The problem that always existed in Visual Studio with the generated grayscale picture for a disabled command of an add-in (or CommandBarButton without a command) is going to be fixed in Visual Studio 2010, according to the tests that I have done. That is, an add-in with a command that provides a 24-bit bitmap in a satellite dll with RGB=0,254,0 as background color (the old way compatible with VS 2005 / 2008) now shows a crisp and defined disabled picture if the command is disabled. Notice that providing a 32-bit bitmap with built-in transparency (the new way introduced in VS 2010) is not required to get this “fix”, it is something that Microsoft has fixed internally even for 24-bit bitmaps in the new WPF-based commandbars of VS 2010.
I have been unable to test if the same applies to CommandBarButtons whose picture is provided through the Picture property (without a command) but I think it will be fixed too.
Hi Carlos!
I’m facing the same problem with disabled icons on CommandBarButtons in Excel 2003 provided via the Picture and Mask properties. The ribbons in Excel 2007 don’t have this problem and show the grayscaled version. So I guess that VS2010 just uses a new way to display the menus (similar to the ribbons?) and that the problem with the CommandBarButtons will remain 🙁
I’m looking forward to any news in this direction and I hope the solution (if there is any at all) can also be applied to Excel 2003.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and findings!
Kind regards
Timon
Hi TIiomon,
I don’t think there will be a solution for Excel 2003, as there is no solution for VS 2005/2008. It is something that either it is implemented internally or there is nothing that you can do.