---
title: "Introducing Theme Studio for Syncfusion WinForms controls"
published_at: "2019-04-11T11:00:10+00:00"
modified_at: "2025-03-14T13:13:01+00:00"
url: "https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/post/introducing-theme-studio-for-syncfusion-winforms-controls"
excerpt: "In the Essential Studio® 2019 Volume 1 release, Syncfusion has included the Theme Studio (beta version) for WinForms controls. It helps users transform their visual presentation with a new theme in a few minutes, without any involvement of code or..."
taxonomy_category:
  - ".NET"
  - "C#"
  - "Desktop"
  - "Theme"
  - "Windows Forms"
taxonomy_post_tag:
  - "theme"
  - "Theme Customization"
  - "WinForms"
---

# Introducing Theme Studio for Syncfusion WinForms controls

[Hari Venkatesh E](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/author/harivenkateshe)

![Theme Studio for Syncfusion WinForms controls](https://www.syncfusion.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tile_ThemeStudio_windowsForms-01.png)


In the Essential Studio® 2019 Volume 1 release, Syncfusion has included the Theme Studio (beta version) for WinForms controls. It helps users transform their visual presentation with a new theme in a few minutes, without any involvement of code or a designer.

![Home screen of Theme Studio WinForms](https://blog.syncfusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Overview.png)*Home screen of WinForms Theme Studio*

## Launching WinForms Theme Studio

For convenience, the Theme Studio application reserves a special place in the **start-up** panel for its launch. On launching the application, you can see a couple of panels. One for theme customization on the left and the other for the control’s preview on the right. The theme customization panel has the primary color brushes mapped to appropriate colors from the controls skin. The skin of the control on the right-hand side will get refreshed automatically on changing these colors.

| Important Note:Theme Studio showcases only the primary colors.Limited controls are placed in the preview section. However, Theme Studio will apply new colors to all the selected controls. |
| --- |

## Modifying colors using Theme Studio

Tapping on the color mapped to the primary brush will open a color picker control, which displays a range of standard colors.

![Customizing WinForms controls skin using Theme Studio](https://blog.syncfusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/CustomizingPrimaryColor.png)

If you want to choose a different color, use the **More Colors…** option.

![Choosing a different color to apply to WinForms Theme Skin](https://blog.syncfusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/MoreColors.png)The chosen color from the More Colors… section is included in the Recent Colors section for quick access in the future.

![Recent color listed in the color picker](https://blog.syncfusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Recent-Colors.png)A modification made to a color will enable the Reset button in the bottom of the left pane. The user can use it to reset the color changes made to the control’s skin for a fresh start.  
 ![Reset color button to start over customization](https://blog.syncfusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ResetColors.png)

## Exporting color changes as theme dll

After making the necessary changes to a color, the user can export it in library format (*.dll). Click **Export** in the bottom of the left pane. In the export dialog that appears, all the controls are showcased based on their category. The user can click ** Select All** to select all the listed controls, or choose individual controls as required. The size of the output assembly is proportional to the number and size of the selected controls.

![Exporting the appearance changes as theme assembly using Theme Studio](https://blog.syncfusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ExportTheme.png)*Choosing the controls to which to apply the appearance changes.*

| Important Note: The name used for applying the theme to the control should be same as the one used for saving the theme library. |
| --- |

## Applying a theme to Syncfusion WinForms controls

To apply a theme to Syncfusion Windows Forms controls:

- Add a reference to the exported theme library in the application.
- Load the assembly using the SkinManager.
- Set the **ThemeName** property of the appropriate controls to the name of the theme.

Now, run the application and experience the control’s rich user interface.

The following code demonstrates the application of a custom theme to the DataGrid control.

```
//Load Theme assembly into application using SkinManager
SkinManager.LoadAssembly(typeof(CustomTheme).Assembly);
//Apply theme to SfDataGrid
this.sfDataGrid.ThemeName = "CustomTheme";
```

![Custom Theme applied to SfDataGrid control](https://blog.syncfusion.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/CustomThemeApplied.png)*Custom theme applied to SfDataGrid control*

If you wish to override any part of the theme applied, you can set the **CanOverrideStyle** property of the appropriate control to **false**. Now, use the built-in appearance API under the ** ThemeStyle** property to provide the desired color. For SF series controls, use the ** Style** property instead of ** ThemeStyle**.

For instance, here I don’t want to adopt Cell BackColor from the applied custom theme in the DataGrid control.

```
sfDataGrid.Style.CellStyle.BackColor = Color.LightGray;
//Restrict adopting colors from applied custom theme assembly in SfDataGrid, which is customized.
sfDataGrid.CanOverrideStyle = false;
sfDataGrid.ThemeName = "CustomTheme";
```

## **What’s next?**

For the Theme Studio for WinForms controls, we are planning to provide a couple of additional themes, along with a few more controls like menus, a pivot grid, and a spreadsheet. One of the additional themes planned is high contrast, in order to provide a rounded user experience.

## **Conclusion**

If you are an existing customer, please download the new version of Essential Studio® from the [download](https://www.syncfusion.com/account/downloads)
 page and try the Theme Studio for WinForms and its features for yourself. If you are a new customer, you can try our 30-day [free trial](https://www.syncfusion.com/downloads)
 to check out this new application.

Please post your queries in the comments section below. You can also contact us through our support [forum](https://www.syncfusion.com/forums)
 or [Direct-Trac](https://www.syncfusion.com/support/directtrac/incidents)
.