Prev Next

GetSysColor info  Overview  Group

The GetSysColor function retrieves the current color of the specified display element. Display elements are the parts of a window and the Windows display that appear on the system display screen.

DWORD GetSysColor(

    int nIndex 

// display element

   );

Parameters

nIndex
Specifies the display element whose color is to be retrieved. This parameter must be one of the following values:

Value

Meaning

COLOR_3DDKSHADOW

Dark shadow for three-dimensional display elements.

COLOR_3DFACE,
COLOR_BTNFACE

Face color for three-dimensional display elements.

COLOR_3DHILIGHT, COLOR_3DHIGHLIGHT, COLOR_BTNHILIGHT, COLOR_BTNHIGHLIGHT

Highlight color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.)

COLOR_3DLIGHT

Light color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing the light source.)

COLOR_3DSHADOW, COLOR_BTNSHADOW

Shadow color for three-dimensional display elements (for edges facing away from the light source).

COLOR_ACTIVEBORDER

Active window border.

COLOR_ACTIVECAPTION

Active window caption.

COLOR_APPWORKSPACE

Background color of multiple document interface (MDI) applications.

COLOR_BACKGROUND, COLOR_DESKTOP

Desktop.

COLOR_BTNTEXT

Text on push buttons.

COLOR_CAPTIONTEXT

Text in caption, size box, and scroll bar arrow box.

COLOR_GRAYTEXT

Grayed (disabled) text. This color is set to 0 if the current display driver does not support a solid gray color.

COLOR_HIGHLIGHT

Item(s) selected in a control.

COLOR_HIGHLIGHTTEXT

Text of item(s) selected in a control.

COLOR_INACTIVEBORDER

Inactive window border.

COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION

Inactive window caption.

COLOR_INACTIVECAPTIONTEXT

Color of text in an inactive caption.

COLOR_INFOBK

Background color for tooltip controls.

COLOR_INFOTEXT

Text color for tooltip controls.

COLOR_MENU

Menu background.

COLOR_MENUTEXT

Text in menus.

COLOR_SCROLLBAR

Scroll bar gray area.

COLOR_WINDOW

Window background.

COLOR_WINDOWFRAME

Window frame.

COLOR_WINDOWTEXT

Text in windows.

Return Values

The return value is the red, green, blue (RGB) color value that specifies the color of the given element.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

System colors for monochrome displays are usually interpreted as shades of gray.

See Also

SetSysColors