How to change the caption titlebar of my window to black?

Question

This is what i have written so far, my doubt is how to set the caption color of my new window to black.

 // Step 4: the Window Procedure.  
    LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)  
    {  
    	switch (msg)  
    	{  
    	case WM_CLOSE:  
    		DestroyWindow(hWnd);  
    		TerminateProcess(GetCurrentProcess(), 0);  
    		break;  
      
    	case WM_DESTROY:  
    	case WM_QUIT:  
    		PostQuitMessage(0);  
    		break;  
      
    	default:  
    		return DefWindowProc(hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam);  
    	}  
      
    	return DefWindowProc(hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam);  
      
    }  
      
    // Step 1-3 Creating a window procedure.  
    int Main()  
    {  
    	WNDCLASSEX wc{};  
    	MSG Msg;  
    	LPCWSTR title = L"MyWindow";  
      
    	//Step 1: Registering the Window Class  
    	wc.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);  
    	wc.style = 0;  
    	wc.lpfnWndProc = WndProc;  
    	wc.cbClsExtra = 0;  
    	wc.cbWndExtra = 0;  
    	wc.hInstance = 0;  
    	wc.hIcon = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);  
    	wc.hCursor = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);  
    	wc.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW + 1);  
    	wc.lpszMenuName = NULL;  
    	wc.lpszClassName = title;   
    	wc.hIconSm = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);  
      
    	if (!RegisterClassEx(&wc))  
    	{  
    		DWORD err = GetLastError();  
      
    		std::wstring error = L"Window Registration Failed.\nError: " + std::to_wstring(int(err));  
      
    		MessageBox(NULL, error.c_str(), L"Error!",  
    			MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK);  
    		return 0;  
    	}  
      
    	// Step 2: Creating the Window  
    	hWnd = CreateWindowW(  
    		title,  
    		title,  
    		//WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,  
    		WS_OVERLAPPED | WS_CAPTION | WS_MINIMIZEBOX | WS_SYSMENU,  
    		CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 600, 300, // X,Y,W,H  
    		nullptr, nullptr, nullptr, nullptr);  
      
    	DWORD err = GetLastError();  
      
    	if (hWnd == NULL)  
    	{  
    		std::wstring error = L"Window creation failed.\nError: " + std::to_wstring(int(err));  
      
    		MessageBox(NULL, error.c_str(), L"Error!",  
    			MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK);  
    		return 0;  
    	}  
      
    	ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_SHOW);  
    	UpdateWindow(hWnd);  
      
    	// Step 3: The Message Loop  
    	while (GetMessage(&Msg, NULL, 0, 0) > 0)  
    	{  
    		TranslateMessage(&Msg);  
    		DispatchMessage(&Msg);  
    	}  
    	return 0; // Msg.wParam;  
    }  

Answer 1

Custom captions are done with DWM : Custom Window Frame Using DWM

For example, a test with a gradient :

Answer 2

I tried to follow the sample you linked, I'm getting these errors even after including uxtheme.h

#include <windows.h>  
  
#include <uxtheme.h>  
#include <string>  
#pragma comment (lib,"UxTheme.lib")  
  
  
// Paint the title on the custom frame.  
void PaintCustomCaption(HWND hWnd, HDC hdc)  
{  
    RECT rcClient;  
    GetClientRect(hWnd, &rcClient);  
  
    HTHEME hTheme = OpenThemeData(NULL, L"CompositedWindow::Window");  
    if (hTheme)  
    {  
        HDC hdcPaint = CreateCompatibleDC(hdc);  
        if (hdcPaint)  
        {  
            int cx = RECTWIDTH(rcClient);  
            int cy = RECTHEIGHT(rcClient);  
  
            // Define the BITMAPINFO structure used to draw text.  
            // Note that biHeight is negative. This is done because  
            // DrawThemeTextEx() needs the bitmap to be in top-to-bottom  
            // order.  
            BITMAPINFO dib = { 0 };  
            dib.bmiHeader.biSize = sizeof(BITMAPINFOHEADER);  
            dib.bmiHeader.biWidth = cx;  
            dib.bmiHeader.biHeight = -cy;  
            dib.bmiHeader.biPlanes = 1;  
            dib.bmiHeader.biBitCount = BIT_COUNT;  
            dib.bmiHeader.biCompression = BI_RGB;  
  
            HBITMAP hbm = CreateDIBSection(hdc, &dib, DIB_RGB_COLORS, NULL, NULL, 0);  
            if (hbm)  
            {  
                HBITMAP hbmOld = (HBITMAP)SelectObject(hdcPaint, hbm);  
  
