Use the BackColor and ForeColor properties to specify the item's background and foreground colors. Use the ForeColorList property to specify the default foreground color for the group's list. Use the ForeColor property to specify the control's foreground color. Use the <fgcolor> built in HTML tag in the Caption property to define portions of text using a specified foreground color. Use the AllowHighLight property to avoid highlighting an item when the cursor hovers it.

In VB.NET or C# you require the following functions until the .NET framework will provide:

You can use the following VB.NET function:

     Shared Function ToUInt32(ByVal c As Color) As UInt32
         Dim i As Long
	 i = c.R
	 i = i + 256 * c.G
	 i = i + 256 * 256 * c.B
	 ToUInt32 = Convert.ToUInt32(i)
     End Function 

You can use the following C# function:

private UInt32 ToUInt32(Color c)
{
	long i;
	i = c.R;
	i = i + 256 * c.G;
	i = i + 256 * 256 * c.B;
	return Convert.ToUInt32(i);
}

The following VB sample changes the item's foreground color:

With ExplorerBar1.Groups(0).Item(0)
    .ForeColor = vbBlue
End With

The following C++ sample changes the item's foreground color:

m_explorerbar.GetGroups().GetItem( COleVariant( long(0) ) ).GetItem( COleVariant( long(0) ) ).SetForeColor( RGB(0,0,255) ) ;

The following VB.NET sample changes the item's foreground color:

With AxExplorerBar1.Groups(0).Item(0)
    .ForeColor = ToUInt32(Color.Blue)
End With

The following C# sample changes the item's foreground color:

axExplorerBar1.Groups[0][0].ForeColor = ToUInt32(Color.Blue);

The following VFP sample changes the item's foreground color:

With thisform.ExplorerBar1.Groups(0).Item(0)
	.ForeColor = RGB(0,0,255)
EndWith