Implementing Dark Chrome

Introduction

Brackets' implementation of a Dark Chrome is pretty much how the Proposal stated it would be implemented with a base class cef_window which cef_dark_window and cef_host_window and cef_main_window were derived.

Object List

Name	Purpose/Use
cef_window	a generic window object which has features to subclass an existing HWND and has a Create method to create a new window
cef_dark_window	a window object which draws a custom dark window frame
cef_host_window	a window object which has an embedded cef window
cef_popup_window	a window object which is a popup window created with window.create() in javascript
cef_main_window	a window object which is created at startup to host Brackets

NOTE: cef_registry encapsulates all of the registry access used throughout brackets but it is just a collection of high-level APIs with no objective.

Fail

The original implementation worked well for all Platforms (XP, Vista, 7, and Windows 8) but there was one flaw -- the dreaded white stripe on multiple monitors while maximized -- brackets/5323.

To remedy this, a two new classes were added to the hierarchy to completely control the drawing -- we were still subject to whatever drawing surface Windows gave us to draw on top of to make the UI dark.

Name	Purpose/Use
cef_dark_window	a window object which draws a custom dark window frame
cef_buffered_dc	an object which manages an off-screen device context for buffered drawing

Current State

The current implementation will check to see if the Windows DesktopWindowManager (DWM) is available. An cef_dark_window object is used to create an Aero glass surface for drawing if the DWM is installed. Otherwise, the cef_dark_window implementation is used in which will draw a border on a secondary monitor when the window is maximized.