This has bothered me for a long time. The scrollbars on other programs look great but the VB ones look like they came from Windows version 2.0.

The standard scrollbar on the left looks great with textured background, while VB-created one on the right looks boring. The bug is generated when message WM_CTLCOLORSCROLLBAR is sent to the scrollbar. This single message causes the scroll bar to repaint using the Window background color. So the trick is to catch this message before it ever gets to the scroll bar. As one may have guessed, this requires subclassing and the use of AddressOf operator.

Warning, never end programs that use AddressOf operator by pressing the End button on the VB toolbar. End the program by clicking the X (close) button on the form.

This project is also available as a download .

Project Creation Instructions.

1. Createa new project.
2. Change the captionon form1 to "Fixed scrollbar".
3. Add a vertical or horizontal scrollbar tothis form.
4. Then add a new form and change its caption to "Original scrollbar".
5. Add a vertical or horizontal scrollbar to this form as well.
6. Add amodule to the project.

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function CallWindowProc Lib "user32" Alias _
      "CallWindowProcA" (ByVal lpPrevWndFunc As Long, _
      ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal Msg As Long, _
      ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long

Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias _
      "SetWindowLongA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
      ByVal nIndex As Long, ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long

Private Const GWL_WNDPROC = -4
Private lpPrevWndProc As Long
Private IsHooked As Boolean
Public gHW As Long

Public Sub Hook()

    If IsHooked Then
        MsgBox "Don't hook it twice without " & _
            "unhooking, or you will be unable to unhook it."
        Else
            'this tells windows to send all the messages that
            'are intended for this form to sub WindowProc
            lpPrevWndProc = SetWindowLong(gHW, GWL_WNDPROC, _
                AddressOf WindowProc)
        IsHooked = True
    End If
End Sub

Public Sub Unhook()
    
    Dim temp As Long
    
    'tell windows to no longer send messages to this message handlder
    If IsHooked Then
        temp = SetWindowLong(gHW, GWL_WNDPROC, lpPrevWndProc)
        IsHooked = False
    End If
    
End Sub

Function WindowProc(ByVal hw As Long, ByVal uMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long
    
    Const WM_CTLCOLORSCROLLBAR = &H137
    
    'look for and catch the offending message
    If WM_CTLCOLORSCROLLBAR = uMsg Then
        Debug.Print "Message: "; hw, uMsg, wParam, lParam
    Else
        'transfer control to the original message handler
        WindowProc = CallWindowProc(lpPrevWndProc, hw, uMsg, wParam, lParam)
    End If

End Function

Option Explicit

Private Sub Form_Load()
    
    'tell the sublassing routine which form to subclass
    gHW = Me.hwnd
    
    'initiate subclassing
    Hook
    
    'show Form2 to compare the fixed and the original VB scrollbar
    Form2.Show

End Sub
Private Sub Form_QueryUnload(Cancel As Integer, UnloadMode As Integer)

    'discontinue subclassing
    Unhook
    
End Sub