SysColor.dll

SysColor.dll is a plugin for Rainmeter that will retrieve system colors.

Contents

• Features
• Options
• Changes
• Download
• Build Instructions
• Examples

Features

Here are some of the features of the SysColor plugin:

• Retrieval of the Windows 10/11 accent color.
• Retrieval of Windows 8/8.1 window color.
• Retrieval of the Windows 7 Aero color (including alpha transparency).
• 40 different colors available (eg. Background, Highlight, Menu).
• Different display modes. Entire color, Red channel, Green channel, Blue channel, Alpha channel (if valid), or just the RGB color without alpha transparency.
• Output in hex or decimal form.
• A numeric return of "1" means the color was retrieved. A numeric value of "-1" means the color was not retrieved. The numeric value can be retrieved through section variables (eg. [MeasureName:]).

Note:

The Windows 10/11 accent color is not available for Windows 7. The DWM (desktop window manager) may choose which color gets returned for some options.

Options

• Hex - When set to "1", the output color is in hexidecimal form. When set to "0", the output color is in decimal form separated by commas. Hex=0 is default.

• DisplayType - Type of output. DisplayType=All is default. Options include:

  • Red - Output only the red channel.
  • Green - Output only the green channel.
  • Blue - Output only the blue channel.
  • Alpha - Output only the alpha channel (if available).
  • RGB - Output only the red, green and blue values (No alpha channel is output).
  • ALL - Output all the channels (the alpha channel is not always available).

• ColorType - Type of color to retrieve. ColorType=Accent is default. Options include:

  • Accent - Current Windows accent color for Windows 10/11. For Windows 7, the Aero option is returned.
  • Aero - Current color of Aero theme (including alpha transparency).
  • Desktop - Current color of the desktop background (when a solid color has been chosen for the background).
  • Window - Window background color.
  • WindowFrame - Window frame color.
  • WindowText - Color of text in a window.
  • ActiveCaption - Left side color in the color gradient of an active window's title bar.
  • ActiveCaptionGradient - Right side color in the color gradient of an active window's title bar.
  • InActiveCaption - Left side color in the color gradient of an inactive window's title bar.
  • InActiveCaptionGradient - Right side color in the color gradient of an inactive window's title bar.
  • CaptionText - Color of text in the caption of a window (eg. title bar).
  • InActiveCaptionText - Color of text in an inactive caption.
  • ActiveBorder - Active window border color.
  • InActiveBorder - Inactive window border color.
  • Highlight - Color of selected items in a control.
  • HightlightText - Color of selected text in a control.
  • ButtonFace - Face color of a button and other 3D display elements (eg. dialog box backgrounds).
  • ButtonText - Color of text on a button.
  • ButtonHighlight - Highlight color of 3D display elements.
  • ButtonShadow - Shadow color of 3D display elements (facing away from the light source).
  • Menu - Menu background color.
  • MenuText - Color of text in a menu.
  • MenuBar - Background color for a menu bar when the menu appears as a flat menu.
  • MenuHighlight - Color used to highlight menu items when the menu appears as a flat menu.
  • 3DDarkShadow - Dark shadow for 3D display elements.
  • 3DLight - Light color for 3D display elements (facing toward the light source).
  • GrayText - Color of text that is disabled (might be 0 on some displays).
  • ToolTipBackground - Background color of tooltip controls.
  • ToolTipText - Color of text for tooltip controls.
  • AppWorkspace - Background color of certain multiple document interface (MDI) applications.
  • Scrollbar - Scrollbar gray area.
  • Hyperlink - Color of hyperlink or hot-tracked items.
  • WIN8 - Current window color for Windows 8/8.1. (I recommend using the DisplayType=RGB for this option.)

• ColorType special "raw" DWM values for colorization. Options include:

  • DWM_COLOR - Raw color DWM uses for colorization.
  • DWM_AFTERGLOW - Raw color DWM uses for colorization. This is usually the same value as DWM_COLOR.
  • DWM_COLOR_BALANCE - Represents the color intensity. This can adjusted this under the "Personalization\Window Color and Appearance" control panel item.
  • DWM_AFTERGLOW_BALANCE - DWM calculated afterglow balance.
  • DWM_BLUR_BALANCE - DWM calculated blur balance. Usually returns 1 on Windows 8/8.1 systems.
  • DWM_GLASS_REFLECTION_INTENSITY - DWM calculated glass reflection intensity. Usually returns 1 on Windows 8/8.1 systems.
  • DWM_OPAQUE_BLEND - Returns 0 if transparency is enabled on Windows Vista/7. Returns 1 if transparency is not enabled or if on Windows8/8.1 systems.

Note:

The Desktop Window Manager might choose which color get returned for some of the above options.

Changes

Here is a list of the major changes to the plugin.

Version:

• 2.0.0.22 - Updated project to use VS2022. Removed Windows XP support. Added Windows 10/11 accent support. Changed the default ColorType to Accent.
• 1.1.0.15 - Fixed issue with XP systems asking for AERO+ options (thanks ikarus1969!).
• 1.1.0.13 - Added new types. Updated to latest SDK. Updated to use VS2013.
• 1.0.2 - Fixed crash when using ColorType=Aero across multiple skins.
• 1.0.1 - Fixed Windows XP support.
• 1.0.0 - Initial Version.

Download

The plugin will be installed by the following rmskin:

• The latest plugin is included in the latest release.

Note: The rmskin also includes a copy of both the 32-bit and 64-bit plugins to easily include them in your rmskins!

Build Instructions

This plugin can be built using any version of Visual Studio 2022.

After Visual Studio has been installed and updated, open PluginSysColor.sln at the root of the repository to build.

Examples

Example 1:

This example will get current Windows 10/11 accent color

[mWindowColor]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=SysColor
ColorType=Accent

Example 2:

This example will get current desktop background color, the red channel of the highlight color, and menu background color.

[mBackground]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=SysColor

[mHighlight]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=SysColor
DisplayType=Red
ColorType=Highlight

[mMenuBackground]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=SysColor
DisplayType=ALL
ColorType=Menu

Example 3:

This example will get the current Aero color, and make it the background of the skin.

[mBackground]
Measure=Plugin
Plugin=SysColor
ColorType=Aero

[BackgroundMeter]
Meter=Image
SolidColor=[mBackground]
W=#CURRENTCONFIGWIDTH#
H=#CURRENTCONFIGHEIGHT#
DynamicVariables=1