update desktop after registry edit

[bjay55]

I have changed the desktop color value at - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors\Background in the registry, but to get change to take effect I have to restart the computer. How would I make the change take effect without restarting the computer. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[snarfblam]

There are Windows APIs to change the system colors what will automatically refresh everything to ensure that colors are drawn correctly. Have some links.

GetSysColor: http://www.mentalis.org/apilist/GetSysColor.shtml
SetSysColors: http://www.mentalis.org/apilist/SetSysColors.shtml

 

[bjay55]

Still having trouble

I declared the setsyscolors function

Private Declare Function SetSysColors Lib "user32" (ByVal nChanges As Long, ByVal lpSysColor As Long, ByVal lpColorValues As Integer) As Long

then used this code but the desktop color does not change color.

Dim ret As Long
Const COLOR_BACKGROUND = 1
ret = SetSysColors(1, COLOR_BACKGROUND, RGB(100, 100, 100))

the function returns the number 8975933078237085696. Am I doing something wrong. Would greatly appreciate your help.

 

[bjay55]

Got it!

Hey, I got it working. I had declared the function wrong.

this did not work:
Declare Function SetSysColors Lib "user32" (ByVal nChanges As Long, ByRef lpSysColor As Long, ByRef lpColorValues As Long) As Long

this worked:
Declare Function SetSysColors Lib "user32" (ByVal nChanges As Integer, ByRef lpSysColor As Integer, ByRef lpColorValues As Integer) As Integer

 

[snarfblam]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that the site gives VB6 declarations, not .Net.

 

[bjay55]

Thanks

Thats ok, thaks for your help. Greatly appreciated.