C# Transparent GUI

Question

Hey all. i was wondering how would i make a GUI that is \"transparent\" in C#. Now im not talking about transparencykey etc.

I want to make a window that uses vistas

Answer 1

How to Glass into your Client Area

Here is the API I used when I did this for our Windows app a few years ago.

Check out the method ExtendGlassIntoClientArea(Form form, int leftMargin, int topMargin, int rightMargin, int bottomMargin)

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

namespace UserInterface
{
    public enum TextStyle
    {
        Normal,
        Glowing
    }

    public static class Glass
    {
        [DllImport("dwmapi.dll")]
        private static extern void DwmIsCompositionEnabled(ref bool pfEnabled);
        [DllImport("dwmapi.dll")]
        private static extern void DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea(IntPtr hWnd, ref MARGINS pMargins);
        [DllImport("gdi32.dll", ExactSpelling = true, SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern IntPtr CreateCompatibleDC(IntPtr hDC);
        [DllImport("gdi32.dll", ExactSpelling = true)]
        private static extern IntPtr SelectObject(IntPtr hDC, IntPtr hObject);
        [DllImport("gdi32.dll", ExactSpelling = true, SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern bool DeleteObject(IntPtr hObject);
        [DllImport("gdi32.dll", ExactSpelling = true, SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern bool DeleteDC(IntPtr hdc);
        [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
        private static extern bool BitBlt(IntPtr hdc, int nXDest, int nYDest, int nWidth, int nHeight, IntPtr hdcSrc, int nXSrc, int nYSrc, uint dwRop);
        [DllImport("UxTheme.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
        private static extern int DrawThemeTextEx(IntPtr hTheme, IntPtr hdc, int iPartId, int iStateId, string text, int iCharCount, int dwFlags, ref RECT pRect, ref DTTOPTS pOptions);
        [DllImport("gdi32.dll")]
        static extern IntPtr CreateDIBSection(IntPtr hdc, [In] ref BITMAPINFO pbmi, uint iUsage, out IntPtr ppvBits, IntPtr hSection, uint dwOffset);

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        private struct DTTOPTS
        {
            public int dwSize;
            public int dwFlags;
            public int crText;
            public int crBorder;
            public int crShadow;
            public int iTextShadowType;
            public POINT ptShadowOffset;
            public int iBorderSize;
            public int iFontPropId;
            public int iColorPropId;
            public int iStateId;
            public bool fApplyOverlay;
            public int iGlowSize;
            public int pfnDrawTextCallback;
            public IntPtr lParam;
        }

        private const int DTT_COMPOSITED = 8192;
        private const int DTT_GLOWSIZE = 2048;
        private const int DTT_TEXTCOLOR = 1;

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        private struct POINT
        {
            public POINT(int x, int y)
            {
                this.x = x;
                this.y = y;
            }

            public int x;
            public int y;
        }

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        private class BITMAPINFO
        {
            public int biSize;
            public int biWidth;
            public int biHeight;
            public short biPlanes;
            public short biBitCount;
            public int biCompression;
            public int biSizeImage;
            public int biXPelsPerMeter;
            public int biYPelsPerMeter;
            public int biClrUsed;
            public int biClrImportant;
            public byte bmiColors_rgbBlue;
            public byte bmiColors_rgbGreen;
            public byte bmiColors_rgbRed;
            public byte bmiColors_rgbReserved;
        }

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        private struct MARGINS
        {
            public int left, right, top, bottom;
        }

