Making Vista / 7 User Frame control? (WinAPI)

Question

I notice Vista/7 uses this type of control as well as Windows Live Messenger. This is the control:

How can this control be programably added to a WinAPI application?

Thanks

Answer 1

This is almost what you want (but surprisingly far from it):

t := OpenThemeData(Handle, 'STARTPANEL');
DrawThemeBackground(t, Canvas.Handle, SPP_USERPICTURE, 0, rect(10, 10, 100, 100), nil);

(Delphi code, but only WinAPI functions.)

Maybe some other part suits you better: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb773210(VS.85).aspx

Answer 2

This resource is Bitmap 7016 in explorer.exe's resources. It is a 32 bit bitmap, so it has an extra alpha channel. This is how it is done.