COLOR statement
Purpose:
The COLOR statement sets the foreground and background
text color attributes specifying decimal values 0 to 15 to produce
the associated foreground and background text colors.
Syntax 1:
COLOR fg_color AS INTEGER, bg_color AS INTEGER
Parameters:
Syntax 2:
COLOR fg_color AS INTEGER
Parameters:
- Data type: INTEGER
fg_color Foreground color of the text, a
value from 0 to 15. The background color will be 0, black.
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Remarks:
The COLOR statement will work only in console mode
programs.
👉 By default, the rendering of the color
of the text is done from RGB values in
the computer's registry. Because of this, the text colors will vary
according to the operating system of the machine and, as well in
some instances, the console in which the program is executed.
Example 1:
In the following example the background color is set to -1 to
instruct the COLOR command to retain and use the previous
background color.
COLOR 0, 1 ' A value of 1 sets the background color to blue
FOR INT i = 0 TO 15
COLOR i, -1 ' -1 means the previous background color (blue) is used
PRINT "This is something ... this is nothing."
NEXT
COLOR 7, 0
Example 2:
The following example displays the foreground colors and their
values derived from the computer's registry entries.
CONST HKCU = HKEY_CURRENT_USER
DIM AS STRING str0, str1, str2, str3
DIM AS STRING ColorTable, Colour, HTML
PRINT " COLORREF HTML"
PRINT " 0x00bbggrr #rrggbb"
PRINT
FOR INTEGER i = 0 TO 15
str0 = STR$(i, 1)
str1 = "COLOR " & LPAD$(str0, 2, 32)
ColorTable = "ColorTable" & LPAD$(str0, 2, 48)
str2 = HEX$(REGINT(HKCU, "Console", ColorTable))
str3 = LPAD$(str2, 6, 48)
Colour = str1 & " 0x00" & str3
HTML = " #" & RIGHT$(str3, 2) & MID$(str3, 3, 2) & LEFT$(str3, 2)
COLOR i, i
PRINT " ";
COLOR 7, 0
PRINT " ", Colour, HTML
PRINT
NEXT i
Result:
The colors and values below were produced when the above code
was compiled and run in a cmd.exe console on Windows 10, OS Build
19043.1083.
COLORREF HTML
0x00bbggrr #rrggbb
COLOR 0 0x000C0C0C #0C0C0C
COLOR 1 0x00DA3700 #0037DA
COLOR 2 0x00EA1130 #13A10E
COLOR 3 0x00DD963A #3A96DD
COLOR 4 0x001F0FC5 #C50F1F
COLOR 5 0x00981788 #881798
COLOR 6 0x009CC100 #C19C00
COLOR 7 0x00CCCCCC #CCCCCC
COLOR 8 0x00767676 #767676
COLOR 9 0x00FF783B #3B78FF
COLOR 10 0x00CC6160 #16C60C
COLOR 11 0x00D6D661 #61D6D6
COLOR 12 0x005648E7 #E74856
COLOR 13 0x009E00B4 #B4009E
COLOR 14 0x00A5F1F9 #F9F1A5
COLOR 15 0x00F2F2F2 #F2F2F2
Example 2:
Here's a colorful, Win32 console version of Conway's Game of
Life. Compile as a console app and run it. Make sure your console
window is set to, at least, 80x25. When running, you can press any
key to start a new game. Ctrl C or click the X button on your
console to stop.
'*************************************************************
' Conway's Game of Life
' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life
' BCX version by Kevin Diggins 2020
' Derived from an old ABC BASIC Packets demo (author unknown)
'*************************************************************
MACRO BOARD_X = 82 ' original = 82 - Adjust your console to match
MACRO BOARD_Y = 25 ' original = 25 - ditto
MACRO ALIVE = 38 ' original = 2 - Smiley face code point
MACRO DEAD = 32 ' original = 32 - Space char code point
DIM b [BOARD_Y, BOARD_X] ' Current generation matrix
DIM c [BOARD_Y, BOARD_X] ' Next generation matrix
DIM k [BOARD_Y, BOARD_X] ' I like colorful neighborhoods
DIM Neighbors, x, y
START_ME_UP:
RANDOMIZE ( TIMER + RND )
CLS
FOR x = 1 TO BOARD_X - 2 ' Seed the opening board
FOR y = 1 TO BOARD_Y - 2
IF (RND * 10 ) > 5 THEN ' coin toss method
b[y, x] = ALIVE
c[y, x] = ALIVE
k[y, x] = RND2 (1, 15)
ELSE
b[y, x] = DEAD:
c[y, x] = DEAD
k[y, x] = RND2 (1, 15)
END IF
COLOR k[y, x], 0
LOCATE y, x, 0
PRINT CHR$ (b[y, x])
NEXT
NEXT
DO ' Run forever or until you press a key for a new game
DOEVENTS ' LIFE is intensive, so yield to Windows
FOR x = 1 TO BOARD_X - 2
FOR y = 1 TO BOARD_Y - 2
Neighbors = 0
IF c[y - 1, x] = ALIVE THEN Neighbors = Neighbors + 1
IF c[y - 1, x - 1] = ALIVE THEN Neighbors = Neighbors + 1
IF c[y, x - 1] = ALIVE THEN Neighbors = Neighbors + 1
IF c[y + 1, x - 1] = ALIVE THEN Neighbors = Neighbors + 1
IF c[y + 1, x] = ALIVE THEN Neighbors = Neighbors + 1
IF c[y + 1, x + 1] = ALIVE THEN Neighbors = Neighbors + 1
IF c[y, x + 1] = ALIVE THEN Neighbors = Neighbors + 1
IF c[y - 1, x + 1] = ALIVE THEN Neighbors = Neighbors + 1
IF Neighbors < 2 OR Neighbors > 3 THEN b[y, x] = DEAD
IF Neighbors = 3 THEN b[y, x] = ALIVE
NEXT
NEXT
FOR x = 1 TO BOARD_X - 2
FOR y = 1 TO BOARD_Y - 2
LOCATE y, x, 0
COLOR k[y, x], 0
PRINT CHR$(b[y, x])
c[y, x] = b[y, x]
NEXT
NEXT
IF INSTAT THEN getch() : GOTO START_ME_UP ' If keypressed, run new game
LOOP
BCX Console Sample Programs using the COLOR
statement.
