How to make System.Windows.MessageBox buttons styled? - wpf

Question

I'm using System.Windows.MessageBox in a WPF app, and for some reason its buttons are styled the Windows 2000 way - not WinXP, not Aero, not the WPF default. Just gray with basic 3d borders.
How can I make them appear with a more modern style? (doesn't really matter which one)

Answer 1

You can fix this with a manifest. See this article for step-by-step instructions: Why am I Getting Old Style File Dialogs and Message Boxes with WPF
Basically, you have to add an XML file called a 'manifest' to your application.
Update:
Actually, it is very easy to do this in VS2008. Go to Project Properties->Application and click the 'View UAC Settings' button. This will automatically create an application manifest file and open it. Edit this file as follows:
Just after the line:
</trustInfo>
Paste in the following dependency section:
<!-- Activate Windows Common Controls v6 usage (XP and Vista): -->
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
version="6.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="*"
publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*"
/>
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
My complete manifest looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<asmv1:assembly manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0" name="MyApplication.app"/>
<trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
<security>
<requestedPrivileges xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<!-- UAC Manifest Options
If you want to change the Windows User Account Control level replace the
requestedExecutionLevel node with one of the following.
<requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false" />
<requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" />
<requestedExecutionLevel level="highestAvailable" uiAccess="false" />
If you want to utilize File and Registry Virtualization for backward
compatibility then delete the requestedExecutionLevel node.
-->
<requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false" />
</requestedPrivileges>
</security>
</trustInfo>
<!-- Activate Windows Common Controls v6 usage (XP, Vista, Win 7) to support themed dialogs: -->
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
version="6.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="*"
publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*"
/>
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
</asmv1:assembly>
After doing this, just build your app, run, and voila, the MessageBox dialog buttons take on the system theme style.