The COLOR statement sets the foreground and background text color attributes.
Syntax 1:COLOR fg_color AS INTEGER, bg_color AS INTEGER Parameters:
Syntax 2:COLOR fg_color AS INTEGER Parameters:
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The COLOR statement will work only in console mode programs.
The COLOR statement, traditionally, is given the decimal values 0 to 15 to produce the associated background and foreground text colors. Other values, 16 to 31, are allowed but on modern computers those values usually result in duplicate colors.
0 = Black 6 = Brown 12 = Light red 1 = Blue 7 = White 13 = Light magenta 2 = Green 8 = Gray 14 = Yellow 3 = Cyan 9 = Light blue 15 = High intensity white 4 = Red 10 = Light green 5 = Magenta 11 = Light cyan
👉 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.
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
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 0x000EA113 #13A10E
COLOR 3 0x00DD963A #3A96DD
COLOR 4 0x001F0FC5 #C50F1F
COLOR 5 0x00981788 #881798
COLOR 6 0x00009CC1 #C19C00
COLOR 7 0x00CCCCCC #CCCCCC
COLOR 8 0x00767676 #767676
COLOR 9 0x00FF783B #3B78FF
COLOR 10 0x000CC616 #16C60C
COLOR 11 0x00D6D661 #61D6D6
COLOR 12 0x005648E7 #E74856
COLOR 13 0x009E00B4 #B4009E
COLOR 14 0x00A5F1F9 #F9F1A5
COLOR 15 0x00F2F2F2 #F2F2F2
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 - ASCII smiley face MACRO DEAD = 32 ' original = 32 - ASCII space char 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
When a COLOR statement is executed, the value of the background and foreground colors are stored in the BCX system variables Color_BG and Color_FG.
$BCXVERSION "7.7.3" PUSHCOLORS COLOR 15, 1 PRINT "Foreground color is ", Color_FG PRINT "Background color is ", Color_BG POPCOLORS
When using the COLOR statement, it is easy to overlook the benefit of restoring the user's default foreground and background text colors.
Call PUSHCOLORS at the start of your app before you change any colors. Then, whenever you want to restore the user's colors, simply call POPCOLORS .
You should only need to call PUSHCOLORS one time but you can call POPCOLORS as many times as you want.
These procedures have been tested to work even when the user has set custom background and foreground colors through the console's properties.
PUSHCOLORS saves the console's foreground and background colors before a COLOR statement is executed.
Syntax:PUSHCOLORS Return Value:
Parameters:
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After a COLOR statement is executed, POPCOLORS restores the console's foreground and background colors from those saved before the COLOR call.
Syntax:POPCOLORS Return Value:
Parameters:
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👉 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" 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
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:
Parameters:
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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
The RGB function returns a COLORREF value calculated from the red, green and blue arguments passed to the function.
Syntax:RetVal = RGB(Red AS UCHAR, _ Green AS UCHAR, _ Blue AS UCHAR) Return Value:
Parameters: |
👉 COLORREF has the following hexadecimal form
0x00bbggrr
where bb The hexadecimal representation of an integer containing the intensity value for the blue component, gg The hexadecimal representation of an integer containing the intensity value for the green component and rr The hexadecimal representation of an integer containing the intensity value for the red component.
DIM AS STRING Colour Colour = "0x00" & HEX$(RGB(0xC5, 0x0F, 0x1F)) PRINT Colour
0x001F0FC5
GETRVALUE returns a UCHAR containing the intensity value for the red component of a red, green, blue (RGB) value.
Syntax:RetVal = GETRVALUE(Colour AS COLORREF) Return Value:
Parameters: |
GETGVALUE returns a UCHAR containing the intensity value for the green component of a red, green, blue (RGB) value.
Syntax:RetVal = GETGVALUE(Colour AS COLORREF) Return Value:
Parameters: |
GETBVALUE returns a UCHAR containing the intensity value for the blue component of a red, green, blue (RGB) value.
Syntax:RetVal = GETBVALUE(Colour AS COLORREF) Return Value:
Parameters: |
BCX_COLORDLG creates a color dialog box that enables the user to select a color which is returned, by the function, as the COLORREF value of the chosen RGB color.
Syntax:RetVal = BCX_COLORDLG([SetDlgColor AS COLORREF][, hwndParent AS HWND]) Return Value:Parameters: |
DIM Result$, Colour AS COLORREF Colour = BCX_COLORDLG(RGB(51, 102, 36)) Result$ = "COLORREF = " & STR$(Colour) & CRLF$ Result$ = Result$ & "RED = " & STR$(GETRVALUE(Colour)) & CRLF$ Result$ = Result$ & "GREEN = " & STR$(GETGVALUE(Colour)) & CRLF$ Result$ = Result$ & "BLUE = " & STR$(GETBVALUE(Colour)) & CRLF$ MSGBOX Result$