How can I set a WPF control's color to a system color programmatically, so that it updates on color scheme changes?

Question

How can I do this in WPF's code-behind?

<Grid Background="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.DesktopBrushKey}}"/>

Thanks for posting this question. I'm still learning WPF and I couldn't figure out how to do this in XAML, but your question shows exactly how to do it. I used this instead: Thanks! — Pretzel, Mar 09 '10 at 14:11
FWIW you don't need to define the DynamicResource, you can access the static brush directly: Background="{x:Static SystemColors.ControlBrush}" — sourcenouveau, Apr 20 '10 at 20:20
I revise my earlier comment: You do need to specify a DynamicResource if you think your users will change the system theme while you application is running. If you just use the {x:Static ... } and the theme changes, your application colors won't change to match. Also DynamicResource is necessary when using a Style's Setter, e.g. . — sourcenouveau, Nov 16 '10 at 16:21

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 10 '09 at 00:12

15

I just found an ugly solution:

grid1.SetResourceReference(
    Control.BackgroundProperty,
    SystemColors.DesktopBrushKey);

I hope someone will post a better one (I'd like to see something like grid1.Background = BackgroundBrush, because the syntax of SetResourceReference is a step backwards from Windows Forms).

answered Mar 10 '09 at 00:12

Jeno Csupor

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I don't think this is ugly. Looks pretty normal if you want to do it in code behind. – Sergey Aldoukhov Mar 10 '09 at 03:16

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 28 '14 at 14:08

9

This must have been added to a later version of WPF since this was originally posted because your original code works fine for me (I'm using WPF 4.5)

<Grid Background="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.DesktopBrushKey}}"/>

answered Sep 28 '14 at 14:08

jt000

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You seem to have misunderstood the question. OP knows that the XAML code works. He is looking for the equivalent code-behind, i.e. C# code. – Sebastian Negraszus Nov 23 '16 at 12:28

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 10 '09 at 07:29

6

Extension methods might help:

public static class FrameworkElementExtensions
{
    // usage xPanel.SetBackground(SystemColors.DesktopBrushKey);
    public static void SetBackground(this Panel panel, ResourceKey key)
    {
        panel.SetResourceReference(Panel.BackgroundProperty, key);
    }

    // usage xControl.SetBackground(SystemColors.DesktopBrushKey);
    public static void SetBackground(this Control control, ResourceKey key)
    {
        control.SetResourceReference(Control.BackgroundProperty, key);
    }
}

answered Mar 10 '09 at 07:29

orcun

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this can be changed to the following, because all of thies are of type FrameworkElement:
`public static class FrameworkElementExtensions { // usage xControl.SetBackground(SystemColors.DesktopBrushKey); public static void SetBackground(this FrameworkElement control, ResourceKey key) { control.SetResourceReference(Control.BackgroundProperty, key); } }` – Meister Schnitzel Oct 28 '15 at 14:47

Nightly · Answer 4 · 2015-03-18T06:22:52.760

3

.NET Framework Supported in: 3.0

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.systemcolors.highlightbrush(v=vs.85).aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en_us/library/system.windows.systemcolors.highlightbrushkey(v=vs.85).aspx

this.background=SystemColors.HighlightBrush;

edited Mar 18 '15 at 06:22

answered Mar 18 '15 at 06:03

Nightly

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Note that this won't get updated when the System Color changes like when the user switches to Hi-Contrast mode unless you listen for change events and reset it manually. – jt000 Mar 29 '15 at 15:02
```SystemColors.GrayTextBrush``` is what I was looking for – Flou May 23 '22 at 11:13

How can I set a WPF control's color to a system color programmatically, so that it updates on color scheme changes?

4 Answers4

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