setting backcolor using a string

[vbcandies]

Hmmm... I have a string , say

strUncleFred = "vbRed"
or
strUncleFred = "vbGreen"

then I want

textGoat.BackColor = strUncleFred

But I get a type mismatch error. I see that .backcolor expects a long value, so I tried using
Clng(strUncleFred) ....but that got me nowhere
I really want to use only the simple Vb colors specified when the use types in a string.

I can see that vbRed is a constant and "vbRed" is something else--a string, but can you convert one to the other so easy way?

[dglienna]

Don't use QUOTES. That makes it a STRING by default.

Private Sub Form_Load()
  Dim vb As Long
  vb = vbRed
  Form1.BackColor = vb
End Sub

[vbcandies]

It is ALREADY being entered as a string (actually as part of a longer string), I was just showing an example.

so if the string is "vbRed", etc how can you use it to set the color?

[dglienna]

Store colors as LONG, like I did. Try the sample. It prints 255, then changes the backcolor of the form to 255/vbRed

[WoF]

David, sometimes even me does not understand what you are referring to.
What sample prints 255 and changes the backcolor of the form to 255/vbRed???

What the OP wanted, I think, was that a literal string like "vbRed" he has in a string variable, is to be converted to the according color value. This, I'm afraid is not possible ad hoc, since these constants are only known to the compiler, not to the runtime facility. Also the famous script control we had in discussion recently will not resolve these constants, I think.
You can, however, write your own conversion function like this:

Private Function LiteralToColorValue(ColorLit As String) As Long
  Dim c As Long
  Select Case LCase(ColorLit)
    Case "vbred": c = vbRed
    Case "vbgreen": c = vbGreen
    Case "vbblue": c = vbBlue
    '...
  End Select
  LiteralToColorValue = c
End Function

You would have to add a Case statement for every literal you want to have converted. There are some more, I suppose, like vbWhite, vbBlack, vbYellow and so on. This is the only choice I can see at the moment.

[dglienna]

Don't use QUOTES. That makes it a STRING by default. oops. edited out the msgbox statement

Private Sub Form_Load()
  Dim vb As Long
  vb = vbRed
  MsgBox vb
  Form1.BackColor = vb
End Sub

Turns the form RED as you step thru

[WoF]

Ok. I see. And I didn't understand 255/vBred either. Sorry. Got it now.