Wrong colors in a WPF application in Windows Server 2012

Question

The following code creates a window with listboxitems that get orange when you put the mouse over the items:

<Window x:Class="Orange.MainWindow"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" >

    <Window.Resources>
        <Style TargetType="ListBoxItem">
            <Style.Triggers>
                <Trigger Property="IsMouseOver" Value="True">
                    <Setter Property="Background" Value="Orange" />
                </Trigger>
                </Style.Triggers>
            </Style>
    </Window.Resources>

    <ListBox>
        <ListBoxItem> aaaa </ListBoxItem>
        <ListBoxItem> aaaa </ListBoxItem>
        <ListBoxItem> aaaa </ListBoxItem>
    </ListBox>
</Window>

If you execute it on any OS but Windows 2012 Server it works correctly. On Windows 2012 Server the background is shown white.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

I'm using windows 10 (version 1511) and it doesn't work on my system either.

I used VS 2015's Document Outline to create a template for a ListBoxItem. I modified it for the orange background and it works on Win10 (and, I assume Server 2012).

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication20.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" >
    <Window.Resources>
        <Style TargetType="ListBoxItem">
            <Setter Property="Template">
                <Setter.Value>
                    <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type ListBoxItem}">
                        <Border x:Name="Bd" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Padding="{TemplateBinding Padding}" SnapsToDevicePixels="True">
                            <ContentPresenter ContentTemplate="{TemplateBinding ContentTemplate}" Content="{TemplateBinding Content}" ContentStringFormat="{TemplateBinding ContentStringFormat}" HorizontalAlignment="{TemplateBinding HorizontalContentAlignment}" SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding SnapsToDevicePixels}" VerticalAlignment="{TemplateBinding VerticalContentAlignment}"/>
                        </Border>
                        <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                            <MultiTrigger>
                                <MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                                    <Condition Property="IsMouseOver" Value="True"/>
                                </MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                                <Setter Property="Background" TargetName="Bd" Value="Orange"/>
                                <Setter Property="BorderBrush" TargetName="Bd" Value="#A826A0DA"/>
                            </MultiTrigger>
                            <MultiTrigger>
                                <MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                                    <Condition Property="Selector.IsSelectionActive" Value="False"/>
                                    <Condition Property="IsSelected" Value="True"/>
                                </MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                                <Setter Property="Background" TargetName="Bd" Value="#3DDADADA"/>
                                <Setter Property="BorderBrush" TargetName="Bd" Value="#FFDADADA"/>
                            </MultiTrigger>
                            <MultiTrigger>
                                <MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                                    <Condition Property="Selector.IsSelectionActive" Value="True"/>
                                    <Condition Property="IsSelected" Value="True"/>
                                </MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                                <Setter Property="Background" TargetName="Bd" Value="#3D26A0DA"/>
                                <Setter Property="BorderBrush" TargetName="Bd" Value="#FF26A0DA"/>
                            </MultiTrigger>
                            <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="False">
                                <Setter Property="TextElement.Foreground" TargetName="Bd" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.GrayTextBrushKey}}"/>
                            </Trigger>
                        </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                    </ControlTemplate>
                </Setter.Value>
            </Setter>
        </Style>
    </Window.Resources>
    <ListBox>
        <ListBoxItem>aaaa</ListBoxItem>
        <ListBoxItem>aaaa</ListBoxItem>
        <ListBoxItem>aaaa</ListBoxItem>
    </ListBox>
</Window>

See how there is a trigger for IsMouseOver and that it sets the border's background to a hardcoded value? That is why your style doesn't work... the background probably is changing but the border isn't using it! Using Snoop, I see that the ListBoxItem's Background does indeed go Orange but as I said, the background is using the color in the template's trigger.

What you may have to do is create a style and then base your other styles off it. I used VS 2013 on my Win7 VM to create a base template that should be close to what your existing styles are expecting. Put this in your app.xaml:

<Style TargetType="ListBoxItem">
    <Setter Property="Template">
        <Setter.Value>
            <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type ListBoxItem}">
                <Border x:Name="Bd" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Padding="{TemplateBinding Padding}" SnapsToDevicePixels="True">
                    <ContentPresenter ContentTemplate="{TemplateBinding ContentTemplate}" Content="{TemplateBinding Content}" ContentStringFormat="{TemplateBinding ContentStringFormat}" HorizontalAlignment="{TemplateBinding HorizontalContentAlignment}" SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding SnapsToDevicePixels}" VerticalAlignment="{TemplateBinding VerticalContentAlignment}"/>
                </Border>
                <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
                    <Trigger Property="IsSelected" Value="True">
                        <Setter Property="Background" TargetName="Bd" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.HighlightBrushKey}}"/>
                        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.HighlightTextBrushKey}}"/>
                    </Trigger>
                    <MultiTrigger>
                        <MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                            <Condition Property="IsSelected" Value="True"/>
                            <Condition Property="Selector.IsSelectionActive" Value="False"/>
                        </MultiTrigger.Conditions>
                        <Setter Property="Background" TargetName="Bd" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.InactiveSelectionHighlightBrushKey}}"/>
                        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.InactiveSelectionHighlightTextBrushKey}}"/>
                    </MultiTrigger>
                    <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="False">
                        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.GrayTextBrushKey}}"/>
                    </Trigger>
                </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
            </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
    </Setter>
</Style>

And then change your styles to be based off it, like this:

<Style TargetType="ListBoxItem" BasedOn="{StaticResource {x:Type ListBoxItem}}">
    <Style.Triggers>
        <Trigger Property="IsMouseOver" Value="True">
            <Setter Property="Background" Value="Orange" />
        </Trigger>
    </Style.Triggers>
</Style>

Hope it helps... might not be ideal but it should work.