Windows Forms: Making a cursor bitmap partially transparent

Question

I want to use partially transparent images in drag/drop operations. This is all set up and works fine, but the actual transformation to transparency has a weird side effect.

Answer 1

When I run your code to modify an image in a picturebox with a background grid image, I get the effect you desired without changing your code. Perhaps your image is being drawn over the top of something that has a dark color...

Answer 2

GDI+ has a number of problems related to alpha blending when doing interop with GDI (and Win32). In this case, the call to bmp.GetHbitmap() will blend your image with a black background. An article on CodeProject gives more detail on the problem, and a solution that was used for adding images to an image list.

You should be able to use similar code to get the HBITMAP to use for the mask:

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern bool RtlMoveMemory(IntPtr dest, IntPtr source, int dwcount);
[DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr CreateDIBSection(IntPtr hdc, [In, MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPStruct)]BITMAPINFO pbmi, uint iUsage, out IntPtr ppvBits, IntPtr hSection, uint dwOffset);

public static IntPtr GetBlendedHBitmap(Bitmap bitmap)
{
    BITMAPINFO bitmapInfo = new BITMAPINFO();
    bitmapInfo.biSize = 40;
    bitmapInfo.biBitCount = 32;
    bitmapInfo.biPlanes = 1;

    bitmapInfo.biWidth = bitmap.Width;
    bitmapInfo.biHeight = -bitmap.Height;

    IntPtr pixelData;
    IntPtr hBitmap = CreateDIBSection(
        IntPtr.Zero, bitmapInfo, 0, out pixelData, IntPtr.Zero, 0);

    Rectangle bounds = new Rectangle(0, 0, bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height);
    BitmapData bitmapData = bitmap.LockBits(
        bounds, ImageLockMode.ReadOnly, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb );
    RtlMoveMemory(
        pixelData, bitmapData.Scan0, bitmap.Height * bitmapData.Stride);

    bitmap.UnlockBits(bitmapData);
    return hBitmap;
}

Answer 3

A while ago, I read this problem arises out of a requirement for pre-multiplied alpha channels in the bitmaps. I'm not sure if this was an issue with Windows cursors or GDI, and for the life of me, I cannot find documentation regarding this. So, while this explanation may or may not be correct, the following code does indeed do what you want, using a pre-multiplied alpha channel in the cursor bitmap.

public class CustomCursor
{
  // alphaLevel is a value between 0 and 255. For 50% transparency, use 128.
  public Cursor CreateCursorFromBitmap(Bitmap bitmap, byte alphaLevel, Point hotSpot)
  {
    Bitmap cursorBitmap = null;
    External.ICONINFO iconInfo = new External.ICONINFO();
    Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle(0, 0, bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height);

    try
    {
      // Here, the premultiplied alpha channel is specified
      cursorBitmap = new Bitmap(bitmap.Width, bitmap.Height, PixelFormat.Format32bppPArgb);

      // I'm assuming the source bitmap can be locked in a 24 bits per pixel format
      BitmapData bitmapData = bitmap.LockBits(rectangle, ImageLockMode.ReadOnly, PixelFormat.Format24bppRgb);
      BitmapData cursorBitmapData = cursorBitmap.LockBits(rectangle, ImageLockMode.WriteOnly, cursorBitmap.PixelFormat);

      // Use either SafeCopy() or UnsafeCopy() to set the bitmap contents
      SafeCopy(bitmapData, cursorBitmapData, alphaLevel);
      //UnsafeCopy(bitmapData, cursorBitmapData, alphaLevel);

      cursorBitmap.UnlockBits(cursorBitmapData);
      bitmap.UnlockBits(bitmapData);

      if (!External.GetIconInfo(cursorBitmap.GetHicon(), out iconInfo))
        throw new Exception("GetIconInfo() failed.");

      iconInfo.xHotspot = hotSpot.X;
      iconInfo.yHotspot = hotSpot.Y;
      iconInfo.IsIcon = false;

