COLORREF

COLORREF is a data type used in the Microsoft Windows API to represent a color. It is a 32-bit unsigned integer where the lower 24 bits specify the intensity of red, green, and blue. The most significant byte is not used. The color components are arranged as follows: a blue byte, a green byte, and a red byte. The red component is in the least significant byte, followed by green, and then blue in the most significant byte.

A COLORREF value can be created using the RGB macro, which takes three integer arguments representing the red, green, and blue intensity values. These values typically range from 0 to 255, where 0 means no intensity and 255 means full intensity. For example, RGB(255, 0, 0) represents pure red, RGB(0, 255, 0) represents pure green, and RGB(0, 0, 255) represents pure blue. The color white is represented by RGB(255, 255, 255) and black by RGB(0, 0, 0).

The GetRValue, GetGValue, and GetBValue macros can be used to extract the individual red, green, and blue components from a COLORREF value. These macros are useful when you need to manipulate or display the individual color components. COLORREF is widely used in Windows GDI functions for tasks such as setting text colors, background colors, and drawing colors. It is a fundamental data type for color management within the Windows operating system.