GetSysColor

The 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.

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 title bar.

Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98: Specifies the left side color in the color gradient of an active window's title bar if the gradient effect is enabled.

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_GRADIENTACTIVECAPTION Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98: 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 Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98: Right side color in the color gradient of an inactive window's title bar. COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION specifies the left side color.
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_HOTLIGHT Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98: Color for a hot-tracked item. Single clicking a hot-tracked item executes the item.
COLOR_INACTIVEBORDER Inactive window border.
COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION Inactive window caption.

Windows NT 5.0 and Windows 98: Specifies the left side color in the color gradient of an inactive window's title bar if the gradient effect is enabled.

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.

Windows CE: Windows CE versions 2.0 and later support the following two values for the nIndex parameter:

COLOR_STATIC
Background color for static controls and dialogs.
COLOR_STATICTEXT
Text color for static controls.

Windows CE 1.0 only supports a 2 bit gray scale palette, so GetSysColor returns a palette index rather than an RGB value. Windows CE GDI functions that accept a COLORREF structure can use either a palette index or an RGB value. However, if the application attempts to interpret the color value, be aware of this difference.

Windows CE 2.0 supports 2 bits per pixel (2-bpp), 4 bits per pixel (4-bpp), and 8 bits per pixel (8-bpp) color devices, and can logically support 32 bits per pixel device independent bitmaps (DIBs). In Windows CE 2.0, GetSysColor returns an RGB value.

QuickInfo

  Windows NT: Requires version 3.1 or later.
  Windows: Requires Windows 95 or later.
  Windows CE: Requires version 1.0 or later.
  Header: Declared in winuser.h.
  Import Library: Use user32.lib.

See Also

System Information Overview, System Information Functions, SetSysColors, SystemParametersInfo