High Contrast
Windows High Contrast is an accessibility setting, not a visual preference. Users who enable it have committed to a specific high-contrast color scheme for everything on screen, and Microsoft's accessibility guidelines require applications to let the user's scheme win over any application-chosen colors. SftTree/OCX 8.0 follows this rule automatically.
When Windows High Contrast is active, the tree control renders backgrounds, text, selection, and other elements using the system high-contrast colors, ignores caller-supplied color overrides (per-column colors, permanent background, odd-row colors) so the user's contrast theme wins, and suppresses Windows themes so column headers, column footers and row headers honor the system colors directly.
The HighContrastMode property has three values (see SftTreeHighContrastConstants):
| Value | Description |
|---|
| highContrastSftTreeAuto | Follow the Windows High Contrast setting. The control re-renders when the setting flips. |
| highContrastSftTreeOn | Always use the system palette, regardless of the Windows High Contrast setting. Useful for testing or for applications that want consistent high-contrast rendering for a specific tree. |
| highContrastSftTreeOff (default) | Ignore the Windows High Contrast setting and render normally. Not recommended in shipping applications - it means users with accessibility needs will see rendering that does not comply with their contrast theme. |
The HighContrastChange event is fired each time the active state flips (highContrastSftTreeAuto only) so the application can repaint its own chrome to match. The HighContrastActive property reports the current state at any time.
Dark mode and Windows High Contrast are independent. If the user has both enabled, high contrast takes precedence - the contrast theme's palette wins over the dark palette, because honoring the user's contrast theme is the stronger accessibility requirement. See Dark Mode.
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