POPCOLORS statement
Purpose:
After a COLOR
statement is executed, POPCOLORS
restores the console's foreground and background colors from those
saved by PUSHCOLORS before the COLOR
call.
Example:
👉 If the following code, which displays
all possible console color combinations, is executed without the
PUSHCOLORS POPCOLORS
functions, upon exit, the console would be left with color
attributes of a white foreground on a white background.
$BCXVERSION "7.7.3"
?
PRINT "Foreground color is ", Color_FG
PRINT "Background color is ", Color_BG
?
PUSHCOLORS
DIM AS INTEGER BackGround
DIM AS INTEGER ForeGround
FOR BackGround = 0 TO 15
FOR ForeGround = 0 TO 15
COLOR ForeGround, BackGround
PRINT "0";
NEXT
PRINT
NEXT
POPCOLORS
?
PRINT "Foreground color is ", Color_FG
PRINT "Background color is ", Color_BG
?
Result
QBCOLOR statement
Purpose:
QBCOLOR returns a COLORREF
expressed as a value in the range 0 through 4294967295. These
values can be used in any BCX GUI function
parameter that accepts a COLORREF value
as an argument.
Syntax:
RetVal = QBCOLOR(TheColor AS INTEGER)
Return Value:
- Data type: COLORREF
RetVal A value in the range 0 through
4294967295. The COLORREF
values shown have been chosen as seeking to represent the colors of
the QBASIC era.
Parameters:
- Data type: INTEGER
TheColor The required argument is an integer
in the range 0-31, colors 16 thru 31 provide softer, pastel
versions of colors 0 through 15.
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Remarks:
The table below shows the COLORREF
return values from calls to the QBCOLOR
function, expessed as integer and hexadecimal. Also shown is their
equivalent in HTML format, and color swatches of those values.
👉 QBCOLOR
values differ, slightly, from the color values used by the
COLOR statement. There is no BCX function to use
COLORREF values on a text console.
QBCOLOR COLORREF Hex COLORREF HTML
0x00BBGGRR #rrggbb
0 0 0x00000000 #000000
1 11010048 0x00A80000 #0000a8
2 43008 0x0000A800 #00a800
3 11053056 0x00A8A800 #00a8a8
4 168 0x000000A8 #a80000
5 11010216 0x00A800A8 #a800a8
6 21672 0x000054A8 #a85400
7 11053224 0x00A8A8A8 #a8a8a8
8 5526612 0x00545454 #545454
9 16536660 0x00FC5454 #5454fc
10 5569620 0x0054FC54 #54fc54
11 16579668 0x00FCFC54 #54fcfc
12 5526780 0x005454FC #fc5454
13 16536828 0x00FC54FC #fc54fc
14 5569788 0x0054FCFC #fcfc54
15 16579836 0x00FCFCFC #fcfcfc
16 10790052 0x00A4A4A4 #a4a4a4
17 16752768 0x00FFA080 #80a0ff
18 10551200 0x00A0FFA0 #a0ffa0
19 16777120 0x00FFFFA0 #a0ffff
20 10526975 0x00A0A0FF #ffa0a0
21 16752895 0x00FFA0FF #ffa0ff
22 10551295 0x00A0FFFF #ffffa0
23 13948116 0x00D4D4D4 #d4d4d4
24 11842740 0x00B4B4B4 #b4b4b4
25 16768188 0x00FFDCBC #bcdcff
26 14483420 0x00DCFFDC #dcffdc
27 16777180 0x00FFFFDC #dcffff
28 14474495 0x00DCDCFF #ffdcdc
29 16768255 0x00FFDCFF #ffdcff
30 14483455 0x00DCFFFF #ffffdc
31 15000804 0x00E4E4E4 #e4e4e4