Style

The @bentley/ui-core package includes Sass variables and mixins for colors and themes, breakpoints, opacity, sizing, spacing and typography.

Colors and Themes

There are two color themes delivered in @bentley/ui-core: 'light' and 'dark'. The color values for each theme are defined in ui-core/style/colorthemes.scss. This file is imported in @bentley/ui-core by UiCore.ts and that should be the only place where it is imported. (It should not be imported by any *.scss or other ui-core files.)

The color theme system uses CSS variables (aka. CSS custom properties) to define the color values. The values of the CSS variables are changed when the name of the "data-theme" document element attribute is set. The ThemeManager component in the @bentley/ui-framework package does this by calling document.documentElement.setAttribute("data-theme", theme).

Sass variables are used in the UI components to reference the CSS variables set to the themed colors. These themed color Sass variables are defined in the ui-core/style/themecolors.scss file and begin with $buic-. These should be used when styling a themed component. There are older Sass variables that begin with $uicore-. These should not be used when styling a themed component. Examples of these variables include $uicore-text-color, $uicore-green and $uicore-blue.

Basic Themed Colors

The following Sass variables define the basic background and foreground themed colors:

Themed Color Variable Description & Uses
$buic-background-1 Lightest background - control/component backgrounds
$buic-background-2 Active tab, dialog/window background
$buic-background-3 Inactive tab/button, context menu, panel, tree placeholder
$buic-background-4 Out of focus title bar, divider, status bar, table header
$buic-background-5 Darkest background - Title bar, strokes/borders
$buic-background-scrollbar Scrollbar background
$buic-background-editable Indicates when a cell is focused & editable
$buic-row-selection Indicates when a cell is selected
$buic-row-hover Indicates when the mouse is hovering over a cell
$buic-foreground-body Basic foreground color for text and icons. Opacity is 0.85.
$buic-foreground-body-reverse Black/white reverse color from the $buic-foreground-body color
$buic-foreground-disabled Foreground color with 0.45 opacity
$buic-foreground-muted Foreground color with 0.65 opacity
$buic-foreground-activehover Foreground color with 1.0 opacity
$buic-foreground-accessory Defined as white for both themes
$buic-foreground-primary Themed Blue color
$buic-foreground-primary-tone Slightly darker than primary, used for primary hover
$buic-foreground-primary-tint Slightly lighter than -primary
$buic-foreground-success Themed Green color
$buic-foreground-success-tint Slightly lighter than -success
$buic-foreground-alert Themed Red color
$buic-foreground-alert-tint Slightly lighter than -alert
$buic-foreground-warning Themed Orange color
$buic-foreground-warning-tint Slightly lighter than -warning

There are additional Sass variables defined in ui-core/style/themecolors.scss for different contexts. For instance, the $buic-text-color and $buic-icon-color variables are assigned to $buic-foreground-body. $buic-background-control is assigned to $buic-background-1. $buic-background-control-stroke is assigned to $buic-background-5.

Since there are variables defined for the different background contexts, they should be used within those contexts, and the $buic-background-1 through $buic-background-5 variables should rarely be used directly.

@import "~@bentley/ui-core/lib/ui-core/style/themecolors";

.my-component {

  color: $buic-text-color;
  background-color: $buic-background-control;
}

Breakpoints

Several breakpoints are defined for dealing with screens and devices with different heights and widths. Internally, these breakpoints use CSS @media queries.

Breakpoint Name Size Check
for-phone-only max-width: 599px
for-tablet-portrait-up min-width: 600px
for-tablet-portrait-down max-width: 799px
for-tablet-landscape-up min-width: 800px
for-tablet-landscape-down max-width: 1099px
for-desktop-up min-width: 1100px
for-small-desktop-down max-width: 1299px
for-medium-desktop-up min-width: 1300px
for-big-desktop-up min-width: 1800px

Example

@import "~@bentley/ui-core/lib/ui-core/style/breakpoints";

.toolAssistance-separator {
  @include for-tablet-landscape-down {
    display: none;
  }
}

Opacity

Different opacity stops are defined in the ui-core/style/opacity.scss file.

