P0 UI/UX — unify premium SMV cool-blue theme across ARSAS; centered normal window startup #730

Goal

Unify ARSAS's complete WPF workstation around the existing SMV cool-blue/white visual language, eliminate legacy warm greige/brown grids and controls, and open the main application as a centered, normal, resizable window. After first paint, the user owns window size, position, minimize/maximize/restore behavior.

Requested from eight v1.6.42 screenshots reviewed 2026-10-24. This is visual/UX work only; preserve IEC 61850 MMS/GOOSE/SMV logic, canonical SSOT, command authorization, IED Browser operator navigation, event acquisition, and FAT behavior.

Verified root causes on RC staging branch

Branch: release/arsas-integrated-rc0-20261024, observed head f27ca68e6343ff0b291a343a583ff01d54bbe5a7 (re-verify before changes; other threads are active).

1. Resources/P2BlueSteelGreige.xaml sets GreigeRowA=#F3F0EA, GreigeRowB=#ECE8E1, GreigeHeader=#E1DDD5, greige surfaces/gradients, plus ModernDataGrid and Command/FAT style tokens using those resources.
2. P2BlueSteelGreigeUx.cs ApplyEngineeringGrid() forces GreigeRowA/GreigeRowB across descendant DataGrid instances, potentially overriding a local visual design. ApplyIoFatWindow() enforces an additional greige grid contract.
3. Views/SmvInlineViewer.xaml explicitly defines SmvMeasurementGrid, SmvMeasurementRow, and cool-white/blue backgrounds; the SMV screen therefore looks different.
4. MainWindow.xaml explicitly sets WindowState="Maximized" even though it already has WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen"; P2BlueSteelGreigeUx.ApplyMainWindow() enforces maximize again at runtime. IoListTestingWindow.xaml + ApplyIoFatWindow() also enforce maximize.
5. Regression tests lock in the unwanted behavior: tests/ARSAS.Tests/StartupVisualStabilityRegressionTests.cs asserts Maximized, and P2BlueSteelGreigeThemeTests.cs asserts runtime maximize and greige values.
6. App.xaml.cs installs the P2 overlay as application resources before window startup. Any new semantic tokens must preserve resource lookup/first paint (no activation-time re-theming).
7. MainWindow.NavigationLayoutFix.cs already handles nav widths on SizeChanged; preserve it and test in normal-size windows.

Visual standard — premium compact cool-blue engineering workstation

• Keep the existing dark blue-steel outer shell/nav and the SMV's light cool-blue / clean-white instrument surfaces as reference.
• One authoritative semantic token vocabulary for app background, panel, panel-raised, table headers, row A/B, hover, selected, divider, muted text, focus ring, primary/secondary/destructive buttons, form fields, menu/dropdown, scrollbar, card, empty state and disabled state. Resource keys may retain compatibility aliases during migration.
• Reference values from the accepted SMV: panel #F8FBFF, alternate #EDF5FF, header #E8F2FF, divider #D7E5F6, hover #E4F0FF. Confirm contrast and exact tokenization before finalizing. Green/amber/red remain status-only semantics; measured phasor/waveform channel colors stay intact.
• Compact typographic scale, low visual noise, single consistent button and input height, 8/12 px spacing scale, subtle 1px borders, restrained shadows/corner radii. Do not introduce bulky cards/large bold titles.
• Eliminate warm greige/brown surfaces in IED Browser, Device Explorer, Event Logs, Annunciator controls, GOOSE Sniff, Signal Testing/FAT, Diagnostics, shared Command Dock, IO List FAT and relevant dialogs. Annunciator's dark alarm canvas can remain intentional for alarm semantics; its controls must follow the common theme.
• Respect selected IED emphasis, operator value/quality/status indicators, row virtualization, text ellipsis/tooltips, focus and keyboard navigation. No misleading Good/Bad or stale-value presentation.
• Remove local hard-coded color exceptions only after the global style matches their expected cool-blue appearance; protect SMV waveform/phasor fidelity and SMV screenshot baseline.

Window policy

• MainWindow: first opening WindowState=Normal, WindowStartupLocation=CenterScreen, resizable, optimized default footprint (e.g. target 1440–1480 DIP wide and ~820–860 DIP high; clamp initial size to current monitor work area, considering taskbar and WPF DPI units).
• No maximize from style adapter, startup callbacks, tab switching or reactivation; once visible, do not reset/overwrite user size or position. Native Maximize/Restore must work on user demand.
• Reconcile min-size constraints and layout at 1366×768, 1600×900, 1920×1080 and 125/150% scaling; maintain accessible nav and Command Dock with scroll/collapse where needed rather than clipping.
• Assess IO List FAT independently; avoid changing deliberate hidden donor-window lifecycle (IoListTestingWindow.EmbeddedEngineeringHost.cs).

Proposed minimal-risk execution

Phase A: New semantic cool-blue token aliases/resources; update ModernDataGrid, Command/FAT grids, panel/card/button/input/dropdown styles. Remove or narrow forced greige runtime row setters. Preserve existing names temporarily for compatibility where needed.

Phase B: Fix main and FAT window normal startup behavior without touching production protocol/UI command handlers; reconcile initial size and responsive breakpoints. Remove contrary maximize assertions, replace with centered normal / user-driven resize tests.

Phase C: Audit all tabs + dialogs for local color/style overrides; converge row/header/card/input/empty-state/control chrome onto the shared tokens. Match SMV while retaining channel-specific visualizations, alarm semantics, and command safety.

Phase D: Exact-head build + all relevant UI regression tests + manual screenshot comparison. Test 100/125/150% DPI, normal/maximized/restored, 3 connected IEDs and live grids; no layout clipping, horizontal jumps, frozen WPF UI, broken virtualized rows, signal-value state regression or engine changes.

Acceptance gates

• All major workspaces show the same cool-blue/white grid/surface language as the SMV panel; no beige/brown zebra/header styling remains.
• Buttons, ComboBoxes, TextBoxes, cards, dialogs, scrollbars, status/quality badges use one semantic token system and maintain readable contrast.
• No runtime adapter silently overwrites local style decisions with greige rows.
• Main app opens centered normal at an optimized size; user can freely resize/maximize/restore/move without forced resizing.
• Command Dock remains usable at compact heights; no clipping in minimum supported resolution/DPI matrix.
• Update P2BlueSteelGreigeThemeTests and StartupVisualStabilityRegressionTests so they enforce the new intended design, not legacy colors/fullscreen.
• Pass SmvMeasurementCoolBlueCheckpointTests, SmvMeasurementPaletteRegressionTests, SmvMeasurementSplitGridRegressionTests, PremiumSmartIpWizardTests, IedBrowserOperatorNavigationAndIdentityTests and applicable Command Dock/FAT/SSOT safety tests.
• No protocol/engine/RCB/control/readback changes; CI and physical FAT gates remain under the RC handoff.

Integration / release discipline

The RC consolidation PR #727 is currently a draft and actively being reconciled. Do not modify/force-push its branch, merge to main, or release as part of this issue. Work on a separately named visual-only branch based on a newly verified accepted head, with one reviewable PR. Compare/rebase deliberately before integration; do not overwrite concurrent Browser/SMV/Smart IP/Command Dock work. This issue documents scope/acceptance and does not certify a build or FAT test.