BackColor, ForeColor Properties

  • Article

Specifies the background or foreground color used to display text and graphics in an object. Read/write at design and run time.

Object.BackColor[ = nColor]
Object.ForeColor[ = nColor]

Return Value

  • nColor
    Specifies a single color value. If nColor is a negative value, Visual FoxPro uses the integer and ignores any rollover issues. For example, -1 is the equivalent of 0xFFFFFFFF. The following table lists typical color values.

    Color RGB values nColor

    White

    255, 255, 255

    16777215

    Black

    0, 0, 0

    0

    Gray

    192, 192, 192

    12632256

    Dark gray

    128, 128, 128

    8421504

    Red

    255, 0, 0

    255

    Dark red

    128, 0, 0

    128

    Yellow

    255, 255, 0

    65535

    Dark yellow

    128, 128, 0

    32896

    Green

    0, 255, 0

    65280

    Dark green

    0, 128, 0

    32768

    Cyan

    0, 255, 255

    16776960

    Dark cyan

    0, 128, 128

    8421376

    Blue

    0, 0, 255

    16711680

    Dark blue

    0, 0, 128

    8388608

    Magenta

    255, 0 ,255

    16711935

    Dark magenta

    128, 0, 128

    8388736

Remarks

Applies To: CheckBox Control | Column Object | ComboBox Control | CommandButton Control | CommandGroup Control | Container Object | Control Object (Visual FoxPro) | EditBox Control | Form Object | Grid Control | Header Object | Label Control (Visual FoxPro) | OptionButton Control | OptionGroup Control | Page Object | _SCREEN System Variable | Shape Control | Spinner Control | TextBox Control (Visual FoxPro) | ToolBar Object

Visual FoxPro uses a red-green-blue (RGB) color scheme for colors. The red, green, and blue components are each represented by a number between 0 and 255. Use the RGB( ) function to convert the three component colors into one composite nColor.

Note

The ForeColor property does not apply to the CommandGroup, OptionGroup, or Shape controls.

The color settings, or Themes, of the operating system set the default color settings for the BackColor and ForeColor properties.

If the Themes property is True (.T.), setting the BackColor property value produces a 35% transparency overlay on top of the themed button. This produces a colorizing effect.

The Page BackColor property is disregarded if Page Themes is True (.T.). However, because a page is only a visual representation in the Class Designer, the back color appears.

Example

The following example demonstrates how the Shape control can be used to display a circle, ellipse, or square on a form, and how the BackColor property can be used to specify the color of each shape.

A form is created, and a set of option buttons and a command button are placed on the form. When you choose one of the option buttons, the corresponding shape is displayed on the form. The BackColor property is used to specify the color of each shape. The Height, Width, and Curvature properties of each shape determine the type of shape created.

frmMyForm = CREATEOBJECT('Form')  && Create a Form
frmMyForm.Closable = .F.  && Disable the Control menu box 

frmMyForm.AddObject('cmdCommand1','cmdMyCmndBtn')  && Add Command button
frmMyForm.AddObject('opgOptionGroup1','opgMyOptGrp') && Add Option Group
frmMyForm.AddObject('shpCircle1','shpMyCircle')  && Add Circle Shape
frmMyForm.AddObject('shpEllipse1','shpMyEllipse')  && Add Ellipse Shape
frmMyForm.AddObject('shpSquare','shpMySquare')  && Add Box Shape

frmMyForm.cmdCommand1.Visible =.T.  && "Quit" Command button visible

frmMyForm.opgOptionGroup1.Buttons(1).Caption = "\<Circle"
frmMyForm.opgOptionGroup1.Buttons(2).Caption = "\<Ellipse"
frmMyForm.opgOptionGroup1.Buttons(3).Caption = "\<Square"
frmMyForm.opgOptionGroup1.SetAll("Width", 100) && Set Option group width
frmMyForm.opgOptionGroup1.Visible = .T.  && Option Group visible
frmMyForm.opgOptionGroup1.Click  && Show the circle

frmMyForm.SHOW  && Display the form
READ EVENTS  && Start event processing

DEFINE CLASS opgMyOptGrp AS OptionGroup  && Create an Option Group
   ButtonCount = 3  && Three Option buttons
   Top = 10
   Left = 10
   Height = 75
   Width = 100

   PROCEDURE Click 
      ThisForm.shpCircle1.Visible = .F.  && Hide the circle
      ThisForm.shpEllipse1.Visible = .F.  && Hide the ellipse
      ThisForm.shpSquare.Visible = .F.  && Hide the square
      
      DO CASE
         CASE ThisForm.opgOptionGroup1.Value = 1
            ThisForm.shpCircle1.Visible = .T. && Show the circle
         CASE ThisForm.opgOptionGroup1.Value = 2 
            ThisForm.shpEllipse1.Visible = .T.  && Show the ellipse
         CASE ThisForm.opgOptionGroup1.Value = 3 
            ThisForm.shpSquare.Visible = .T.  && Show the square
      ENDCASE
ENDDEFINE

DEFINE CLASS cmdMyCmndBtn AS CommandButton  && Create Command button
   Caption = '\<Quit'  && Caption on the Command button
   Cancel = .T.  && Default Cancel Command button (Esc)
   Left = 125  && Command button column
   Top = 210  && Command button row
   Height = 25  && Command button height

   PROCEDURE Click
      CLEAR EVENTS  && Stop event processing, close Form
ENDDEFINE

DEFINE CLASS shpMyCircle AS SHAPE  && Create a circle
   Top = 10
   Left = 200
   Width = 100
   Height = 100
   Curvature = 99
   BackColor = RGB(255,0,0)  && Red
ENDDEFINE

DEFINE CLASS shpMyEllipse AS SHAPE  && Create an ellipse
   Top = 35
   Left = 200
   Width = 100
   Height = 50
   Curvature = 99
   BackColor = RGB(0,128,0)  && Green
ENDDEFINE

DEFINE CLASS shpMySquare AS SHAPE  && Create a square
   Top = 10
   Left = 200
   Width = 100
   Height = 100
   Curvature = 0
   BackColor = RGB(0,0,255)  && Blue
ENDDEFINE

See Also

Reference

BackStyle Property
ColorScheme Property
DisabledBackColor, DisabledForeColor Properties
FillColor Property (Visual FoxPro)
FillStyle Property
GETCOLOR( ) Function
RGB( ) Function

Other Resources

Properties (Visual FoxPro)
Language Reference (Visual FoxPro)