Trying to get default background color with GetObject();

Question

I'm trying to get the default Windows system background color in COLORREF format with this code:

 LOGBRUSH lb;
 GetObject((HANDLE)(COLOR_BACKGROUND), sizeof(LOGBRUSH), &lb);
 BG_COLOR = lb.lbColor;
 char buff[250];
 sprintf(buff, "BG_COLOR: 0x%08X;", BG_COLOR);
 MessageBoxA(0, buff, "Alert!", MB_OK | MB_SYSTEMMODAL);

But it returns 0x003E28F4 which is red while setting a Window's class hbrBackground as (HBRUSH)COLOR_BACKGROUND like this:

WndClass.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)COLOR_BACKGROUND;

The background color for the window appears as grey (on WinXP) with hex 0x00C8D0D4 (checked with gimp).

As far as I know, 0x003E28F4 and 0x00C8D0D4 are not the same

What is causing this? How can I get the default background color in RGB/COLORREF format?

Answer 1

Shouldn't you be using GetSysColor(COLOR_BACKGROUND)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/desktop/ms724371(v=vs.85).aspx