Working with themes in Windows Forms PDF Viewer (PdfViewerControl)

15 Nov 20225 minutes to read

PDF Viewer provides support for various built-in themes, using which the default appearance of elements that are present in the control can be customized. This can be achieved using the ThemeName property of PdfViewerControl.

Assembly requirements

To set a theme to PdfViewerControl, the theme assemblies should be added as a reference in the application, in addition to the control dependencies. Refer to the following table for the additional assembly details.

Themes Assemblies required
Office2016Colorful
Office2016Black
Office2016DarkGray
Office2016White 		No additional assemblies are required as the themes are included in the control assembly itself.
Office2019Colorful Syncfusion.Office2019Theme.WinForms
HighContrastBlack Syncfusion.HighContrastTheme.WinForms

Office 2016 themes

It provides support for applying Office 2016 themes to PdfViewerControl and its associated elements. Following are the Office 2016 themes that are supported in the PDF Viewer control:

  • Office2016Colorful
  • Office2016Black
  • Office2016DarkGray
  • Office2016White

Refer to the following code to apply Office 2016 dark gray theme to the PdfViewerControl.

this.pdfViewerControl1.ThemeName = "Office2016DarkGray";
Me.pdfViewerControl1.ThemeName = "Office2016DarkGray"

The following image illustrates the appearance of the control after Office 2016 dark gray theme is applied.

Office2016 Dark Gray

NOTE

You can follow a similar step for all the other Office 2016 themes.

Office 2019 theme

It provides support for applying Office 2019 theme to PdfViewerControl and its associated elements. Before applying this theme to the control, the Office2016Theme assembly should be loaded in the main entry point of the application. Refer to the following code to load the assembly using SkinManager.

static class Program 
{ 
    /// <summary> 
    /// The main entry point for the application. 
    /// </summary> 
    [STAThread] 
    static void Main() 
    { 
        SkinManager.LoadAssembly(typeof(Syncfusion.WinForms.Themes.Office2019Theme).Assembly); 
        Application.EnableVisualStyles(); 
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false); 
        Application.Run(new Form1()); 
    } 
}
Module Program
    ''' <summary> 
    ''' The main entry point for the application. 
    ''' </summary> 
    <STAThread> 
    Private Sub Main()
        SkinManager.LoadAssembly(GetType(Syncfusion.WinForms.Themes.Office2019Theme).Assembly) 
        Application.EnableVisualStyles()
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(False) 
        Application.Run(New Form1()) 
    End Sub 
End Class

After loading the theme assembly, set the ThemeName to Office2019Colorful as explained in the following code.

this.pdfViewerControl1.ThemeName = "Office2019Colorful";
Me.pdfViewerControl1.ThemeName = "Office2019Colorful"

The following image illustrates the appearance of the control after this theme is applied.

Office2019 Colorful

High Contrast theme

It provides support for applying high contrast theme to PdfViewerControl and its associated elements. Before applying this theme to the control, the Office2016Theme assembly should be loaded in the main entry point of the application. Refer to the following code to load the assembly using SkinManager.

static class Program 
{ 
    /// <summary> 
    /// The main entry point for the application. 
    /// </summary> 
    [STAThread] 
    static void Main() 
    { 
        SkinManager.LoadAssembly(typeof(Syncfusion.WinForms.Themes.HighContrastTheme).Assembly); 
        Application.EnableVisualStyles(); 
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false); 
        Application.Run(new Form1()); 
    } 
}
Module Program
    ''' <summary> 
    ''' The main entry point for the application. 
    ''' </summary> 
    <STAThread> 
    Private Sub Main()
        SkinManager.LoadAssembly(GetType(Syncfusion.WinForms.Themes.HighContrastTheme).Assembly) 
        Application.EnableVisualStyles()
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(False) 
        Application.Run(New Form1()) 
    End Sub 
End Class

After loading the theme assembly, set the ThemeName to HighContrastBlack as explained in the following code.

this.pdfViewerControl1.ThemeName = "HighContrastBlack";
Me.pdfViewerControl1.ThemeName = "HighContrastBlack"

The following image illustrates the appearance of the control after this theme is applied.

High Contrast Black

Default theme

To clear the existing theme and set default theme to the control, set the ThemeName to Default as explained in the following code.

this.pdfViewerControl1.ThemeName = "Default";
Me.pdfViewerControl1.ThemeName = "Default"

Find the sample from this GitHub location.