COLORREF

The COLORREF value is used to specify an RGB color.

typedef DWORD COLORREF;
typedef DWORD* LPCOLORREF;

Remarks

When specifying an explicit RGB color, the COLORREF value has the following hexadecimal form:

0x00bbggrr

The low-order byte contains a value for the relative intensity of red; the second byte contains a value for green; and the third byte contains a value for blue. The high-order byte must be zero. The maximum value for a single byte is 0xFF.

To create a COLORREF color value, use the RGB macro. To extract the individual values for the red, green, and blue components of a color value, use the GetRValue, GetGValue, and GetBValue macros, respectively.

Example

// Color constants.
const COLORREF rgbRed   =  0x000000FF;
const COLORREF rgbGreen =  0x0000FF00;
const COLORREF rgbBlue  =  0x00FF0000;
const COLORREF rgbBlack =  0x00000000;
const COLORREF rgbWhite =  0x00FFFFFF;

Example from Windows Classic Samples on GitHub.

Requirements

Requirement Value
Minimum supported client
Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server
Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Header
Windef.h (include Windows.h)

See also

Colors Overview

Color Structures

GetBValue

GetGValue

GetRValue

RGB