How to enable modern look and feel of tool bar for Win32 Application?

Question

Recently I started learning GUI programming based on Win32 API. When I add tool bar control (from comctl32.lib) to my simple application I find it looks flat wh

Answer 1

Create Toolbar first and then Rebar.

the rbBand.hbmBack must be set to NULL to get modern look toolbar, or remove RBBIM_BACKGROUND flag from the code below.

Here's how to create rebar:

HWND WINAPI CreateRebar (HWND hwndOwner)
{
    REBARINFO     rbi;
    REBARBANDINFO rbBand;
    RECT          rc;
    HWND   hwndCB, hwndRB;
    DWORD  dwBtnSize;

    hwndRB = CreateWindowExW(WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW,
        REBARCLASSNAME,
        NULL,
        WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CLIPSIBLINGS |
        WS_CLIPCHILDREN | RBS_VARHEIGHT |
        CCS_NODIVIDER,
        0, 0, 0, 0,
        hwndOwner,
        NULL,
        GetModuleHandleW(NULL),
        NULL);
    if (!hwndRB)
        return NULL;
    // Initialize and send the REBARINFO structure.
    rbi.cbSize = sizeof(REBARINFO);  // Required when using this
    // structure.
    rbi.fMask = 0;
    rbi.himl = (HIMAGELIST)NULL;
    if (!SendMessage(hwndRB, RB_SETBARINFO, 0, (LPARAM)&rbi))
        return NULL;
    // Initialize structure members that both bands will share.
    rbBand.cbSize = sizeof(REBARBANDINFO);  // Required
    rbBand.fMask = RBBIM_COLORS | RBBIM_TEXT | RBBIM_BACKGROUND |
        RBBIM_STYLE | RBBIM_CHILD | RBBIM_CHILDSIZE |
        RBBIM_SIZE;
    rbBand.fStyle = RBBS_CHILDEDGE | RBBS_FIXEDBMP;
    rbBand.hbmBack = NULL;  //
    // Create the combo box control to be added.
    hwndCB = CreateWindowW(TEXT("COMBOBOX"), NULL,
        WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | CBS_HASSTRINGS | CBS_DROPDOWNLIST,
        410, 20, 120, 110, (HWND) NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);;
    // Set values unique to the band with the combo box.
    GetWindowRect(hwndCB, &rc);
    rbBand.lpText = "Combo Box";
    rbBand.hwndChild = hwndCB;
    rbBand.cxMinChild = 0;
    rbBand.cyMinChild = rc.bottom - rc.top;
    rbBand.cx = 200;

    // Add the band that has the combo box.
    SendMessage(hwndRB, RB_INSERTBAND, (WPARAM)-1, (LPARAM)&rbBand);


    // Get the height of the toolbar.
    dwBtnSize = SendMessage(toolbar1, TB_GETBUTTONSIZE, 0, 0);

    // Set values unique to the band with the toolbar.
    rbBand.lpText = "Tool Bar";
    rbBand.hwndChild = toolbar1;
    rbBand.cxMinChild = 0;
    rbBand.cyMinChild = HIWORD(dwBtnSize);
    rbBand.cx = 250;

    // Add the band that has the toolbar.
    SendMessage(hwndRB, RB_INSERTBAND, (WPARAM)-1, (LPARAM)&rbBand);
    return (hwndRB);
}