Setting the color property

[jack]

I have an object, for example a label. 
In my database I have a char field holding the word red.

I want to use the value in the database to change the color property of the label object.

label1.Color:='red';  throws an error.
Error: Incompatible type for arg no. 1: Got "Constant String", expected "TGraphicsColor"

How do I make the transition from the word in the database to a TGraphicsColor?

label1.Color:=strToGraphicsColor('red'); is not the answer.

[typo]

Label1.Color := clRed;

Color is of type TColor.

[jack]

And what datatype is clRed in my database?
This is where I get confused.

[typo]

According to the compiler error message, it is of type String.

[jack]

And how do I get it converted from that string to the TColor?

[typo]

Probably you need to write your own function and StrToGraphicsColor could be a good name for it.

[jack]

Thank you so very much for your help.

[User137]

TColor can be represented as DWORD type that is unsigned 32-bit integer. It supports all RGB colors 0..255 combinations. So depending what you need the colors for, simple string can't represent every color in the world.

[jack]

Label1.Color := StrToInt('$' + '0000ff');                // Background
Label1.Font.Color := StrToInt('$' + 'FFFFFF');       // Text

This answer will do for now.

Thank you User137 for your explanation.

[felipemdc]

Your code is equivalent to this faster one:

Label1.Color := $0000ff;                // Background
Label1.Font.Color := $FFFFFF;       // Text