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
        private struct RECT
        {
            public int Left;
            public int Top;
            public int Right;
            public int Bottom;

            public RECT(int left, int top, int right, int bottom)
            {
                Left = left;
                Top = top;
                Right = right;
                Bottom = bottom;
            }

            public RECT(Rectangle rectangle)
            {
                Left = rectangle.X;
                Top = rectangle.Y;
                Right = rectangle.Right;
                Bottom = rectangle.Bottom;
            }

            public Rectangle ToRectangle()
            {
                return new Rectangle(Left, Top, Right - Left, Bottom - Top);
            }

            public override string ToString()
            {
                return "Left: " + Left + ", " + "Top: " + Top + ", Right: " + Right + ", Bottom: " + Bottom;
            }
        }
        public static bool IsCompositionEnabled
        {
            get
            {
                if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major < 6)
                    return false;

                bool compositionEnabled = false;
                DwmIsCompositionEnabled(ref compositionEnabled);
                return compositionEnabled;
            }
        }

        public static void ExtendGlassIntoClientArea(Form form, int leftMargin, int topMargin, int rightMargin, int bottomMargin)
        {
            MARGINS m = new MARGINS();
            m.left = leftMargin;
            m.right = rightMargin;
            m.top = topMargin;
            m.bottom = bottomMargin;

            DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea(form.Handle, ref m);
        }

        public static void DrawText(Graphics graphics, string text, Font font, Rectangle bounds, Color color, TextFormatFlags flags)
        {
            DrawText(graphics, text, font, bounds, color, flags, TextStyle.Normal);
        }

        public static void DrawText(Graphics graphics, string text, Font font, Rectangle bounds, Color color, TextFormatFlags flags, TextStyle textStyle)
        {
            IntPtr primaryHdc = graphics.GetHdc();

            // Create a memory DC so we can work offscreen
            IntPtr memoryHdc = CreateCompatibleDC(primaryHdc);

            // Create a device-independent bitmap and select it into our DC
            BITMAPINFO info = new BITMAPINFO();
            info.biSize = Marshal.SizeOf(info);
            info.biWidth = bounds.Width;
            info.biHeight = -bounds.Height;
            info.biPlanes = 1;
            info.biBitCount = 32;
            info.biCompression = 0; // BI_RGB
            int ppvBits;
            IntPtr dib = CreateDIBSection(primaryHdc, ref info, 0, out ppvBits, IntPtr.Zero, 0);
            SelectObject(memoryHdc, dib);

            // Create and select font
            IntPtr fontHandle = font.ToHfont();
            SelectObject(memoryHdc, fontHandle);

            // Draw glowing text
            System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles.VisualStyleRenderer renderer = new System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles.VisualStyleRenderer(System.Windows.Forms.VisualStyles.VisualStyleElement.Window.Caption.Active);
            DTTOPTS dttOpts = new DTTOPTS();
            dttOpts.dwSize = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(DTTOPTS));

            if (textStyle == TextStyle.Glowing)
            {
                dttOpts.dwFlags = DTT_COMPOSITED | DTT_GLOWSIZE | DTT_TEXTCOLOR;
            }
            else
            {
                dttOpts.dwFlags = DTT_COMPOSITED | DTT_TEXTCOLOR;
            }
            dttOpts.crText = ColorTranslator.ToWin32(color);
            dttOpts.iGlowSize = 8; // This is about the size Microsoft Word 2007 uses
            RECT textBounds = new RECT(0, 0, bounds.Right - bounds.Left, bounds.Bottom - bounds.Top);
            DrawThemeTextEx(renderer.Handle, memoryHdc, 0, 0, text, -1, (int)flags, ref textBounds, ref dttOpts);

            // Copy to foreground
            const int SRCCOPY = 0x00CC0020;
            BitBlt(primaryHdc, bounds.Left, bounds.Top, bounds.Width, bounds.Height, memoryHdc, 0, 0, SRCCOPY);

            // Clean up
            DeleteObject(fontHandle);
            DeleteObject(dib);
            DeleteDC(memoryHdc);

            graphics.ReleaseHdc(primaryHdc);
        }

    }
}

Answer 2

if WPF, it's a matter of turning transparency on, and setting the right values for the background (additionally, WPF supports AERO natively for borders and what-not).

For traditional winforms... things start getting hard.

Answer 3

plus there's always Form.Opacity property of the windows Form.

Answer 4

Have you tried to check out this which was referred in another question?