UI Components

Visual Studio 2022 Warning

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The ARC Plugin Framework is very powerful because it is entirely open. That means you can access every component and resource within the ARC.exe application or EZ_B.DLL library. There are hundreds of custom .Net user UI components exposed in the ARC application to assist with your plugin. Including joysticks, buttons, camera canvases, and more.

Theming
All plugin components will be themed using the ARC standard theme renderer. This happens automatically, so the control colors, look and feel will be adjusted accordingly. There is an Example in another tutorial step regarding themes and the available commands to interact with the theme engine.

The Visual Studio IDE has a Tool Box, which is used for designer mode when customizing a form. The toolbox can have custom controls added to it. Below is a screenshot of a default toolbox.

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Create New Toolbox Tab
To keep the new ARC component controls organized, we will create a new category in the toolbox. This is done by scrolling to the bottom of the toolbox list and RIGHT CLICK -> ADD TAB
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The new tab will be named ARC.
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Add Controls To ARC Tab
Now we will right click on the ARC tab and select CHOOSE ITEMS
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A Choose Items Dialog box will be displayed. It may take a few moments for the dialog to load while it scans and organizes the existing controls within the toolbox. Press the BROWSE button.
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Now locate and select the ARC.exe application in C:\Program Files (x86)\Synthiam Inc\ARC. All controls of ARC will now be selected for the toolbox. Press OK
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When editing/creating a Windows Form, the ARC tab in the toolbox will now have many new controls that you can begin using. Have fun!
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