Identify colors within 256-color scheme

[Brian]

I decided to give users of a particluar app an improvement by differentiating
combo boxes with different background colors.

So, I picked a couple of colors (13434828 & 13408767, to be exact) from the
Basic Colors pallet. These looked fine to me, but it caused an uproar from a
couple of users because, they said, the colors were too bright.

So, I dutifully returned to my forms, opened Define Custom Colors and set
two darker shades of the same colors, (10797480 & 13022919). This made the
users very happy in the sample screen shots I sent them, but alas, the
particular set of users in question run this app on a Windows 2000 terminal
server, which is limited to 256 colors.

My first set of colors worked fine on the terminal server, albeit with the
side effect of making users grumpy with the programmer, but the second set
appears cross-hatched and therefore virtually unreadable, and I am certain it
is due to how the 256-color scheme interprets the new color.

How can I identify the mapping of Access color numbers to the colors
available within the 256-color pallette available on the terminal server?
Since there are only 48 Basic Colors, I infer that there might be some of
softer hues within the other 218 available colors, but I cannot figure out
which Access colors map to those & which do not.

Or maybe I will just make them upgrade their terminal server to Windows
2003...

 

[Linq Adams via AccessMonster.com]

I leave much of the color up to the indiviual user by using Windows' Color
IDs. Essentially this means that the db's color scheme will be determined by
the color scheme the user has chosen in Windows as his/her preference.

I usually use a gray (sometimes light, sometimes dark) as the form background
(picked using the color pallette) but then use a Color ID code for label
backgrounds, buttons, frames, etc. I usually set all three of these to

-2147483646 (Active window title bar)

which means that the user's choice for Active window title bar will be seen
in these controls on the screen. Setting all three of these to the same Color
ID means that the screen will have a co-ordinated look. The gray background
is neutral so that it will go fairly well with the user's choices, whether
they be staid colors such as maroon or dark blue, or day-glo colors such as
yellows or oranges.

Just place any of the Color IDs in the control's color property box and leave
the rest to Windows. Be sure to preface the ID # with the minus (-) sign;
this tells Windows that the number is a Color ID number.

Color ID... Color Description
----------- -----------------
-2147483648 Scroll bar
-2147483647 Desktop
-2147483646 Active window title bar
-2147483645 Inactive window title bar
-2147483644 Menu bar
-2147483643 Window
-2147483642 Window frame
-2147483641 Menu Text
-2147483640 Window Text
-2147483639 Title bar text
-2147483638 Active window border
-2147483637 Inactive window border
-2147483636 Application background
-2147483635 Highlight
-2147483634 Highlight Text
-2147483633 3-D face
-2147483632 3-D shadow
-2147483631 Dimmed (disabled) text
-2147483630 Button Text
-2147483629 Inactive window title bar text
-2147483628 3-D highlight
-2147483627 3-D dark shadow
-2147483626 3-D light
-2147483625 ToolTip Text
-2147483624 ToolTip background
-2147483621 Active window title bar color2

 

[Brian]

I'm not looking for standard colors. The very purpose of the color, in this
case, is to separate these combo boxes from the rest (which have white
backgrounds when enabled, and gray when disabled).

However, the colors I chose are evidently not within the scope of the 256
colors available on the Windows 2000 terminal server, because they appear
crosshatched on the terminal server. They are fine on Windows 2003 terminal
server, because it allows more colors.

So, I repeat the question: how can I find, within the 256-color scheme,
alternate colors for combo box backgrounds; alternatively, where can I find a
map of the Access color numbers to the 256 available colors, and are there
any soft enough to work as combo box backgrounds (and I don't mean just an
alternate shade of gray)?