Change Theme Base Color and Font Settings

• Oct 29, 2020
• 5 minutes to read

Starting with v16.2, there is an option to modify an applied theme’s base color (for certain themes) and font settings.

Available API

The following API enables you to change the theme base color and font settings declaratively in the web.config file or programmatically at runtime.

• Web.config Options

  • baseColor

    Specifies the name of the base color for the theme to be globally applied to all DevExpress controls within a website. Refer to the Theme Base Color topic to learn more.

  • font

    Specifies the font settings for the theme to be globally applied to all DevExpress controls within a website. See the Theme Font Settings topic for more information.

  Example:

  XML

  <configuration>
      ...
      <devExpress>
          ...
          <themes enableThemesAssembly="true" styleSheetTheme="" theme="Metropolis" 
              customThemeAssemblies="" baseColor="Green" font="30px 'Calibri'"  />
          ...
      </devExpress>
      ...
  </configuration>
  

• Programmatic API

  • For ASP.NET WebForms Controls:

    Static Property	Description
    ASPxWebControl.GlobalThemeBaseColor	Gets or sets the base color for the theme to be globally applied to all DevExpress web controls across a web page or entire web site.
    ASPxWebControl.GlobalThemeFont	Gets or sets the font settings of the theme to be globally applied to all DevExpress web controls across a web page or entire web site.

    Example:

    C#

    protected void Application_PreRequestHandlerExecute(object sender, EventArgs e) {
        ...
        DevExpress.Web.ASPxWebControl.GlobalThemeBaseColor = "Green";
        DevExpress.Web.ASPxWebControl.GlobalThemeFont = "30px 'Calibri'";
    }
    

  • For ASP.NET MVC Extensions:

    Static Property	Description
    DevExpressHelper.GlobalThemeBaseColor	Gets or sets the base color for the theme to be globally applied to all DevExpress MVC extensions across a web page or entire web site.
    DevExpressHelper.GlobalThemeFont	Gets or sets the font settings of the theme to be globally applied to all DevExpress MVC extensions across a web page or entire web site.

    Example:

    C#

    protected void Application_PreRequestHandlerExecute(object sender, EventArgs e) {
        ...
        DevExpress.Web.MVC.DevExpressHelper.GlobalThemeBaseColor = "#00FF00";
        DevExpress.Web.MVC.DevExpressHelper.GlobalThemeFont = "30px 'Calibri'";
    }
    

If theme settings (the base color or font) are defined declaratively in web.config and programmatically, the settings specified programmatically via static properties (GlobalThemeBaseColor and GlobalThemeFont) take priority.

Value Formats

The following formats are used when specifying values for a theme’s base color and font.

• For Base Color

  Use a color value in HTML format. The following formats will be parsed correctly:

  • RGB or RGBA colors - Note that the alpha parameter is not taken into account for RGBA colors

    Examples: “rgb(255, 0, 0)”, “rgba(0, 255, 0, 0.3)”

  • Hexadecimal colors - in six-digit (#rrggbb) or three-digit (#rgb) form

    Examples: “#FFF000”, “#FFF”

  • Color names - Note that color names are case-insensitive

    Examples: “Red”, “green”

• For Font

  Use a value that sets all font properties in one declaration. Refer to the CSS shorthand font property to learn more.

  The font properties that can be set are as follows: “font-style font-variant font-weight font-size/line-height font-family”

  The font-size and font-family values are required. If one of the other values are missing, default values will be inserted, if any.

Example:

C#

ASPxWebControl.GlobalThemeBaseColor = "#00FF00";
ASPxWebControl.GlobalThemeFont = "14px 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif";

Important

Font Value Validation Required

In contrast to the base color value (which is validated by DevExpress internal code), the font value is not validated by default. This value must be validated manually, or set from a list of predefined valid values, to protect the application from potential malicious modifications.

Limitations

The specified values for the base color and font are applied only to a global theme, which is defined using static properties (ASPxWebControl.GlobalTheme - for WebForms, DevExpressHelper.Theme - for MVC) or through the web.config option (theme). If a global theme is not defined, the specified base color and font settings are not in effect.

The table below lists available themes and describes which parameters (base color or font) can be specified.

Supported Parameter	Theme Name
Base Color and Font Both base color and font can be changed.	Default, iOS, Material, MaterialCompact, Metropolis, MetropolisBlue, Moderno, Mulberry
Font Only font can be changed. The base color value setting is ignored.	Aqua, BlackGlass, DevEx, Glass, Office2003Blue, Office2003Olive, Office2003Silver, Office2010Black, Office2010Blue, Office2010Silver, PlasticBlue, RedWine, SoftOrange, Youthful

For the font value, if you only need to change part of a font setting (such as font size or font family) and leave other settings unchanged (default), use the theme-related default font value as the font value and modify its parts as required. Default theme settings are listed in the table below.

Theme Name	Default Value (case and whitespace are important)
Aqua, Black Glass, Glass, Office2003Blue, Office2003Olive, Office2003Silver PlasticBlue, RedWine, SoftOrange, Youthful	Font: “12px Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif”
DevEx, Office2010Black, Office2010Blue, Office2010Silver	Font: “11px Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif”
IOs	Font:“14px ‘Segoe UI’, Helvetica, ‘Droid Sans’, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif” Base Color: “#007BF7”
Material	Font:“14px ‘Roboto Regular’, Helvetica, ‘Droid Sans’, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif” Base Color: “#009688”
MaterialCompact	Font:“14px ‘Roboto Regular’, Helvetica, ‘Droid Sans’, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif” Base Color: “#35B86B”
Metropolis	Font:“12px ‘Segoe UI’, Helvetica, ‘Droid Sans’, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif” Base Color: “#FF8800”
MetropolisBlue	Font:“12px ‘Segoe UI’, Helvetica, ‘Droid Sans’, Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif” Base Color: “#0072C6”
Moderno	Font:“14px ‘Segoe UI’,’Helvetica Neue’,’Droid Sans’,Arial,Tahoma,Geneva,Sans-serif” Base Color: “#1279C0”
Mulberry	Font:“14px ‘Segoe UI’,’Helvetica Neue’,’Droid Sans’,Arial,Tahoma,Geneva,Sans-serif”” Base Color: “#BF4E6A”

Example:

To set the font size for the Aqua theme to 20px, specify the font value in the following manner.

C#

ASPxWebControl.GlobalThemeFont = "20px Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif";

Note that you can set a theme’s base color and font when using custom theme assemblies, but not when applying a theme with the ASP.NET Mechanism.