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Is it possible to set the color for a CExtButton?

You can override the following method in your CExtButton-derived class:

virtual CExtPaintManager * PmBridge_GetPM() const;

This method should return an instance of the required paint manager. The following template class is very handy and implements the virtual method meant above:

template < class _BT > class CExtPaintManagerCustomT : public _BT
{
public:
    CExtPaintManagerCustomT( CExtPaintManager * pCustomPM = NULL )
        : m_pCustomPM( NULL )
    {
        SetCustomPM( pCustomPM );
    }
    ~CExtPaintManagerCustomT()
    {
        if( m_pCustomPM != NULL )
            delete m_pCustomPM;
        m_pCustomPM = NULL;
    }
    CExtPaintManager * GetCustomPM() const
    {
        return m_pCustomPM;
    }
    bool SetCustomPM( CExtPaintManager * pCustomPM = NULL )
    {
        if( m_pCustomPM != NULL )
        {
            if( pCustomPM == m_pCustomPM )
                return false;
            if( m_pCustomPM != NULL )
            {
                delete m_pCustomPM;
                m_pCustomPM = NULL;
            }
        }
        if( pCustomPM == NULL )
        {
            m_pCustomPM = new __DEFAULT_PAINT_MANAGER_CLASS;
            if(    ! m_pCustomPM->IsKindOf( RUNTIME_CLASS( CExtPaintManager ) ) )
            {
                ASSERT( FALSE );
                return false;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            m_pCustomPM = pCustomPM;
        }
        m_pCustomPM->SyncSysColors();
        m_pCustomPM->InitTranslatedColors();
        m_pCustomPM->InitHelperBrushes();
        return true;
    }
    bool SetCustomPM( CRuntimeClass * pRTCCustomPM )
    {
        if( pRTCCustomPM == NULL )
            return SetCustomPM( (CExtPaintManager *)NULL );
        CObject * pObj = pRTCCustomPM->CreateObject();
        if( pObj == NULL )
        {
            ASSERT( FALSE );
            return false;
        }
        ASSERT_VALID( pObj );
        CExtPaintManager * pPaintManager = DYNAMIC_DOWNCAST( CExtPaintManager, pObj );
        if( pPaintManager == NULL )
        {
            delete pObj;
            ASSERT( FALSE );
            return false;
        }
        return SetCustomPM( pPaintManager );
    }
    virtual CExtPaintManager * PmBridge_GetPM() const
    {
        CExtPaintManager * pPM = GetCustomPM();
        if( pPM != NULL )
            return pPM;
        else
            return _BT::PmBridge_GetPM();
    }
protected:
    CExtPaintManager * m_pCustomPM;
};

So, you should use the following button object:

CExtPaintManagerCustomT < CExtButton > m_wndButton;

And attach any required paint manager to it:

m_wndButton.SetCustomPM( RUNTIME_CLASS(CExtPaintManager) );

I’m using mainly the Office 2007 themes, and it is the button color rather than text color I want to change.

If SetBkColor() doesn’t work, what should I use instead?

Yes, you can do this using the following methods:

SetTextColorDisabled
SetTextColorNormal
SetTextColorHover
SetTextColorPressed
SetBkColor

Please note the SetBkColor() method works only for Office 2000/XP/2003 and Visual Studio 2005 themes. Otherwise it is useless because the buttons are based on bitmaps.