How To Use Color Dialog from COMDLG32.DLL in VB and Access

MORE INFORMATION

1a. Visual Basic: Start a new project. Form1 is created by default.

1b. Access: Open a database and create a new form.

1. Add a CommandButton (Command1) to the form.
2. Add the following code to the General Declarations section of the form:

      Option Explicit
   
      Private Type CHOOSECOLOR
        lStructSize As Long
        hwndOwner As Long
        hInstance As Long
        rgbResult As Long
        lpCustColors As String
        flags As Long
        lCustData As Long
        lpfnHook As Long
        lpTemplateName As String
      End Type
   
      Private Declare Function ChooseColorAPI Lib "comdlg32.dll" Alias _
        "ChooseColorA" (pChoosecolor As CHOOSECOLOR) As Long
   
      Dim CustomColors() As Byte
   
      Private Sub Command1_Click()
          Dim cc As CHOOSECOLOR
          Dim Custcolor(16) As Long
          Dim lReturn As Long
          cc.lStructSize = Len(cc)
          cc.hwndOwner = Me.hWnd
          cc.hInstance = 0
          cc.lpCustColors = StrConv(CustomColors, vbUnicode)
          cc.flags = 0
          lReturn = ChooseColorAPI(cc)
          If lReturn <> 0 Then
              Me.Caption = "RGB Value User Chose: " & Str$(cc.rgbResult)
              Me.BackColor = cc.rgbResult            ' Visual Basic only ****
              Me.Section(0).BackColor = cc.rgbResult ' Access only **********
              CustomColors = StrConv(cc.lpCustColors, vbFromUnicode)
          Else
              MsgBox "User chose the Cancel Button"
          End If
      End Sub
   
      Private Sub Form_Load()
          ReDim CustomColors(0 To 16 * 4 - 1) As Byte
          Dim i As Integer
   
          For i = LBound(CustomColors) To UBound(CustomColors)
              CustomColors(i) = 0
          Next i
      End Sub
   
   					

4a. Visual Basic: Press the F5 key to run the project.

4b. Access: Use the View|Form menu to open the form and run it.

1. Click the CommandButton and the Color dialog box will be displayed. When you choose a color and press OK, the background color of the form will change to your selected color.

The constant CC_PREVENTFULLOPEN, with a decimal value of 4, can be used in the flags element of the CHOOSECOLOR structure if you wish to prevent the Custom Colors part of the Dialog from being displayed.

NOTE: In the Command1_Click routine above, the code to set the background color of an Access form and a Visual Basic form is slightly different. Both commands are included and commented. Only type the command that is appropriate for the product you are using.