How do I get the corresponding Hex value of an RGB color in Excel/VBA?

Question

I\'m trying to set a public const of a color in my VBA code. Normally, I can use:

Dim BLUE As Long
BLUE = RGB(183, 222, 232)

However, ther

Answer 1

The reason for the apparent reversal is that the RGB() function actually creates a BGR value.

More specifically, the red byte is the low order byte and the blue byte is the high order byte (or third of four at least).

Try this example in the Immediate window:

x = RGB(255, 0, 128) ' full red, half blue
? hex(x)
8000FF

x = RGB(128, 0, 255) ' half red, full blue
? hex(x)
FF0080

Note that the "full" byte (255 or FF) and the "half-full" byte (128 or 80) end up on the opposite sides in each result. That's why you need to specify the hex constant in the reverse order from what you'd expect to get the same value.

Also, no need to use an online converter. The Hex() function provides the hex value of the number given to it, and Int will take a string in hex format and return the decimal value:

? Int("&hff0000") 
 16711680

Update:

So to use this information to create your hex constants, you just run your RGB() and Hex() statements in the Immediate window as above (type Ctrl+G to open and close it), then use the resulting Hex value as your constant. If the value is less than 6 digits long, you can pad it on the left with zeros, but that's technically not necessary:

x = RGB(183, 222, 232)
? "Public Const MyBlue = &h" & hex(x)
Public Const MyBlue = &hE8DEB7

then copy that last line into your code.