You can assign colors and fonts to a widget either in the widget definition statement or at runtime after the widget is displayed. Use the FGCOLOR, BGCOLOR, DCOLOR, PFCOLOR, and FONT options at definition time and the FGCOLOR, BGCOLOR, DCOLOR, PFCOLOR, and FONT attributes at runtime.

ABL uses the foreground color you specify for any values that appear in the widget; ABL uses the background color for the area around the widget values.

Note: For rectangle widgets, ABL uses the foreground color for the edge and the background color to fill the interior.

ABL uses the font you specify for any text that appears within the widget.

Note that FGCOLOR, BGCOLOR, and FONT apply to graphical interfaces only, and and PFCOLOR apply to character interfaces only. For more information on specifying color in character interfaces, see Color in character interfaces.

The i-clrfnt.p procedure demonstrates how to initialize colors and fonts at widget definition and how to change them dynamically at runtime.

i-clrfnt.p

DEFINE VARIABLE fgc_frm  AS INTEGER NO-UNDO BGCOLOR 15 FGCOLOR 0
  VIEW-AS SLIDER MAX-VALUE 15 MIN-VALUE 0.
DEFINE VARIABLE bgc_frm  AS INTEGER NO-UNDO BGCOLOR 15 FGCOLOR 0
  VIEW-AS SLIDER MAX-VALUE 15 MIN-VALUE 0.
DEFINE VARIABLE font_frm AS INTEGER NO-UNDO FONT 1 
  VIEW-AS SLIDER MAX-VALUE 15 MIN-VALUE 0.
DEFINE BUTTON quitbtn LABEL "QUIT" BGCOLOR 4 FGCOLOR 15.

FORM
   SKIP (1) "Form Foreground" AT 7 SKIP
   fgc_frm AT 6 SKIP (1)
   "Form Background" AT 7 SKIP
   bgc_frm AT 6 SKIP (1)
   "Form Font" AT 10 SKIP
   font_frm AT 6 SKIP(2)
   quitbtn AT 12 SKIP(1)
   WITH FRAME x TITLE "Color and Font Test" NO-LABELS CENTERED ROW 2
     WIDTH-CHARS 50.
      
ASSIGN 
  FRAME x:RULE-Y     = 282
  fgc_frm:MAX-VALUE  = COLOR-TABLE:NUM-ENTRIES - 1
  bgc_frm:MAX-VALUE  = COLOR-TABLE:NUM-ENTRIES - 1
  font_frm:MAX-VALUE = FONT-TABLE:NUM-ENTRIES - 1.

ON VALUE-CHANGED OF fgc_frm
  FRAME x:FGCOLOR = INPUT FRAME x fgc_frm.

ON VALUE-CHANGED OF bgc_frm
  FRAME x:BGCOLOR = INPUT FRAME x bgc_frm.

ON VALUE-CHANGED OF font_frm
  FRAME x:FONT = INPUT FRAME x font_frm.

ENABLE ALL WITH FRAME x.

WAIT-FOR WINDOW-CLOSE OF CURRENT-WINDOW OR CHOOSE OF quitbtn.

This procedure creates three sliders representing foreground color, background color, and font. The maximum value of each slider is determined by examining the NUM–ENTRIES attributes of the COLOR–TABLE and FONT–TABLE system handles. As you move the appropriate trackbar, the foreground color, background color, or font of the interface changes. Note that, because the procedure does not explicitly set the size of any of the sliders, the ABL Virtual Machine (AVM) resizes them at runtime as you change the font.

You can assign colors and fonts to all widgets, with the following exceptions:

  • In Windows, to assign colors to buttons, menus, and window titles, you must use the Display Properties dialog box in the Control Panel. You cannot change these colors in your OpenEdge application.
  • In all environments, images and rectangles have no text and, therefore, cannot take a font assignment.

For more information on the COLOR–TABLE and FONT–TABLE handles, and on the FGCOLOR, BGCOLOR, DCOLOR, PFCOLOR, and FONT options and attributes, see ABL Reference. For more information on using the COLOR–TABLE and handles for run-time color and font management, see Accessing the current color and font tables.