How to brighten disabled controls in Windows Phone 8 XAML - xaml

Question

I'm designing a corporate Windows Phone that will be used outdoors in bright sunlight. Certain fields in the app will be used purely for displaying data, but will be disabled for editing. Unfortunately disabled textboxes show up in a pale grey, which doesn't have enough contrast for outdoor viewing.
Is there a simple way to alter the PhoneTextDisabledBrush or PhoneDisabledBrush at the resource level to make the controls appear white? Are these the correct brushes?
I've tried add the following to the grid which contains the controls, but it makes no difference:
<Grid.Resources>
<SolidColorBrush x:Key="PhoneTextDisabledBrush" Color="#FFFFFF" />
<SolidColorBrush x:Key="PhoneDisabledBrush" Color="#FFFFFF" />
</Grid.Resources>
I've also tried adding it to the App.xaml file's resources, same result, and I've had no success with styles either.
What I am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

You can for example modify VisualState x:Name="Disabled" - this is the one that causes the problem. When you set the Control as disabled, the Storyboard changes colors of your TextBox. Depending on your needs you can comment it out or adjust colors for your purposes.
Default Style with commented out Disabled:
<phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>
<Style x:Key="myTextBoxStyle" TargetType="TextBox">
<Setter Property="FontFamily" Value="{StaticResource PhoneFontFamilyNormal}"/>
<Setter Property="FontSize" Value="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeMediumLarge}"/>
<Setter Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxBrush}"/>
<Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxForegroundBrush}"/>
<Setter Property="BorderBrush" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxBrush}"/>
<Setter Property="SelectionBackground" Value="{StaticResource PhoneAccentBrush}"/>
<Setter Property="SelectionForeground" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxSelectionForegroundBrush}"/>
<Setter Property="BorderThickness" Value="{StaticResource PhoneBorderThickness}"/>
<Setter Property="Padding" Value="2"/>
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="TextBox">
<Grid Background="Transparent">
<VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
<VisualStateGroup x:Name="CommonStates">
<VisualState x:Name="Normal"/>
<VisualState x:Name="MouseOver"/>
<VisualState x:Name="Disabled">
<Storyboard>
<!--<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="Background" Storyboard.TargetName="MainBorder">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="Transparent"/>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="BorderBrush" Storyboard.TargetName="MainBorder">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource PhoneDisabledBrush}"/>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="Foreground" Storyboard.TargetName="ContentElement">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource PhoneDisabledBrush}"/>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>-->
</Storyboard>
</VisualState>
<VisualState x:Name="ReadOnly">
<Storyboard>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="Visibility" Storyboard.TargetName="MainBorder">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame.Value>
<Visibility>Collapsed</Visibility>
</DiscreteObjectKeyFrame.Value>
</DiscreteObjectKeyFrame>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="Visibility" Storyboard.TargetName="ReadonlyBorder">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame.Value>
<Visibility>Visible</Visibility>
</DiscreteObjectKeyFrame.Value>
</DiscreteObjectKeyFrame>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="Background" Storyboard.TargetName="ReadonlyBorder">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxBrush}"/>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="BorderBrush" Storyboard.TargetName="ReadonlyBorder">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxBrush}"/>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="Foreground" Storyboard.TargetName="ContentElement">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxReadOnlyBrush}"/>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
</VisualState>
</VisualStateGroup>
<VisualStateGroup x:Name="FocusStates">
<VisualState x:Name="Focused">
<Storyboard>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="Background" Storyboard.TargetName="MainBorder">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxEditBackgroundBrush}"/>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
<ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="BorderBrush" Storyboard.TargetName="MainBorder">
<DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxEditBorderBrush}"/>
</ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
</VisualState>
<VisualState x:Name="Unfocused"/>
</VisualStateGroup>
</VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
<Border x:Name="MainBorder" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Margin="{StaticResource PhoneTouchTargetOverhang}"/>
<Border x:Name="ReadonlyBorder" BorderBrush="{StaticResource PhoneDisabledBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="Transparent" Margin="{StaticResource PhoneTouchTargetOverhang}" Visibility="Collapsed"/>
<Border BorderBrush="Transparent" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="Transparent" Margin="{StaticResource PhoneTouchTargetOverhang}">
<ContentControl x:Name="ContentElement" BorderThickness="0" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" Margin="{StaticResource PhoneTextBoxInnerMargin}" Padding="{TemplateBinding Padding}" VerticalContentAlignment="Stretch"/>
</Border>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>
And to apply the style:
<TextBox Text="Your text" IsEnabled="False" Style="{StaticResource myTextBoxStyle}"/>