Opacity Variable Opacity Level
$uicore-opacity-1 1.0
$uicore-opacity-2 0.85
$uicore-opacity-3 0.65
$uicore-opacity-muted 0.65
$uicore-opacity-4 0.45
$uicore-opacity-disabled 0.45
$uicore-opacity-5 0.25;
$uicore-opacity-6 0.1;

Spacing

Different spacing values are defined in the ui-core/style/space.scss file.

Space Variable Space Amount
$uicore-xxs 2px
$uicore-xs 4px
$uicore-s 8px
$uicore-sm 12px
$uicore-m 16px
$uicore-l 24px
$uicore-xl 32px
$uicore-xxl 64px
$uicore-3xl 96px

Typography

Different font sizes, weights and families are defined in the ui-core/style/typography.scss file.

Font Size Variable Font Size Amount
$uicore-font-size 14px
$uicore-font-size-small 12px
$uicore-font-size-smaller 11px
$uicore-font-size-leading 16px
$uicore-font-size-subheading 18px
$uicore-font-size-title 24px
$uicore-font-size-headline 32px
Font Weight Variable Font Weight Amount
$uicore-font-weight-light 300
$uicore-font-weight-normal 400
$uicore-font-weight-semibold 600
$uicore-font-weight-bold 700

The ui-core/text/index.scss file also brings in several mixins that assist with styling text. The uicore-text mixin takes a text type name and defines font size, weight & line height.

Text Type Description
headline 32px, light
title 24px, light
title-2 24px, normal
subheading 18px, normal
subheading-2 18px, semibold
leading 16px, normal
leading-2 16px, bold
body 14px, normal
small 12px, normal
caption 12px, normal

There are also specific mixins for the text types.

Mixin Name Description
uicore-text-block body text with block spacing
uicore-text-body body text
uicore-text-disabled sets color to $buic-foreground-disabled
uicore-text-headline headline text with block spacing
uicore-text-leading leading text with block spacing
uicore-text-leading-2 leading-2 text with block spacing
uicore-text-muted sets color to $buic-foreground-muted
uicore-text-small small text with 0 for padding and margin
uicore-text-subheading subheading text with block spacing
uicore-text-subheading-2 subheading-2 text with block spacing
uicore-text-title title text with block spacing
uicore-text-title-2 title-2 text with block spacing

There are also React components for the different text types. E.g.

import { BodyText, LeadingText, SmallText } from "@bentley/ui-core";

  <LeadingText>Dialog Title</LeadingText>
  <BodyText>Normal message text</BodyText>
  <SmallText>Detailed message explanation</SmallText>

Note: Contrary to the variable name, the leading text is normally used for title bar text.

Scrollbar

A couple of Sass mixins are provided for standardizing the look of a scrollbar. uicore-touch-scrolling provides smooth scrolling on touch devices. uicore-scrollbar defines a standard scrollbar look in Chrome/Webkit based browsers. For any container CSS class that shows a scrollbar, the uicore-touch-scrolling and uicore-scrollbar mixins should be included.

Example

@import "~@bentley/ui-core/lib/ui-core/scrollbar";

.my-scrollable-container {

  @include uicore-touch-scrolling;
  @include uicore-scrollbar();
}

Standard z-index Values

The uicore-z-index mixin sets a standard z-index for CSS classes. The following Ids can be passed to the uicore-z-index mixin and are listed in order from lowest to top-most:

  • view-overlay
  • widget-grip
  • dragged-widget
  • zone-target
  • zone-outline
  • toolbar-panels
  • tool-settings-popup
  • status-popup
  • status-message
  • modal-frontstage-overlay
  • modal-frontstage
  • dialog
  • dialog-popup
  • tooltip
  • context-menu-z
  • dragdrop
  • cursor-overlay
  • drag-target
  • drag-preview
  • backstage-overlay
  • backstage

Example

@import "~@bentley/ui-core/lib/ui-core/z-index";

.my-tooltip {

  @include uicore-z-index(tooltip);
}

Last Updated: 11 June, 2024