CartLog In

Delphi sneak peek: Skins, skins, and more skins coming in VCL subscription v2011 vol 2

ctodx
ctodx
RSS
14 October 2011

Today, a post about our upcoming v2011 vol 2 release of our VCL subscription that is short on words and long on images. Which is as it should be since I’m talking about our new skins.

We have ported the following skins from our WinForms skinning library:

  • Blueprint;
  • DevExpress Dark Style;
  • DevExpress Style;
  • High Contrast;
  • Seven Classic;
  • Sharp Plus;
  • The Asphalt World;
  • VS2010;
  • Whiteprint.

Before I show you the example screenshots, take a look at what our VCL Skin Chooser Gallery will now look like in v2011 vol 2 (as with all these images, click to enlarge):

VCL skin gallery 11.2

There are three images per skin to show you what the skin will look like. I’ve used ExpressEditors, ExpressQuantumGrid, and ExpressScheduler as representative controls.

Blueprint:

Blueprint_editors Blueprint_grid Blueprint_scheduler

DevExpress Dark Style:

DXDarkStyle_editors DXDarkStyle_grid DXDarkStyle_scheduler

DevExpress Style:

DXStyle_editors DXStyle_grid DXStyle_scheduler

High Contrast:

HighContrast_editors HighContrast_grid HighContrast_scheduler

Seven Classic:

SevenClassic_editors SevenClassic_grid SevenClassic_scheduler

Sharp Plus:

SharpPlus_editors SharpPlus_grid SharpPlus_scheduler

The Asphalt World:

TheAsphaltWorld_editors TheAsphaltWorld_grid TheAsphaltWorld_scheduler

VS2010:

VS2010_editors VS2010_grid VS2010_scheduler

Whiteprint:

Whiteprint_editors Whiteprint_grid Whiteprint_scheduler

And if you’re still reading, remember these skins will be available for all of the Delphi and C++Builder versions we’ll be supporting in v2011 vol 2: Delphi 7, Delphi 2007, Delphi 2010, Delphi XE, Delphi XE2, and C++Builder 2007, C++Builder 2010, C++Builder XE, C++Builder XE2.

Free DevExpress Products – Get Your Copy Today

The following free DevExpress product offers remain available. Should you have any questions about the free offers below, please submit a ticket via the DevExpress Support Center at your convenience. We’ll be happy to follow-up.
Julian Bucknall (DevExpress) Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)
Email: julianb@devexpress.com
Tags
Rodrigo Coelho
Rodrigo Coelho

Very nice!

14 October 2011
Donald Shimoda
Donald Shimoda

Cool, but all we are waiting XE2 install with 64 bits ASAP, and next version supporting Firemonkey, i hope usable on iOS.

14 October 2011
Michael Thuma
Michael Thuma

Donald ...

Modesty and discretion have always been a positive feature of the Delphi developer community :)

@Mr. Julian - Thank you for letting us know.

15 October 2011
Mark Stals
Mark Stals

Nice! Is there a way to give skins more generic names. Most end users have no clue what to expect from a skin called VS2010, Sharp Plus or any other skin name that refers to programming lingo.

15 October 2011
Alex M (DevExpress)
Alex M (DevExpress)

Sure thing, Mark! You can customize default skin names as your needs dictate. Once TdxSkinChooserGalleryItem is populated with default skin names, you can customize gallery item captions as necessary:

 dxSkinChooserGalleryItem1.PopulateGallery;

 TdxSkinChooserGalleryGroupItem(dxSkinChooserGalleryItem1.GalleryGroups[0].Items[0]).Caption := 'MyCaramel';

Alternatively, you can customize default skin names globally within your application, via cxLookAndFeelPaintersManager, before any TdxSkinChooserGalleryItem is populated:

uses

 ..., cxLookAndFeelPainters;

// ...

var

 APainter: TcxCustomLookAndFeelPainter;

 ASkinDetails: TdxSkinDetails;

begin

 // ...

 cxLookAndFeelPaintersManager.GetPainter('Caramel', APainter);

 APainter.GetPainterDetails(ASkinDetails);

 ASkinDetails.DisplayName := 'MyCaramel';

 // ...

end;

17 October 2011
Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)
Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)

Donald: 64-bit XE2 support is slated for v2011 vol 2, not a minor update to v2011 vol 1. 32-bit Delphi XE2 support is due any day now (last I heard was today, but there might have been a last minute hiccup). C++Builder XE2 support is proving difficult: we're running into some bugs with the compiler/linker/runtime, so I have no news on when that will be ready.