                // Setup the theme drawing options.  
                DTTOPTS DttOpts = { sizeof(DTTOPTS) };  
                DttOpts.dwFlags = DTT_COMPOSITED | DTT_GLOWSIZE;  
                DttOpts.iGlowSize = 15;  
  
                // Select a font.  
                LOGFONT lgFont;  
                HFONT hFontOld = NULL;  
                if (SUCCEEDED(GetThemeSysFont(hTheme, TMT_CAPTIONFONT, &lgFont)))  
                {  
                    HFONT hFont = CreateFontIndirect(&lgFont);  
                    hFontOld = (HFONT)SelectObject(hdcPaint, hFont);  
                }  
  
                // Draw the title.  
                RECT rcPaint = rcClient;  
                rcPaint.top += 8;  
                rcPaint.right -= 125;  
                rcPaint.left += 8;  
                rcPaint.bottom = 50;  
                DrawThemeTextEx(hTheme,  
                    hdcPaint,  
                    0, 0,  
                    szTitle,  
                    -1,  
                    DT_LEFT | DT_WORD_ELLIPSIS,  
                    &rcPaint,  
                    &DttOpts);  
  
                // Blit text to the frame.  
                BitBlt(hdc, 0, 0, cx, cy, hdcPaint, 0, 0, SRCCOPY);  
  
                SelectObject(hdcPaint, hbmOld);  
                if (hFontOld)  
                {  
                    SelectObject(hdcPaint, hFontOld);  
                }  
                DeleteObject(hbm);  
            }  
            DeleteDC(hdcPaint);  
        }  
        CloseThemeData(hTheme);  
    }  
}  
  
  
  
// Step 4: the Window Procedure.  
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)  
{  
    switch (msg)  
    {  
    case WM_CLOSE:  
        DestroyWindow(hWnd);  
        TerminateProcess(GetCurrentProcess(), 0);  
        break;  
  
    case WM_DESTROY:  
    case WM_QUIT:  
        PostQuitMessage(0);  
        break;  
  
    case WM_PAINT:  
    {  
        HDC hdc;  
        {  
            PAINTSTRUCT ps;  
            hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);  
            PaintCustomCaption(hWnd, hdc);  
            EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);  
        }  
  
        fCallDWP = true;  
        lRet = 0;  
        break;  
    }  
    default:  
        return DefWindowProc(hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam);  
    }  
  
    return DefWindowProc(hWnd, msg, wParam, lParam);  
  
}  
  
// Step 1-3 Creating a window procedure.  
int Main()  
{  
    WNDCLASSEX wc{};  
    MSG Msg;  
    LPCWSTR title = L"MyWindow";  
    HWND hWnd = nullptr;  
  
    //Step 1: Registering the Window Class  
    wc.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);  
    wc.style = 0;  
    wc.lpfnWndProc = WndProc;  
    wc.cbClsExtra = 0;  
    wc.cbWndExtra = 0;  
    wc.hInstance = 0;  
    wc.hIcon = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);  
    wc.hCursor = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);  
    wc.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW + 1);  
    wc.lpszMenuName = NULL;  
    wc.lpszClassName = title;  
    wc.hIconSm = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);  
  
    if (!RegisterClassEx(&wc))  
    {  
        DWORD err = GetLastError();  
  
        std::wstring error = L"Window Registration Failed.\nError: " + std::to_wstring(int(err));  
  
        MessageBox(NULL, error.c_str(), L"Error!",  
            MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK);  
        return 0;  
    }  
  
    // Step 2: Creating the Window  
    hWnd = CreateWindowW(  
        title,  
        title,  
        //WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,  
        WS_OVERLAPPED | WS_CAPTION | WS_MINIMIZEBOX | WS_SYSMENU,  
        CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 600, 300, // X,Y,W,H  
        nullptr, nullptr, nullptr, nullptr);  
  
    DWORD err = GetLastError();  
  
    if (hWnd == NULL)  
    {  
        std::wstring error = L"Window creation failed.\nError: " + std::to_wstring(int(err));  
  
        MessageBox(NULL, error.c_str(), L"Error!",  
            MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK);  
        return 0;  
    }  
  
    ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_SHOW);  
    UpdateWindow(hWnd);  
  
    // Step 3: The Message Loop  
    while (GetMessage(&Msg, NULL, 0, 0) > 0)  
    {  
        TranslateMessage(&Msg);  
        DispatchMessage(&Msg);  
    }  
    return 0; // Msg.wParam;  
}