# Changing Foreground and Background Colors

You can change the foreground (font) and background colors of the windows and the palette components directly through the attribute editor or with the Foreground and Background dialog boxes.

To change colors through the attribute editor:

1. Select the component or container.
2. Open the attribute editor by clicking on its button in the main toolbar.
3. Type the name of a color (or its hexadecimal value) in the foreground or background box.
4. Click OK in the attribute editor to set the color.

To try out various colors, click Apply instead of OK to keep the attribute editor open.

To change colors through either the Foreground or Background dialog box:

- Click on the button to the right of either the foreground or background boxes in the attribute editor. Use one of the following methods to change colors:
  - Use the Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) scrollbars.

    You can use the scrollbars to adjust the RGB values to create custom colors for your backgrounds and foregrounds. The values corresponding to the scrollbar positions are displayed in the box to the right of the scrollbar.

    You can also directly enter a value from 0 to 255 in the box for each color.

  - Select a specific color from the Color Chooser.

    Scroll down the color list in the closest color box and click on the name of a color.

When you select a color value using one of these methods, the Foreground or Background dialog box provides you with the following feedback:

- Scroll boxes move to reflect the RGB values.
- The numbers to the right of the scrollbars change to indicate their numeric values.
- The real color box displays the hexadecimal RGB value for the color unless it is an exact match for one of the predefined, named colors in the closest color list, in which case the color's name is displayed.
- The color as it will appear in the application is displayed in the Preview pane.

Click the Reset button to return the value to the default color (gray for background; black for foreground).

If you decide to change colors for a container, apply the color changes to the container before changing any component colors. Color changes to a container override any color settings applied previously to the components within the container.

See also:

  Laying Out the Interface
  Generating Java Source Code
  Visual Java GUI Builder API Documentation
    Visual Java GUI Builder Runtime Packages
    Class Hierarchy
    Index of All Fields and Methods