FireMonkey support is and always has been a long term proposal. There is no way I could prognosticate if and when we'll be selling it. If you look at our VCL support, you'll understand why it's not a simple conversion.

Cheers, Julian

17 October 2011
David Rosen
David Rosen

Thank you

I've been waiting for them, especially, the white one.

David

18 October 2011
mike delcollo
mike delcollo

Thanks Julian...  we are greatly anticipating the XE2 release.  We have been using your Delphi DevExpress controls for many years and we can't do without them!

19 October 2011
Bill Seven
Bill Seven

This is great, Julian, thanks for the update.  Can you comment on the possibility of a new text editor in the upcoming release?

19 October 2011
Matthias Schlegel
Matthias Schlegel

Hello Team Devexpress,

thanks for the XE2 release.  We have been using your Delphi DevExpress controls for many years and we can't do without them!

Matthias Schlegel

19 October 2011
Alex M (DevExpress)
Alex M (DevExpress)

@Bill: I beg your pardon, I'm not quite following your inquiry. Are you requesting a new text editor for FireMonkey?

20 October 2011
Bill Seven
Bill Seven

I received some support center updates (for instance, s38010) that indicate activity was happening with the cxRichEdit control, and I remember in the past seeing discussion about making the control more full featured, and wondered if this was happening.

20 October 2011
Alex M (DevExpress)
Alex M (DevExpress)

Ah, I see, our rich edit control (cxRichEdit). Yes, we have implemented a number of suggestions extending the control's functionality in v2011 vol 2. The suggestions include:

S38010 - cxRichEdit - Add paragraph options to specify the justified text alignment, absolute indent, and spacing

S38011 - cxRichEdit - Add the capability to create tables

S38012 - cxRichEdit - Add the capability to create numbered and bulleted lists

S38013 - cxRichEdit - Add the capability to add page breaks

We will change the status of the suggestions and publish implementation details shortly.

21 October 2011
Martin Lawrence
Martin Lawrence

Do we have an approximate date for vol2 release?  Prior to end of 2011?

2 November 2011
Alex M (DevExpress)
Alex M (DevExpress)

v2011 vol 2 will be released before the end of the year. We are preparing a beta for VCL subscription customers that will be released soon.

3 November 2011
TSawyer
TSawyer

Are there any demos out there showing rounding of buttons, group boxes, etc.

14 November 2011
ahmed emad 2
ahmed emad 2

right to left support?

27 November 2011
David Brennan
David Brennan

Beta out now and while I haven't downloaded it (don't have time to play with the beta really, probably will be waiting for the official release) there do seem to be some cool little changes/new features in there. Good job.

OTOH as ahmed said, right to left support is a glaringly missing feature which clearly costs us money (we have Middle East prospects who would buy if we could do RTL) so while clocks and skinnable scroll boxes are nice, a start on RTL support would be much nicer!

29 November 2011
execoma
execoma

Hello! Where I can download this skins now? I don't have access to VCL Subscription v2 beta, but I user SkinLibrary and some other components

6 December 2011
Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)
Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)

@execoma:The skins are only available with 11.2. If you don't have access to the beta because yyou are not a licensee of the full VCL subscription, you will have to wait until the release is published and upgrade.

Cheers, Julian

6 December 2011
execoma
execoma

The release will be issued until the new year?

7 December 2011
Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)
Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)

@execoma: The 11.2 release will be published in a week or so.

Cheers, Julian

7 December 2011
TSawyer
TSawyer

Any chance you can show or demonstrate skins making a square or rectangle button round?

22 December 2011
Alex M (DevExpress)
Alex M (DevExpress)

@TSawyer: Some of the sample screenshots of skins and supported components available at devexpress.com/.../info.xml show buttons with rounded corners. This page will be updated with new skin samples soon.

23 December 2011

Please login or register to post comments.

Recent Posts

DevExpress VCL Subscription v21.2 released
Dec 15, 2021 by Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)
VCL Charts - Early Access Preview (v21.2)
Dec 14, 2021 by Alex M (DevExpress)
DevExpress Universal v21.2 released
Nov 4, 2021 by Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)
WinForms: .NET 5 Design Time Enhancements
Jul 1, 2021 by Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)
DevExtreme and related products: End of support for Internet Explorer 11
Jun 10, 2021 by Julian Bucknall (DevExpress)