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
);
| 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. |
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.
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:
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.
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.
System Information Overview, System Information Functions, SetSysColors, SystemParametersInfo