Aero (Glass) isn't really a new GUI framework (sorry Zack
. It's a
look-and-feel as you said. It is powered by some new technology shared with
WPF (formerly Avalon), which IS a new GUI Framework.
You can incorporate some of the Aero Glass LAF into your Win32 or MFC apps.
Primarily by allowing some of the client area of your windows to be rendered
in the translucent glass that titlebars get. Look for apis like
DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea and in the dwm.h header of the Vista SDK.
Hopefully more of this kind of thing will get documented in the future.
There's also a new Wizard API, a new type of MessageBox (the Task Dialog)
and UX guidelines for fonts and other layout issues that will make your
Win32 or MFC apps fit in with Vista. There's also the Common Dialogs and a
theme drawing API for drawing your custom control with the same look as the
built in controls. Again, all of this isn't terribly well documented yet, so
I can't send you to the definitive source. I don't think much if any of this
will be backwards compatible with XP.
WPF is a new GUI framework as I said. There are ways to embed WPF content in
Win32 and Windows Forms applications as well. WPF will be available on XP
and Vista.
"planaria" <mark@arguslab.com> wrote in message
news:uuOdnVPCscSO9eHZRVn-uw@seanet.com...
>
> We're considering revamping the GUI to a Windows app that was written with
> Win32 (not MFC).
>
> We're considering: Windows Forms, MFC, Qt (from Trolltech), and now Aero.
>
> Have I got this correct? Is Aero a new GUI framework for Vista or simply
> the new laf. Will legacy MFC apps be able to take advantage of the new
> laf?
>
> Questions:
> 1. Is Aero a new GUI framework or not?
>
> 2. If yes, will it be backward compatible on older versions of Windows
> (i.e. will there be some runtime set of dlls that can be distributed to
> run on XP, etc.)
>
> 3. Are there any good "official" links on this?
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Mark
> mark_at_arguslab_dot_com
>
>