GetSysColor function
Retrieves the current color of the specified display element. Display elements are the parts of a window and the display that appear on the system display screen.
Syntax
DWORD GetSysColor(
int nIndex
);
Parameters
nIndex
Type: int
The display element whose color is to be retrieved. This parameter can be one of the following values.
Value | Meaning |
---|---|
|
Dark shadow for three-dimensional display elements. |
|
Face color for three-dimensional display elements and for dialog box backgrounds. |
|
Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.) |
|
Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.) |
|
Light color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.) |
|
Shadow color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing away from the light source). |
|
Active window border. |
|
Active window title bar.
The associated foreground color is COLOR_CAPTIONTEXT. Specifies the left side color in the color gradient of an active window's title bar if the gradient effect is enabled. |
|
Background color of multiple document interface (MDI) applications. |
|
Desktop. |
|
Face color for three-dimensional display elements and for dialog box backgrounds. The associated foreground color is COLOR_BTNTEXT. |
|
Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.) |
|
Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.) |
|
Shadow color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing away from the light source). |
|
Text on push buttons. The associated background color is COLOR_BTNFACE. |
|
Text in caption, size box, and scroll bar arrow box. The associated background color is COLOR_ACTIVECAPTION. |
|
Desktop. |
|
Right side color in the color gradient of an active window's title bar. COLOR_ACTIVECAPTION specifies the left side color. Use SPI_GETGRADIENTCAPTIONS with the SystemParametersInfo function to determine whether the gradient effect is enabled. |
|
Right side color in the color gradient of an inactive window's title bar. COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION specifies the left side color. |
|
Grayed (disabled) text. This color is set to 0 if the current display driver does not support a solid gray color. |
|
Item(s) selected in a control. The associated foreground color is COLOR_HIGHLIGHTTEXT. |
|
Text of item(s) selected in a control. The associated background color is COLOR_HIGHLIGHT. |
|
Color for a hyperlink or hot-tracked item. The associated background color is COLOR_WINDOW. |
|
Inactive window border. |
|
Inactive window caption.
The associated foreground color is COLOR_INACTIVECAPTIONTEXT. Specifies the left side color in the color gradient of an inactive window's title bar if the gradient effect is enabled. |
|
Color of text in an inactive caption. The associated background color is COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION. |
|
Background color for tooltip controls. The associated foreground color is COLOR_INFOTEXT. |
|
Text color for tooltip controls. The associated background color is COLOR_INFOBK. |
|
Menu background. The associated foreground color is COLOR_MENUTEXT. |
|
The color used to highlight menu items when the menu appears as a flat menu (see
SystemParametersInfo). The highlighted menu item is outlined with COLOR_HIGHLIGHT.
Windows 2000: This value is not supported. |
|
The background color for the menu bar when menus appear as flat menus (see
SystemParametersInfo). However, COLOR_MENU continues to specify the background color of the menu popup.
Windows 2000: This value is not supported. |
|
Text in menus. The associated background color is COLOR_MENU. |
|
Scroll bar gray area. |
|
Window background. The associated foreground colors are COLOR_WINDOWTEXT and COLOR_HOTLITE. |
|
Window frame. |
|
Text in windows. The associated background color is COLOR_WINDOW. |
Return value
Type: Type: DWORD
The function returns the red, green, blue (RGB) color value of the given element.
If the nIndex parameter is out of range, the return value is zero. Because zero is also a valid RGB value, you cannot use GetSysColor to determine whether a system color is supported by the current platform. Instead, use the GetSysColorBrush function, which returns NULL if the color is not supported.
Remarks
To display the component of the RGB value, use the GetRValue, GetGValue, and GetBValue macros.
System colors for monochrome displays are usually interpreted as shades of gray.
To paint with a system color brush, an application should use GetSysColorBrush(nIndex)
, instead of
CreateSolidBrush(GetSysColor(nIndex))
, because GetSysColorBrush returns a cached brush, instead of allocating a new one.
Color is an important visual element of most user interfaces. For guidelines about using color in your applications, see Color.
Examples
For an example, see SetSysColors.
Requirements
Minimum supported client | Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only] |
Minimum supported server | Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only] |
Target Platform | Windows |
Header | winuser.h (include Windows.h) |
Library | User32.lib |
DLL | User32.dll |