Visual Basic Reference
Appearance Property
See Also Example Applies To
Returns or sets the paint style of controls on an MDIForm or Form object at design time. Read-only at run time.
Syntax
object**.Appearance**
The object placeholder represents an object expression that evaluates to an object in the Applies To list.
Settings
The Appearance property****settings are:
| Setting | Description |
| 0 | Flat. Paints controls and forms without visual effects. |
| 1 | (Default) 3D. Paints controls with three-dimensional effects. |
Remarks
If set to 1 at design time, the Appearance property draws controls with three-dimensional effects. If the form's BorderStyle property is set to Fixed Double (vbFixedDouble, or 3), the caption and border of the form are also painted with three-dimensional effects. Setting the Appearance property to 1 also causes the form and its controls to have their BackColor property set to the color selected for 3D Objects in the Appearance tab of the operating system's Display Properties dialog box.
Setting the Appearance property to 1 for an MDIForm object affects only the MDI parent form. To have three-dimensional effects on MDI child forms, you must set each child form's Appearance property to 1.