Semi-transparent cursor [duplicate]

Answer 1

This might solve your problem

public Cursor pointer() throws Exception {

        int[] pixels = new int[16 * 16];

        Image image = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createImage(
                new MemoryImageSource(16, 16, pixels, 0, 16));

        Cursor transparentCursor = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().createCustomCursor(
                         image, new Point(0, 0), "transparentCursor");
        return transparentCursor;
}

Answer 2

Use a semi-transparent image for the cursor. AFAIU the only image type understood by J2SE that supports partial transparency - is PNG.

---

Neither Metal nor the default Windows PLAF seems to support partial transparency in any way I understand it.

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import java.io.File;
import java.net.URL;

/** The example demonstrates how a semi-transparent image is
NOT supported as a cursor image.  It is drawn as a solid color. */
class SemiTransparentCursor {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final BufferedImage biPartial = new BufferedImage(
            32,
            32,
            BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
        Graphics2D g = biPartial.createGraphics();
        g.setColor(new Color(255,0,0,63));
        int[] x = {0,32,0};
        int[] y = {0,0,32};
        g.fillPolygon(x,y,3);
        g.dispose();

        final Cursor watermarkCursor = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().
            createCustomCursor(
                biPartial,
                new Point(0, 0),
                "watermarkCursor");
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(
                    null,
                    new ImageIcon(biPartial));

                JEditorPane jep = new JEditorPane();
                jep.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(400,400));
                jep.setCursor(watermarkCursor);
                try {
                    URL source = new File("SemiTransparentCursor.java").
                        toURI().toURL();
                    jep.setPage(source);
                } catch(Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }

                JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(
                    null,
                    jep);
            }
        });
    }
}

The upshot is - I was wrong. Using a semi-transparent icon will not achieve the goal.