SystemColors Class

The SystemColors class provides access to system brushes and colors, such as ControlBrush, ControlBrushKey, and DesktopBrush. A system brush is a SolidColorBrush object that paints an area with the specified system color. A system brush always produces a solid fill; it can't be used to create a gradient.

You can use system brushes as either a static or a dynamic resource. Use a dynamic resource if you want the brush to update automatically if the user changes the system brush as the application is running; otherwise, use a static resource. The SystemColors class contains a variety of static properties that follow a strict naming convention:

• <SystemColor>Brush

  Gets a static reference to a SolidColorBrush of the specified system color.

• <SystemColor>BrushKey

  Gets a dynamic reference to a SolidColorBrush of the specified system color.

• <SystemColor>Color

  Gets a static reference to a Color structure of the specified system color.

• <SystemColor>ColorKey

  Gets a dynamic reference to the Color structure of the specified system color.

A system color is a Color structure that can be used to configure a brush. For example, you can create a gradient using system colors by setting the Color properties of a LinearGradientBrush object's gradient stops with system colors. For an example, see How to: Use System Colors in a Gradient.

The following example uses a dynamic system brush reference to set the Background of a button.

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  WindowTitle="SystemColors Example" Background="White">  
  <StackPanel Margin="20">

    <!-- Uses a dynamic resource to set the 
         background of a button. 
         If the desktop brush changes while this application
         is running, this button will be updated. -->
    <Button 
      Background="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.DesktopBrushKey}}" 
      Content="Hello, World!" />

  </StackPanel>
</Page>

The next example uses a static system brush reference to set the Background of a button.

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  WindowTitle="SystemColors Example" Background="White">  
  <StackPanel Margin="20">

    <!-- Uses a static brush to set the
         background of a button. 
         If the desktop brush changes while this application
         is running, this button will not be updated until
         the page is loaded again. -->
    <Button 
      Background="{x:Static SystemColors.DesktopBrush}" 
      Content="Hello, World!"  /> 

  </StackPanel>
</Page>

For an example showing how to use a system color in a gradient, see How to: Use System Colors in a Gradient.

More Code

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

Reference