GetSysColor function

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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
COLOR_3DDKSHADOW
21
 Dark shadow for three-dimensional display elements.
COLOR_3DFACE
15
 Face color for three-dimensional display elements and for dialog box backgrounds.
COLOR_3DHIGHLIGHT
20
 Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.)
COLOR_3DHILIGHT
20
 Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.)
COLOR_3DLIGHT
22
 Light color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.)
COLOR_3DSHADOW
16
 Shadow color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing away from the light source).
COLOR_ACTIVEBORDER
10
 Active window border.
COLOR_ACTIVECAPTION
2
 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.
COLOR_APPWORKSPACE
12
 Background color of multiple document interface (MDI) applications.
COLOR_BACKGROUND
1
 Desktop.
COLOR_BTNFACE
15
 Face color for three-dimensional display elements and for dialog box backgrounds. The associated foreground color is COLOR_BTNTEXT.
COLOR_BTNHIGHLIGHT
20
 Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.)
COLOR_BTNHILIGHT
20
 Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.)
COLOR_BTNSHADOW
16
 Shadow color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing away from the light source).
COLOR_BTNTEXT
18
 Text on push buttons. The associated background color is COLOR_BTNFACE.
COLOR_CAPTIONTEXT
9
 Text in caption, size box, and scroll bar arrow box. The associated background color is COLOR_ACTIVECAPTION.
COLOR_DESKTOP
1
 Desktop.
COLOR_GRADIENTACTIVECAPTION
27
 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.
COLOR_GRADIENTINACTIVECAPTION
28
 Right side color in the color gradient of an inactive window's title bar. COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION specifies the left side color.
COLOR_GRAYTEXT
17
 Grayed (disabled) text. This color is set to 0 if the current display driver does not support a solid gray color.
COLOR_HIGHLIGHT
13
 Item(s) selected in a control. The associated foreground color is COLOR_HIGHLIGHTTEXT.
COLOR_HIGHLIGHTTEXT
14
 Text of item(s) selected in a control. The associated background color is COLOR_HIGHLIGHT.
COLOR_HOTLIGHT
26
 Color for a hyperlink or hot-tracked item. The associated background color is COLOR_WINDOW.
COLOR_INACTIVEBORDER
11
 Inactive window border.
COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION
3
 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_INACTIVECAPTIONTEXT
19
 Color of text in an inactive caption. The associated background color is COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION.
COLOR_INFOBK
24
 Background color for tooltip controls. The associated foreground color is COLOR_INFOTEXT.
COLOR_INFOTEXT
23
 Text color for tooltip controls. The associated background color is COLOR_INFOBK.
COLOR_MENU
4
 Menu background. The associated foreground color is COLOR_MENUTEXT.
COLOR_MENUHILIGHT
29
 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.
COLOR_MENUBAR
30
 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.
COLOR_MENUTEXT
7
 Text in menus. The associated background color is COLOR_MENU.
COLOR_SCROLLBAR
0
 Scroll bar gray area.
COLOR_WINDOW
5
 Window background. The associated foreground colors are COLOR_WINDOWTEXT and COLOR_HOTLITE.
COLOR_WINDOWFRAME
6
 Window frame.
COLOR_WINDOWTEXT
8
 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

See also

CreateSolidBrush

GetSysColorBrush

SetSysColors

SystemParametersInfo