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GuiFlatButton is a UDF to easily create regular buttons with different colors for background, foreground, border, hover, focus, etc.. This started as an effort to change the background color of a button and eventually grew into a full UDF. If you've looked around forums for changing button background colors, you have probably noticed that each proposed workaround has its own set of issues/side-effects. The answers usually circle back to 'use ownerdrawn buttons' and 'not worth it'. Well, now it is possible for anyone to easily create ownerdrawn buttons - totally worth it! Some issues with other workarounds such as drawing with GDI+ or using a colored label as a 'button': Not 'real' buttons so you lose built-in functionality that windows gives to buttons Messy / inefficient code in the main while loop to check for mouse position Slow to respond to click, paint, etc... Having to deal with GUIRegisterMsg messages Not straight-forward to implement GuiFlatButton is not a workaround; it is a technique to respond to Windows' built-in owner-drawn button events. With minimal effort, we can now create true simple colored buttons. The idea is to create an owner-drawn button using GUICtrlCreateButton then subclass the GUI and controls to handle the button-specific events to paint it however we want. This UDF magically does all of this for us! No need to worry about event handling or main while loop logic. How to use It couldn't be any easier! Simply create a new button using the familiar syntax. This creates an ownerdrawn button with default colors. $mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 1", 78, 20, 120, 40) If you want to change the background and text colors: GuiFlatButton_SetBkColor(-1, 0x5555FF) GuiFlatButton_SetColor(-1, 0xFFFFFF) Advanced Usage Set background/text/border all at once GuiFlatButton_SetColors(-1, 0x0000FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0x9999FF) Set ALL colors for ALL button states! (normal, focus, hover, selected) Local $aColorsEx = [0x0000FF, 0xFFFFFF, -2, 0x4444FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xAAAAFF, 0x6666FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xCCCCFF, 0x0000EE, 0xFFFFFF, 0x7777EE] GuiFlatButton_SetColorsEx(-1, $aColorsEx) Set default colors to apply to any future buttons ;set colors GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColors(0x0000FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0x9999FF) ;create buttons $mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 1", 12, 20, 120, 40) $mybutton2 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 2", 143, 20, 120, 40) Set ALL color defaults ;set colors Local $aColorsEx = [0x0000FF, 0xFFFFFF, -2, 0x4444FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xAAAAFF, 0x6666FF, 0xFFFFFF, 0xCCCCFF, 0x0000EE, 0xFFFFFF, 0x7777EE] GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColorsEx($aColorsEx) ;create buttons $mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 1", 12, 20, 120, 40) $mybutton2 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 2", 143, 20, 120, 40) Available Functions Simple Example #include <GUIConstantsEx.au3> #include <MsgBoxConstants.au3> #include "GuiFlatButton.au3" Example() ;GUI with one button Func Example() Local $hGUI, $mybutton1 $hGUI = GUICreate("GuiFlatButton Ex0", 275, 120) GUISetBkColor(0x333333) Local $idLabel = GUICtrlCreateLabel("Click the button", 10, 100, 150, 30) GUICtrlSetColor(-1, 0xFFFFFF) ;create new button then set the background and foreground colors $mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Button 1" & @CRLF & "Line 2", 78, 20, 120, 40, $BS_MULTILINE) GuiFlatButton_SetBkColor(-1, 0x5555FF) GuiFlatButton_SetColor(-1, 0xFFFFFF) GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hGUI) Local $i = 0 Local $iMsg While 1 $iMsg = GUIGetMsg() Switch $iMsg Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE ExitLoop Case $mybutton1 $i += 1 GUICtrlSetData($idLabel, $i) ConsoleWrite($i & @CRLF) EndSwitch Sleep(10) WEnd GUIDelete() EndFunc ;==>Example Menu/Toolbar Example #include <GUIConstantsEx.au3> #include <MsgBoxConstants.au3> #include "GuiFlatButton.au3" Example() ;Example GUI with toolbar Func Example() Local $hGUI, $idLabel, $aButtons, $iTbSize $hGUI = GUICreate("GuiFlatButton Ex2", 300, 200) GUISetBkColor(0x444444) $idLabel = GUICtrlCreateLabel("Click a button", 10, 180, 150, 30) GUICtrlSetColor(-1, 0xFFFFFF) $aButtons = createToolbar() $iTbSize = UBound($aButtons) GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hGUI) Local $i = 0 Local $iMsg While 1 $iMsg = GUIGetMsg() Switch $iMsg Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE ExitLoop Case $aButtons[0] To $aButtons[$iTbSize - 1] ConsoleWrite("1") GUICtrlSetData($idLabel, GuiFlatButton_Read($iMsg)) EndSwitch Sleep(10) WEnd GUIDelete() EndFunc ;==>Example Func createToolbar() Local $aButtons[6] Local $bkColor = 0x777777 Local $textColor = 0xFFFFFF Local $borderColor = 0x999999 Local $aBtnClrs[12] = [0x777777, 0xFFFFFF, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT, 0x888888, 0xFFFFFF, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT, 0x999999, 0xFFFFFF, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT, 0x666666, 0xFFFFFF, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT] For $i = 0 To UBound($aButtons) - 1 $aButtons[$i] = GuiFlatButton_Create("B" & $i, $i * 50, 0, 50, 17) GuiFlatButton_SetColorsEx($aButtons[$i], $aBtnClrs) Next Return $aButtons EndFunc ;==>createToolbar Icon Example You can even easily add icons to your buttons -- just create a new button and send it an icon! #include <GDIPlus.au3> #include "GuiFlatButton.au3" Example() ;buttons with Icon images Func Example() ;get images for demonstration _GDIPlus_Startup() ;initialize GDI+ Local $hIcon = _WinAPI_ShellExtractIcon(@SystemDir & '\shell32.dll', 258, 24, 24) ;extract the 'Save' icon Local $hBitmap = _GDIPlus_BitmapCreateFromHICON($hIcon) ;Create Bitmap from Icon (for demonstration) Local $hHBitmap = _GDIPlus_BitmapCreateHBITMAPFromBitmap($hBitmap) ;Create HBitmap from Bitmap _GDIPlus_BitmapDispose($hBitmap) ;dispose the bitmap _GDIPlus_Shutdown() ;done with GDI+ Local $hGUI = GUICreate("GuiFlatButton Ex5", 255, 400) GUISetBkColor(0xEEEEEE) ;set default colors of future buttons Local $aColorsEx = _ [0xE2E5E8, 0X000000, 0x888888, _ ; normal : Background, Text, Border 0xE2E5E8, 0X000000, 0x333333, _ ; focus : Background, Text, Border 0xE8E8E8, 0X000000, 0x666666, _ ; hover : Background, Text, Border 0xDDDDDD, 0X000000, 0xAAAAAA] ; selected : Background, Text, Border GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColorsEx($aColorsEx) ;normal button with icon $label1 = GUICtrlCreateLabel( "$BS_TOOLBUTTON -->", 5, 10) GUICtrlSetBkColor(-1, $GUI_BKCOLOR_TRANSPARENT) Local $mybutton1 = GuiFlatButton_Create("Save", 130, 5, 50, 48, $BS_TOOLBUTTON) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybutton1), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) ;align top Local $mybuttonT = GuiFlatButton_Create("Top", 5, 65, 120, 55, $BS_TOP) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonT), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) ;align top-left Local $mybuttonTL = GuiFlatButton_Create("Top-Left", 5, 125, 120, 55, BITOR($BS_TOP, $BS_LEFT)) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonTL), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) ;align top-right Local $mybuttonTR = GuiFlatButton_Create("Top-Right", 5, 185, 120, 55, BITOR($BS_TOP, $BS_RIGHT)) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonTR), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) ;align left Local $mybuttonL = GuiFlatButton_Create("Left", 5, 245, 120, 55, $BS_LEFT) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonL), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) ;align bottom Local $mybuttonB = GuiFlatButton_Create("Bottom", 130, 65, 120, 55, $BS_BOTTOM) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonB), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) ;align