.xaml.cs :

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Xpf.Core;
    ...
public partial class App : Application
{
    static App()
    {
        var palette = new CustomApp.DevExpressThemePalette();
        var theme = Theme.CreateTheme(palette, Theme.Office2016ColorfulSE);
        Theme.RegisterTheme(theme);
        ApplicationThemeHelper.ApplicationThemeName = theme.Name;
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.Xpf.Core
    ...
Public Partial Class App
    Inherits Application

    Private Shared Sub New()
        Dim palette = New CustomApp.DevExpressThemePalette()
        Dim theme = Theme.CreateTheme(palette, Theme.Office2016ColorfulSE)
        Theme.RegisterTheme(theme)
        ApplicationThemeHelper.ApplicationThemeName = theme.Name
    End Sub
End Class

Tip

Refer to the Palettes topic for more information on how to display available palettes in the Ribbon gallery.