      IntPtr cursorPtr = External.CreateIconIndirect(ref iconInfo);
      if (cursorPtr == IntPtr.Zero)
        throw new Exception("CreateIconIndirect() failed.");

      return (new Cursor(cursorPtr));
    }
    finally
    {
      if (cursorBitmap != null)
        cursorBitmap.Dispose();
      if (iconInfo.ColorBitmap != IntPtr.Zero)
        External.DeleteObject(iconInfo.ColorBitmap);
      if (iconInfo.MaskBitmap != IntPtr.Zero)
        External.DeleteObject(iconInfo.MaskBitmap);
    }
  }

  private void SafeCopy(BitmapData srcData, BitmapData dstData, byte alphaLevel)
  {
    for (int y = 0; y < srcData.Height; y++)
      for (int x = 0; x < srcData.Width; x++)
      {
        byte b = Marshal.ReadByte(srcData.Scan0, y * srcData.Stride + x * 3);
        byte g = Marshal.ReadByte(srcData.Scan0, y * srcData.Stride + x * 3 + 1);
        byte r = Marshal.ReadByte(srcData.Scan0, y * srcData.Stride + x * 3 + 2);

        Marshal.WriteByte(dstData.Scan0, y * dstData.Stride + x * 4, b);
        Marshal.WriteByte(dstData.Scan0, y * dstData.Stride + x * 4 + 1, g);
        Marshal.WriteByte(dstData.Scan0, y * dstData.Stride + x * 4 + 2, r);
        Marshal.WriteByte(dstData.Scan0, y * dstData.Stride + x * 4 + 3, alphaLevel);
      }
  }

  private unsafe void UnsafeCopy(BitmapData srcData, BitmapData dstData, byte alphaLevel)
  {
    for (int y = 0; y < srcData.Height; y++)
    {
      byte* srcRow = (byte*)srcData.Scan0 + (y * srcData.Stride);
      byte* dstRow = (byte*)dstData.Scan0 + (y * dstData.Stride);

      for (int x = 0; x < srcData.Width; x++)
      {
        dstRow[x * 4] = srcRow[x * 3];
        dstRow[x * 4 + 1] = srcRow[x * 3 + 1];
        dstRow[x * 4 + 2] = srcRow[x * 3 + 2];
        dstRow[x * 4 + 3] = alphaLevel;
      }
    }
  }
}

The pinvoke declarations are found in the External class, shown here:

public class External
{
  [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
  public struct ICONINFO
  {
    public bool IsIcon;
    public int xHotspot;
    public int yHotspot;
    public IntPtr MaskBitmap;
    public IntPtr ColorBitmap;
  };

  [DllImport("user32.dll")]
  public static extern bool GetIconInfo(IntPtr hIcon, out ICONINFO piconinfo);

  [DllImport("user32.dll")]
  public static extern IntPtr CreateIconIndirect([In] ref ICONINFO piconinfo);

  [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
  public static extern bool DeleteObject(IntPtr hObject);

  [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
  public static extern IntPtr CreateBitmap(int nWidth, int nHeight, uint cPlanes, uint cBitsPerPel, IntPtr lpvBits);
}

A few notes on the code:

1. To use the unsafe method, UnsafeCopy(), you must compile with the /unsafe flag.
2. The bitmap copying methods are ugly, especially the safe method, which uses Marshal.ReadByte()/Marshal.WriteByte() calls. There must be a faster way to copy bitmap data while also inserting alpha bytes.
3. I do assume that the source bitmap is able to be locked in a 24 bits per pixel format. This should not be a problem, though.

Answer 4

try lowering Blue's value to .7 or .6 and see if that is closer to what you want.

Here's a good site that explains ColorMatrix:

Answer 5

Forgive me if my suggestion is too simplistic (I'm still new to C#) but I found this on the MSDN site and maybe this might point you in the right direction?

/matt