INFO: Transparent Windows (92526)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Platform Software Development Kit (SDK) 1.0
- Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.1
This article was previously published under Q92526 SUMMARY
Microsoft Windows version does not support fully functional transparent
windows.
MORE INFORMATION
If a window is created using CreateWindowEx() with the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT
style, windows below it at the position where the original window was
initially placed are not obscured and show through. Moving the
WS_EX_TRANSPARENT window, however, results in the old window background
moving to the new position, because Windows does not support fully
functional transparent windows.
WS_EX_TRANSPARENT was designed to be used in very modal situations and the
lifetime of a window with this style must be very short. A good use of this
style is for drawing tracking points on the top of another window. For
example, a dialog editor would use it to draw tracking points around the
control that is being selected or moved.
In Windows 2000, specific colors in a window can be made truly transparent
by giving the window the WS_EX_LAYERED extended style and calling
SetLayeredWindowAttributes.
| Modification Type: | Minor | Last Reviewed: | 7/11/2005 |
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| Keywords: | kbinfo kbWndw kbWndwProp KB92526 |
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