DHTML Lab: Accessing the User-Defined System Colors, Part I

Accessing the User-Defined System Colors, Part I
IE4Win32

activecaption

The background color of an active window's title bar is set with the Active Title Bar option under Item:

This affects the look of the active window in the OS, that is, the application currently in use.

We can use this value in DHTML when creating pop-up elements, that need to have a "window" look, like in our major example later in the article.

captiontext

The text color of an active window's title bar is set by first selecting the Active Title Bar option under Item:, then specifying a color under Font:

This complements the activecaption value, and the two are usually set together.

Like activecaption, the value of captiontext is invaluable in the creation of application-like pop-ups.

activeborder

The border of an active window is set with the Active Window Border option under Item:

Unlike the previous two values on this page, activeborder reflects a color rarely set by a user. Usually this "border" is the same color as the "face" of the window. In fact, very few users are aware that it can be a different color.

If one wanted to create a DHTML popup with all the trimmings, one could account for a user setting this option. We will demonstrate this in one of our examples.

You can't have an active window, without inactive windows, the colors for which are discussed next.