Programatically disable the Windows Aero theme for standalone ArcGIS applications

Summary

When running standalone applications for ArcGIS it is recommended to turn off the Windows Aero theme during the lifetime of the application. There are some cases where having the Aero theme enabled may cause display issues. These display issues become more apparent in dynamic display and 3D modes.

Procedure

• The following C# code demonstrates this:

  using System;
  using System.Collections.Generic;
  using System.Windows.Forms;
  using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
  using ESRI.ArcGIS;
  
  namespace MyApp
  {
    static class Program
    {
      [DllImport("kernel32", SetLastError = true)]
      static extern IntPtr LoadLibrary(string lpFileName);
      [DllImport("kernel32", CharSet = CharSet.Ansi, ExactSpelling = true, SetLastError = true)]
      static extern IntPtr GetProcAddress(IntPtr hModule, string procName);
      internal delegate int DwmEnableComposition(int enable);
  
      [STAThread]
      static void Main()
      {
  	if (!RuntimeManager.Bind(ProductCode.Engine))
  	{
  	  if (!RuntimeManager.Bind(ProductCode.Desktop))
  	  {
  	    MessageBox.Show("Unable to bind to ArcGIS runtime. Application will be shut down.");
  	    return;
  	  }
  	}
  	DisableAeroDesktopWindowManager();
  	Application.EnableVisualStyles();
  	Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
  	Application.Run(new MainForm());
      }
  
      private static void DisableAeroDesktopWindowManager()
      {
  
  	IntPtr pDll = IntPtr.Zero;
  	try
  	{
  	  // Load the Desktop Windows Manger library, if the library does not exist
  	  // then bail out because we are on an OS older than Vista.
  	  pDll = LoadLibrary("dwmapi.dll");
  	  if (pDll == IntPtr.Zero)
  	    return;
  
  	  // Get the DwmEnableComposition Function
  	  IntPtr pFunc = GetProcAddress(pDll, "DwmEnableComposition");
  	  if (pFunc == IntPtr.Zero)
  	    return;
  
  	  DwmEnableComposition enableDwm = (DwmEnableComposition)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer(pFunc, typeof(DwmEnableComposition));
  	  if (enableDwm == null) return;
  	  {
  	    // Disable Desktop Window Manager
  	    enableDwm(0);
  	  }
  	}
  	catch
  	{
  	  //Todo: log error
  	}
      }
    }
  }

• Add the following VB.NET code to the Application events portion of the code:

  Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
  
  Namespace My
  
      Partial Friend Class MyApplication
  
  	<DllImport("kernel32", SetLastError:=True)> _
  	Public Shared Function LoadLibrary(ByVal lpFileName As String) As IntPtr
  	End Function
  	<DllImport("kernel32", CharSet:=CharSet.Ansi, ExactSpelling:=True, SetLastError:=True)> _
  	Public Shared Function GetProcAddress(ByVal hModule As IntPtr, ByVal procName As String) As IntPtr
  	End Function
  	Friend Delegate Function DwmEnableComposition(ByVal enable As Integer) As Integer
  
  	Private Sub MyApplication_Startup(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As Microsoft.VisualBasic.ApplicationServices.StartupEventArgs) Handles Me.Startup
  	  If Not ESRI.ArcGIS.RuntimeManager.Bind(ESRI.ArcGIS.ProductCode.Engine) Then
  	    If Not ESRI.ArcGIS.RuntimeManager.Bind(ESRI.ArcGIS.ProductCode.Desktop) Then
  		MessageBox.Show("Unable to bind to ArcGIS runtime. Application will be shut down.")
  		e.Cancel = True 'Abort application start up
  	    End If
  	  End If
  
  	  DisableAeroDesktopWindowManager()
  
  	End Sub
  
  	Private Sub DisableAeroDesktopWindowManager()
  	  Dim pDll As IntPtr = IntPtr.Zero
  	  Try
  	    pDll = LoadLibrary("dwmapi.dll")
  	    If (pDll = IntPtr.Zero) Then
  		Return
  	    End If
  
  	    ' Get the DwmEnabledComposition Function
  	    Dim pFunc As IntPtr = GetProcAddress(pDll, "DwmEnableComposition")
  	    If (pFunc = IntPtr.Zero) Then
  		Return
  	    End If
  	    Dim enableDwm As DwmEnableComposition
  	    enableDwm = DirectCast(System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer(pFunc, GetType(DwmEnableComposition)), DwmEnableComposition)
  	    If (enableDwm Is Nothing) Then
  		Return
  	    End If
  	    ' Disable Desktop Window Manager
  	    enableDwm(0)
  	  Catch
  	    'Todo: log error
  	  End Try
  
  	End Sub
  
      End Class
  
  End Namespace