Question

How can I bind the default Window background color of the theme to a Window background?

I’ve tried the following:

<Window x:Class="Shell"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="Shell" 
    Height="300" 
    Width="300" 
    Background="{DynamicResource WindowBackgroundBrush}"
    >

But the background color renders as black and that does not seem right when using the Luna theme. Using the Luna theme I would expect the beige/brownish color often found in Windows XP.

UPDATE: After reading your answers, playing with StyleSnooper and thinking some more about this I’ve come to the following conclusion:

The Window will use SystemColors.WindowBrush as its background color by default. This color is white in most themes i’ve tried and that is probably OK. I believe white is also the Window background color in WinForms. However, the default Form background color in WinForms is not Window background but Control. So, if I want that color I have use SystemColors.ControlBrush as pointed out by Lucas.

At one point I was trying to achieve the brownish/beige Control color of WinForms on Windows XP. This is probably not possible on Windows Vista since Control color on Vista is kind of gray. Running a WinForms application on Windows Vista will not render it as beige/brownish, but gray. In this case I guess we have to apply our own custom styles to achieve the “original” Windows XP look on Vista.

Thanks everyone for helping me sort this out!

Answer 1

Does applying a theme actually override the system brushes as I would expect? If so, you should be able to do this:

<Window ...
    Background="{x:Static SystemColors.WindowBrush}
    ...>

Edit

As per Manga’s comment, you’ll probably want to use SystemColors.ControlBrush to achieve the desired effect, because WindowBrush on most systems is white. ControlBrush is the “off-white” colour you’re seeing on Windows XP.