Author: Tomas Rutkauskas

Can anyone tell me how to change the default highlight color used in a TListBox? I 
need it to be clAqua instead of the standard Navy as the text in the listbox is 
made other colors in the OwnerDraw and you can't read some of them with the Navy 
selection color.

Answer:

Solve 1:

Check the 'State' parameter in the DrawItem event. It lets you know if the item is 
selected. If it is then use a different brush color.
1   
2   procedure TForm1.ListBox1DrawItem(Control: TWinControl; Index: Integer;
3     Rect: TRect; State: TOwnerDrawState);
4   begin
5     if odSelected in State then
6       ListBox1.Canvas.Brush.Color := clAqua;
7     ListBox1.Canvas.FillRect(Rect);
8     ListBox1.Canvas.TextOut(Rect.Left, Rect.Top, ListBox1.Items[Index]);
9   end;


Solve 2:

Set Style := lbOwnerDrawFixed and OnDrawItem := ListBoxDrawItem; . Remove the last 
line from the example if you want to have the focus rectangle.
10  
11  procedure TListBox.ListBoxDrawItem(Control: TWinControl; Index: Integer; Rect: 
12  TRect;
13    State: TOwnerDrawState);
14  begin
15    if (odSelected in State) then
16      Canvas.Brush.Color := clBlue
17    else
18      Canvas.Brush.Color := Color;
19    Canvas.FillRect(Rect);
20    Canvas.Font := Font;
21    SetTextAlign(Canvas.Handle, TA_LEFT or TA_TOP or TA_NOUPDATECP);
22    ExtTextOut(Canvas.Handle, Rect.Left + 2, Rect.Top + 1, ETO_CLIPPED or ETO_OPAQUE, 
23  @Rect,PChar(Items[Index]), Length(Items[Index]), nil);
24    if (odSelected in State) then
25      DrawFocusRect(Canvas.Handle, Rect);
26  end;