How to change caption font color on TCheckBox, TRadioButton, TGroupBox?

Question

I don't know what my problem is, but I cannot set the font color in DEx2 for controls like TCheckBox, TRadioButton, TGroubBox, and TRadioGroup. It doesn't matter if I do it in the IDE or programmatically.

I have set my form color to clBlack and want my captions to be clWhite, but they won't render any color but clBlack. When I assign a color on a form's OnShow event and step through it in the debugger, it shows the value I assigned it, but on the screen it is still black.

I am not using styles or anything else. Any ideas?

Here is a sample form: white on black example http://www.skippix.us/temp/Delphi-Font-Problem.bmp

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 03 '12 at 14:08

When you uses the windows themes in an application, most of the custom settings like the font colors are ignored. As workaround and depending of the component you can ownerdraw the control (only when this feature is supported), override the paint method in order to use your own color in the font (TRadioGroup, TGroupBox), and for components like TCheckBox and TRadioButton (which are WinAPI controls wrappers) you must intercept the WM_PAINT windows message and implement your own code to draw the control.

Also starting with Delphi-xe2 you can use the vcl styles which allow you to change the appearance of the controls, from here (and when is possible) you can modify the style hooks to apply your own font colors and other customizations.

Thanks for your response! I'll try the styles approach, as the workaround is probably going to be more work than what I want to take on at the moment...I'll let you know what happens. — skippix, Sep 03 '12 at 14:15

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 19 '18 at 12:20

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A simple and easier workaround is to create a checkbox without caption and add a label after it. You can easily change the label's color. You can also create a new component that binds a label to the checkbox itself. That's what worked for me on Delphi 2007.

answered Jul 19 '18 at 12:20

delphirules

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That breaks [accessibility](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/accessible-apps) of your installer. – Martin Prikryl Jul 20 '18 at 20:25
@MartinPrikryl Why ? – delphirules Jul 22 '18 at 12:49
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Screen readers and similar tools people with sight problems expect checkbox to have its own label. – Martin Prikryl Jul 23 '18 at 06:24

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 20 '19 at 10:03

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It will work under the following setting: Project Options > Application > Runtime Themes = none

edited Aug 20 '19 at 10:03

B--rian

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answered Aug 20 '19 at 06:36

Shlomo Vinishsky

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Welcome to SO! Please edit your answer and add some explanations to it. For more guidance, see https://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-answer – B--rian Aug 20 '19 at 07:07
Yes, but then the cure is likely worse than the actual problem. It's likely not worth it. – Andreas Rejbrand Sep 09 '20 at 11:10

How to change caption font color on TCheckBox, TRadioButton, TGroupBox?

3 Answers3