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 aero theme but instead of a control in the form i just want it to show more of that seethru aero look. And also i want to remove all buttons and icons and text from the window. How would i do this?

EDIT... I found a PERFECT example of what i want to create. Load up the windows mobility center on vista. How can i create something like that but without the boxes in it.

Answer 1

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 2

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

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

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")]
     private static extern IntPtr CreateDIBSection(IntPtr hdc, BITMAPINFO pbmi, uint iUsage, int 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
      IntPtr dib = CreateDIBSection(primaryHdc, info, 0, 0, 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);
     }

    }
}