bottom-left Local $mybuttonBL = GuiFlatButton_Create("Bottom-Left", 130, 125, 120, 55, BITOR($BS_BOTTOM, $BS_LEFT)) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonBL), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) ;align bottom-right Local $mybuttonBR = GuiFlatButton_Create("Bottom-Right", 130, 185, 120, 55, BITOR($BS_BOTTOM, $BS_RIGHT)) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonBR), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) ;align right Local $mybuttonR = GuiFlatButton_Create("Right", 130, 245, 120, 55, $BS_RIGHT) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonR), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_ICON, $hIcon)) GuiFlatButton_SetState($mybuttonR, $GUI_DISABLE ) ;disabled Local $mybuttonDisable = GuiFlatButton_Create("Disabled", 130, 310, 120, 55, $BS_TOOLBUTTON) _WinAPI_DeleteObject(_SendMessage(GUICtrlGetHandle($mybuttonDisable), $BM_SETIMAGE, $IMAGE_BITMAP, $hHBitmap)) GuiFlatButton_SetState($mybuttonDisable, $GUI_DISABLE ) ;clean up! _WinAPI_DestroyIcon( $hIcon ) _WinAPI_DeleteObject( $hHBitmap ) GUISetState(@SW_SHOW, $hGUI) Local $iMsg While 1 $iMsg = GUIGetMsg() Switch $iMsg Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE ExitLoop EndSwitch Sleep(10) WEnd GUIDelete() EndFunc ;==>Example I'm sure there are some use-cases I've forgotten, so feedback is welcome! Download the latest UDF and several more examples: GuiFlatButton_20220919.zip (1,121) Update 2022-09-19 Added update from 05/25 back in after it was accidentally removed Update 2022-09-01 Added $BS_MULTILINE button style Added ellipses when text is longer than the button Fixed compatibility with Opt("MustDeclareVars", 1) Update 2022-05-25 Fixed issue, buttons disappear when a GUI containing a child window with WS_EX_MDICHILD extended style is moved Update 2022-05-24 Fixed issue releasing subclassing when GUI is deleted but program is not closed Fixed occasional white background flicker Added function GuiFlatButton_GetPos Update 2021-01-02 Fixed bug, not drawing correctly after deleting GUI with GUIDelete() Fixed bug, changing default colors changed all buttons, even previously created buttons Made some internal functions more efficient Update 2019-04-14 Fixed bug, not showing pressed down state when clicking rapidly Added Icon/Bitmap support! Added function GuiFlatButton_SetPos to change the position and/or size of a button Update 2019-02-09 Added 2 new functions to set the button colors globally for all future buttons. GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColors GuiFlatButton_SetDefaultColorsEx Credits to: Melba23 (UDF template) LarsJ (general subclassing code) 4ggr35510n (TrackMouseEvent example) binhnx (disable dragging with $WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT) GUIRegisterMsg in AutoIt Help (owner-draw button example) funkey (_WinAPI_DrawState example)

Example of Subclassing listviews using setwindowSubclass in order to intercept WM_KEYUP events Also pops context menu on Shift + F10 #include <Misc.au3> #include <ListViewConstants.au3> #include <GUIConstants.au3> #include <GuiMenu.au3> #include <WinAPIShellEx.au3> Global $g_hCB, $g_pCB, $g_ahProc[2][2] ;Stores the Data for subclassing listview Global $g_LVKEYUP = 0xFE00, $g_LVKEYDN = 0xFD00 ;Our Own Custom messages (Key Up/Dn) Global $g_iDummyData Global $g_hGui = GUICreate("test") Global $g_hList1 = GUICtrlCreateListView("#|x|y", 5, 24, 161, 70, $LVS_SHOWSELALWAYS Or $LVS_SINGLESEL) GUICtrlCreateListViewItem("text", $g_hList1) Global $g_hList1_LVN = GUICtrlCreateDummy() ;Recieves Messages from the callback Global $g_hContext1 = GUICtrlCreateContextMenu($g_hList1) GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("1", $g_hContext1) GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("2", $g_hContext1) Global $g_hList2 = GUICtrlCreateListView("#|x|y", 5, 100, 161, 70, $LVS_SHOWSELALWAYS Or $LVS_SINGLESEL) GUICtrlCreateListViewItem("text", $g_hList2) Global $g_hList2_LVN = GUICtrlCreateDummy() ;Recieves Messages from the callback Global $g_hContext2 = GUICtrlCreateContextMenu($g_hList2) GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("3", $g_hContext2) GUICtrlCreateMenuItem("4", $g_hContext2) GUISetState(@SW_SHOW) SubClassListView() ;Creates our subclass Func SubClassListView() OnAutoItExitRegister("Cleanup") ;to remove our subclass $g_hCB = DllCallbackRegister('_SubclassProc', 'lresult', 'hwnd;uint;wparam;lparam;uint_ptr;dword_ptr') $g_pCB = DllCallbackGetPtr($g_hCB) $g_ahProc[0][0] = $g_hList1 ;Add the Ids of the controls we'd like to subclass $g_ahProc[1][0] = $g_hList2 ;Set up the subclass _WinAPI_SetWindowSubclass ( $hWnd, $pSubclassProc, $idSubClass [, $pData = 0] ) $g_ahProc[0][1] = _WinAPI_SetWindowSubclass(GUICtrlGetHandle($g_ahProc[0][0]), $g_pCB, $g_ahProc[0][0], $g_hList1_LVN) $g_ahProc[1][1] = _WinAPI_SetWindowSubclass(GUICtrlGetHandle($g_ahProc[1][0]), $g_pCB, $g_ahProc[1][0], $g_hList2_LVN) EndFunc ;==>SubClassListView Func _SubclassProc($hWnd, $iMsg, $wParam, $lParam, $iID, $pData) #forceref $iID Local $iRtnMsg = 0 ;Events we'd like to intercept If $iMsg = $WM_KEYUP Or $iMsg = $WM_SYSKEYUP Then $iRtnMsg = $g_LVKEYUP ElseIf $iMsg = $WM_KEYDOWN Or $iMsg = $WM_SYSKEYDOWN Then $iRtnMsg = $g_LVKEYDN EndIf ;We Recieve the Id of the dummy through $pData and pass our RtnMsg to the dummy control If $iRtnMsg Then GUICtrlSendToDummy($pData, BitOR($iRtnMsg, $wParam)) ;Pass messages on to the default handler Return _WinAPI_DefSubclassProc($hWnd, $iMsg, $wParam, $lParam) EndFunc ;==>_SubclassProc Func Cleanup() For $i = 0 To UBound($g_ahProc) - 1 ;Remove Our Subclass' by setting it back to the original proc _WinAPI_RemoveWindowSubclass(GUICtrlGetHandle($g_ahProc[$i][0]), DllCallbackGetPtr($g_ahProc[$i][1]), $g_ahProc[$i][0]) Next DllCallbackFree($g_hCB) EndFunc ;==>Cleanup While 1 Switch GUIGetMsg() Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE Exit Case $g_hList1_LVN ;This is just a dummy it only recieves events ConsoleWrite("LV1 EVENT 0x" & Hex($g_iDummyData, 4) & @CRLF) $g_iDummyData = GUICtrlRead($g_hList1_LVN) ;Retrieve the code that was sent Switch BitAND($g_iDummyData, 0xFF00) ;Get the keyup/dn status Case $g_LVKEYDN If BitAND($g_iDummyData, 0x00FF) = 0x79 And (_IsPressed("A0") Or _IsPressed("A1")) Then ;Right/ Left Shift & F10 ShowMenu($g_hGui, $g_hList1, $g_hContext1) Else ConsoleWrite("Lv1 KeyDn Vk: 0x" & Hex(BitAND($g_iDummyData, 0x00FF), 2) & @CRLF) ;Get the Virtual keycode EndIf Case $g_LVKEYUP ConsoleWrite("Lv1 KeyUp Vk: 0x" & Hex(BitAND($g_iDummyData, 0x00FF), 2) & @CRLF) ;Get the Virtual keycode EndSwitch Case $g_hList2_LVN $g_iDummyData = GUICtrlRead($g_hList2_LVN) ;Retrieve the code that was sent ConsoleWrite("LV2 EVENT 0x" & Hex($g_iDummyData, 4) & @CRLF) Switch BitAND($g_iDummyData, 0xFF00) ;Get the keyup/dn status Case $g_LVKEYDN ConsoleWrite("Lv2 KeyDn Vk: 0x" & Hex(BitAND($g_iDummyData, 0x00FF), 2) & @CRLF) ;Get the Virtual keycode Case $g_LVKEYUP ConsoleWrite("Lv2 KeyUp Vk: 0x" & Hex(BitAND($g_iDummyData, 0x00FF), 2) & @CRLF) ;Get the Virtual keycode EndSwitch EndSwitch WEnd Func ShowMenu($hWnd, $idCtrl, $idContext) Local $aPos, $iX, $iY Local $hMenu = GUICtrlGetHandle($idContext) $aPos = ControlGetPos($hWnd, "", $idCtrl) $iX = $aPos[0] $iY = $aPos[1] + $aPos[3] ClientToScreen($hWnd, $iX, $iY) ; Show at the given coordinates (x, y) the popup menu (hMenu) which belongs to a given GUI window (hWnd) _GUICtrlMenu_TrackPopupMenu($hMenu, $hWnd, $iX, $iY) EndFunc ;==>ShowMenu ; Convert the client (GUI) coordinates to screen (desktop) coordinates Func ClientToScreen($hWnd, ByRef $iX, ByRef $iY) Local $tPoint = DllStructCreate("int;int") DllStructSetData($tPoint, 1, $iX) DllStructSetData($tPoint, 2, $iY) DllCall("user32.dll", "int", "ClientToScreen", "hwnd", $hWnd, "struct*", $tPoint) $iX = DllStructGetData($tPoint, 1) $iY = DllStructGetData($tPoint, 2) ; release Struct not really needed as it is a local $tPoint = 0 EndFunc ;==>ClientToScreen Old Code Using setWindowLong