Reasons for why a WinForms label does not want to be transparent?

Question

Why can\'t I set the BackColor of a Label to Transparent? I have done it before, but now it just don\'t want to...

I created a new UserControl, added a progressbar a

Answer 1

If you want to focus on designing your windows application, I suggest you use WPF.

Making controles transparent in WPF is very easy.

<TextBox Width="200" Height="40" Opacity="0.5"/>

Answer 2

It is possible to do exactly what you want to achieve. It just takes a little time to play with controls. It is possible to create a Label control with transparent background, and place it on top of Progressbar control.

Check my answer to another SO question.

Answer 3

Add a new class to your project and post the code shown below. Build. Drop the new control from the top of the toolbox onto your form.

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class TransparentLabel : Label {
  public TransparentLabel() {
    this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.Opaque, true);
    this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer, false);
  }
  protected override CreateParams CreateParams {
    get {
      CreateParams parms = base.CreateParams;
      parms.ExStyle |= 0x20;  // Turn on WS_EX_TRANSPARENT
      return parms;
    }
  }
}

Answer 4

Most simple solution is following:

1. Set background color to transparency either in visual editor or in constructor of your form:

   this.label1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;

2. Set Parent property of your label to control that you want to be visible behind the text. This can be done in form constructor or in Load method:

   this.label1.Parent = progressBar1;

Its true that this is not true transparency as in DirectX. The result you see on display is composed only from two layers. You cant sum up more than two layers with this approach (each layer having its own transparency defined by alpha parameter). But its suitable for many practical situations you can encounter in Winforms programming.

Answer 5

Select BackColor, go the Web tab, and select Transparent. Generates the following.

        this.label1.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Transparent;

Answer 6

So as the comment to my previous answer stated, Control is the default behaviour, and is what I remembered as being Transparent.

Anyway, have you tried setting the background property of your UserControl, or the container your label is in (Panel, Form, whatever?), your label should reflect that color :)

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Old Answer: Its been a while since I did winforms programming, but as I recall labels are transparent per default? thus its only the text that gets an actual color and the bacground color mimics whatever is behind it :)