Use the BackColor property to change the control's background color. Use the Picture property to layout a picture on the control's background. Use the Appearance property to change the visual appearance of the control's border. Use the BackColorPanels property to assign the same visual aspect for all panels in the status bar control. Use the ForeColor property to specify the control's foreground color.

The following VB sample shows "How do I change the control's background color":

With StatusBar1
	.BeginUpdate 
	.BackColor = 13158600
	.VisualAppearance.Add 4,"c:\exontrol\images\border.ebn"
	.VisualAppearance.Add 5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1"
	.BackColorPanels = 83886080
	.Format = "1,2,3,4,(5/6/7/8)"
	.Debug = True
	.EndUpdate 
End With

The following VB.NET sample shows "How do I change the control's background color":

With AxStatusBar1
	.BeginUpdate 
	.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(200,200,200)
	.VisualAppearance.Add 4,"c:\exontrol\images\border.ebn"
	.VisualAppearance.Add 5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1"
	.GetOcx().BackColorPanels = &H5000000
	.Format = "1,2,3,4,(5/6/7/8)"
	.Debug = True
	.EndUpdate 
End With

The following C++ sample shows "How do I change the control's background color":

/*
	Copy and paste the following directives to your header file as
	it defines the namespace 'EXSTATUSBARLib' for the library: 'ExStatusBar 1.0 Control Library'

	#import "D:\\Exontrol\\ExStatusBar\\project\\Demo\\ExStatusBar.dll"
	using namespace EXSTATUSBARLib;
*/
EXSTATUSBARLib::IStatusBarPtr spStatusBar1 = GetDlgItem(IDC_STATUSBAR1)->GetControlUnknown();
spStatusBar1->BeginUpdate();
spStatusBar1->PutBackColor(13158600);
spStatusBar1->GetVisualAppearance()->Add(4,"c:\\exontrol\\images\\border.ebn");
spStatusBar1->GetVisualAppearance()->Add(5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1");
spStatusBar1->PutBackColorPanels(83886080);
spStatusBar1->PutFormat(L"1,2,3,4,(5/6/7/8)");
spStatusBar1->PutDebug(VARIANT_TRUE);
spStatusBar1->EndUpdate();

The following C# sample shows "How do I change the control's background color":

axStatusBar1.BeginUpdate();
axStatusBar1.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(200,200,200);
axStatusBar1.VisualAppearance.Add(4,"c:\\exontrol\\images\\border.ebn");
axStatusBar1.VisualAppearance.Add(5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1");
(axStatusBar1.GetOcx() as EXSTATUSBARLib.StatusBar).BackColorPanels = 0x5000000;
axStatusBar1.Format = "1,2,3,4,(5/6/7/8)";
axStatusBar1.Debug = true;
axStatusBar1.EndUpdate();

The following VFP sample shows "How do I change the control's background color":

with thisform.StatusBar1
	.BeginUpdate
	.BackColor = 13158600
	.VisualAppearance.Add(4,"c:\exontrol\images\border.ebn")
	.VisualAppearance.Add(5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1")
	.BackColorPanels = 83886080
	.Format = "1,2,3,4,(5/6/7/8)"
	.Debug = .T.
	.EndUpdate
endwith