void SetSysColors(nChanges,lpSysColor,lpColorValues)
This function sets the system colors for one or more display elements. Display elements are the various parts of a window and the Windows display that appear on the system display screen. The SetSysColors function changes the number of elements specified by the nChanges parameter, using the color and system-color index contained in the arrays pointed to by the lpSysColor and lpColorValues parameters.
SetSysColors sends a WM_SYSCOLORCHANGE message to all windows to inform them of the change in color. It also directs Windows to repaint the affected portions of all currently visible windows.
| Parameter | Type/Description |
| nChanges | int Specifies the number of system colors to be changed. | |
| lpSysColor | LPINT Points to an array of integer indexes that specify the elements to be changed. The index values that can be used are listed in Table R.17, “System Color Indexes.” | |
| lpColorValues | DWORD FAR * Points to an array of unsigned long integers that contains the new RGB color values for each element. |
None.
SetSysColors changes the internal system list only. It does not change the [COLORS] section of the Windows initialization file, WIN.INI. Changes apply to the current Windows session only. System colors are a shared resource. An application should not change a color if it does not wish to change colors for all windows in all currently running applications. System colors for monochrome displays are usually interpreted as various shades of gray. Table R.17 lists the values for the lpSysColor parameter:
Table R.17 System Color Indexes
| Value | Meaning |
| COLOR_ACTIVEBORDER | Active window border. |
| COLOR_ACTIVECAPTION | Active window caption. |
| COLOR_APPWORKSPACE | Background color of multiple document interface (MDI) applications. |
| COLOR_BACKGROUND | Desktop. |
| COLOR_BTNFACE | Face shading on push buttons. |
| COLOR_BTNSHADOW | Edge shading on push buttons. |
| COLOR_BTNTEXT | Text on push buttons. |
| COLOR_CAPTIONTEXT | Text in caption, size box, 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. |
Table R.17 System Color Indexes (continued)
| Value | Meaning |
| COLOR_HIGHLIGHT | Items selected item in a control. |
| COLOR_HIGHLIGHTTEXT | Text of item selected in a control. |
| COLOR_INACTIVEBORDER | Inactive window border. |
| COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION | Inactive window caption. |
| 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. |