Revision as of 02:38, 5 May 2010

Colors are represented in LabVIEW by an unsigned 32-bit integer. The integer is of the hexadecimal form 0x00RRGGBB, where RR, GG, and BB represent the red, green, and blue components of the color, respectively.

Special cases

LabVIEW uses the upper byte (00) for special colors, normally this byte is used for transparency so using these color values in a different program might give odd results.

Transparent

Transparent has a color value 0x01000000 the last bit of the transparency byte is high, this can be used to create 'holes' controls:

System Background

This color turns the background into the background of the front-panel/block diagram. It's value is 0x01000037, special details: System_Label.

System Color

LabVIEW supports six system colors, they match on Windows different color types:

System color table
LabVIEW color name	Windows color name	LabVIEW color value
Panel and Object	COLOR_3DFACE	0x01000016
Panel and Object text	COLOR_BTNTEXT	0x01000006
Window	COLOR_WINDOW	0x0100000A
Window text	COLOR_WINDOWTEXT	0x0100000C
Highlight	COLOR_HIGHLIGHT	0x01000008
Highlight text	COLOR_HIGHLIGHTTEXT	0x01000009

There's a VI on ni.com that demonstrates all the LabVIEW system colors, which includes many more than can be selected from the color picker dialog: [1]

User colors

LabVIEW has additional colors that are used for specific elements, like the tank fill color, here's an overview of these colors and their LabVIEW color value, these are not stored with a special value, the following lists the default values for these colors. LabVIEW defines 15 colors per default, but has support for 3 additional colors.

LabVIEW color table
default LabVIEW color name	Default LabVIEW color value
3D object	0x00BCBCBC
Control background	0x00FAFAFA
Indicator background	0x00D2D2D2
3D Active object	0x00969696
Text	0x00000000
Led On	0x0064FF00
Led Off	0x001E4B00
Thermometer Fill	0x00FF0000
Slide Fill	0x000041DC
Slide Housing	0x006D6D83
Tank Fill	0x000041DC
Tank Housing	0x00A9B3CB
Classic Object	0x00B3B3B3
Classic Slide Object	0x003399FF
Refnum Wire	0x00007F7F

These color's are stored in the LabVIEW configuration file with the token colorUserItem

Adjustment

To adjust (or add) colors use the LabVIEW options Dialog. In LabVIEW 2009 the colors can be set in the Environment section.

A special dialog is available for the 18 supported colors:

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 == System Color<br>  ==
 LabVIEW supports [http://blog.eyesonvis.com/2010/04/29/system-colors-dont-believe-your-eyes/ six system colors], they match on Windows different color types:<br>
 {| width="600" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" align="left"
 |+ System color table
 |-
 ! scope="col" | LabVIEW color name<br>
 ! scope="col" | Windows color name<br>
 ! scope="col" | LabVIEW color value<br>
 |-
 | Panel and Object<br>
 | COLOR_3DFACE<br>
 | 0x01000016<br>
 |-
 | Panel and Object text<br>
 | COLOR_BTNTEXT<br>
 | 0x01000006<br>
 |-
 | Window<br>
 | COLOR_WINDOW<br>
 | 0x0100000A<br>
 |-
 | Window text<br>
 | COLOR_WINDOWTEXT<br>
 | 0x0100000C<br>
 |-
 | Highlight<br>
 | COLOR_HIGHLIGHT<br>
 | 0x01000008<br>
 |-
 | Highlight text<br>
 | COLOR_HIGHLIGHTTEXT<br>
 | 0x01000009<br>
 |}
 <br>
 <br><br>
 <br>
+<br>
+<br>
 <br>
 <br>
 <br>
-<br>
+[[Image:ColorDropDownSystem.png]]<br>
 <br>
-[[Image:ColorDropDownSystem.png]]<br>
+There's a VI on ni.com that demonstrates all the LabVIEW system colors, which includes many more than can be selected from the color picker dialog: [http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/epd/p/id/4125]
 = User colors  =
@@ Line 173: / Line 177: @@
 <br>
 <br>
-[[Category:Data_types]]
+[[Category:Data types]]