Set button text color in Win32 API using custom drawing

Question

I wanted to create some sort of a dark-mode button using Common Controls & Win32 API.

I wanted to use custom drawing to set my button's background & text color.

As for the background, it seems to work fine, but I can't figure out how to set the text color.

Here is what I did (in the window handler function):

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowHandler(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) { static HBRUSH defaultbrush = NULL; static HBRUSH hotbrush = NULL; static HBRUSH selectbrush = NULL; switch (msg) { case WM_CREATE: { HWND button = CreateWindowA("Button", "Click Me", WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD, 10, 10, 80, 30, hwnd, (HMENU)1, NULL, NULL); if (!button) { MessageBoxA(NULL, "Button Creation Failed!", "Error!", MB_ICONEXCLAMATION); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); } break; } case WM_NOTIFY: { LPNMHDR some_item = (LPNMHDR)lParam; if (some_item->idFrom == 1 && some_item->code == NM_CUSTOMDRAW) { LPNMCUSTOMDRAW item = (LPNMCUSTOMDRAW)some_item; if (item->uItemState & CDIS_SELECTED) { //Select our color when the button is selected if (selectbrush == NULL) selectbrush = CreateSolidBrush(0x383838); //Create pen for button border HPEN pen = CreatePen(PS_INSIDEFRAME, 0, RGB(0, 0, 0)); //Select our brush into hDC HGDIOBJ old_pen = SelectObject(item->hdc, pen); HGDIOBJ old_brush = SelectObject(item->hdc, selectbrush); Rectangle(item->hdc, item->rc.left, item->rc.top, item->rc.right, item->rc.bottom); //Clean up SelectObject(item->hdc, old_pen); SelectObject(item->hdc, old_brush); DeleteObject(pen); //Here is the problem: DrawTextA(item->hdc, "Click Me", -1, &item->rc, DT_CENTER | DT_VCENTER); return CDRF_SKIPDEFAULT; } else { if (item->uItemState & CDIS_HOT) //Our mouse is over the button { //Select our color when the mouse hovers our button if (hotbrush == NULL) hotbrush = CreateSolidBrush(0x474747); HPEN pen = CreatePen(PS_INSIDEFRAME, 0, RGB(0, 0, 0)); HGDIOBJ old_pen = SelectObject(item->hdc, pen); HGDIOBJ old_brush = SelectObject(item->hdc, hotbrush); Rectangle(item->hdc, item->rc.left, item->rc.top, item->rc.right, item->rc.bottom); SelectObject(item->hdc, old_pen); SelectObject(item->hdc, old_brush); DeleteObject(pen); //Here too: DrawTextA(item->hdc, "Click Me", -1, &item->rc, DT_CENTER | DT_VCENTER); return CDRF_SKIPDEFAULT; } //Select our color when our button is doing nothing if (defaultbrush == NULL) defaultbrush = CreateSolidBrush(0x383838); HPEN pen = CreatePen(PS_INSIDEFRAME, 0, RGB(0, 0, 0)); HGDIOBJ old_pen = SelectObject(item->hdc, pen); HGDIOBJ old_brush = SelectObject(item->hdc, defaultbrush); Rectangle(item->hdc, item->rc.left, item->rc.top, item->rc.right, item->rc.bottom); SelectObject(item->hdc, old_pen); SelectObject(item->hdc, old_brush); DeleteObject(pen); //And also here: DrawTextA(item->hdc, "Click Me", -1, &item->rc, DT_CENTER | DT_VCENTER); return CDRF_SKIPDEFAULT; } } return CDRF_DODEFAULT; break; } case WM_DESTROY: DeleteObject(defaultbrush); DeleteObject(selectbrush); DeleteObject(hotbrush); PostQuitMessage(0); break; } return DefWindowProcA(hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam); }

I tried following a different post I've found on Stack Overflow which is this one: How can I change the background color of a button WinAPI C++ But they only show how to set the background color, not the text color.

Can anyone please help me with that?

Adrian Mole · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-05 23:20:55Z

1

You just need to set the text color using the SetTextColor function, somewhere before your call to DrawText():

 //... SetTextColor(item->hdc, RGB(0,255,0)); // For green text, but use any COLORREF value. DrawTextA(item->hdc, "Click Me", -1, &item->rc, DT_CENTER | DT_VCENTER); return CDRF_SKIPDEFAULT;

You may also need to set the background mode to TRANSPARENT, in order to keep the color previously painted:

 SetBkMode(item-hdc, TRANSPARENT);

answered Jun 5, 2020 at 23:20

Adrian Mole

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5 Comments

aviad1 Over a year ago

It seems about right, except the text isn't centered vertically to the button. Is there any way to do that?

aviad1 Over a year ago

Also, is there any way to set the font of the drawn text?

Adrian Mole Over a year ago

@aviad1 (1) Try adding | DT_SINGLELINE in the DrawText() call. (2) Yes - Use SelectFont() - but be sure to save the old font and replace it afterwards, as you have correctly done with the pen and brush.

Adrian Mole Over a year ago

@aviad1 You may also like to save (and restore) the text color and B/G mode, using GetTextColor() and GetBkMode(). Or, better yet, use SaveDC() and RestoreDC() to do it all for you!

aviad1 Over a year ago

Thanks! This is very helpful

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