I have a multi-level window, I need to display translucent text. The problem is that I can call SetLayeredWindowAttributes() only once, ie I need to make the background transparent first:
SetLayeredWindowAttributes(hwnd, 0, 0, LWA_COLORKEY);
and then draw text and apply transparency to the entire window:
SetLayeredWindowAttributes(hwnd, 0, 255, LWA_ALPHA);
but each subsequent call to SetLayeredWindowAttributes() overrides the previous one.
I tried to display the text using AlphaBlend(), but since what I need to mix with lies in another window, the text just turned gray.
Related
I'm looking for a way to paint my custom controls into both the client and non-client area of a dialog. More or less the white area below
I used DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea and I managed to get that effect by extending the client area on the entire window with
MARGINS mar = {-1, -1, -1, -1};
DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea ( hWnd, &mar );
but now every control which I set with a transparent background
SetBkMode(hdc, TRANSPARENT);
have their colors blended with the aero stuff (the same problem you can see here).
Is there a way for the controls to retain their right color and avoid blending with the background?
It is because the window treated the black colour as the transparency key.
You just need to set another value:
SetWindowLong(hWnd,GWL_EXSTYLE,WS_EX_LAYERED);
// Choose a colour that you will not use in the program, eg RGB(200,201,202)
SetLayeredWindowAttributes(hWnd,RGB(200,201,202),0,LWA_COLORKEY);
I'm trying to create transparency in my application.
For instance the window of my app is square and i want to make it round, by hiding parts of the window.
My code looks something like this:
HDC hdcMask = nullptr;
HBITMAP hBMP = (HBITMAP)LoadImageW(nullptr, L"C:\\mask.bmp", IMAGE_BITMAP, 150, 160, LR_LOADFROMFILE);
SelectObject(hdcMask, hBMP);
HWND hWnd = GetActiveWindow();
HDC hdcWindow = GetDC(hWnd);
TransparentBlt(hdcWindow, 0, 0, 150, 160, hdcWindow, 0, 0, 150, 160, RGB(0,0,0));
where mask.bmp is a bitmap where white is what i want to be transparent and black is what I want to be visible.
After applying this code, nothings happens. What am I doing wrong ? Is there another method to obtain the desired result?
Note: I need this code to work on Windows XP OS or later.
There are several ways of making a window transparent and/or translucent.
SetWindowRgn will make parts of a window transparent.
SetLayeredWindowAttributes can make parts of a window transparent, and can also apply translucency to the whole of the rest of the window.
UpdateLayeredWindow can give individual windows different amounts of translucency.
Why don't you use a different format than bmp where you can also include alpha data?
You can use a PixelFormat32bppPARGB Bitmap, use Bitmap::LockBits an Bitmap::Unlockbits
to keep the file's format and avoid having the alpha setting overwritten.
I am trying to draw/print a text, but i need a transparent background. I have been trying this:
TextOut(hDC, 50, 50, "MY TEXT", lstrlen("MY TEXT"));
The problem is that this generates an white background.
I have also tried with this:
ExtTextOut(hDC, 50, 50, ETO_OPAQUE, TA_LEFT, "MY TEXT", lstrlen("MY TEXT"), NULL);
ETO_OPAQUE - sets the background color on the text area to the current background color of the program. But if my background is dynamic and changes, this would not work, and that's why i need a transparent background.
For more information on these 2 functions http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd144821(v=vs.85)
I know i could insert the text into an bitmap and use "TransparentBlt" to achieve the "same" effect, but... Anyone who knows another function to draw / print text with transparent background, or any ideas on how i could solve this so called problem?
Thanks... =)
SetBkMode( hdc, TRANSPARENT );
I need to draw a system-like cursor that I simply can control the position of.
In other words, I need to draw a transparent image that looks just like the system cursor and I need it to be rendered on top of all other windows.
I've tried multiple approaches, but they all seem to have some downside.
I've figured out that I can load the cursor image by using LoadImage() and passing the resource OCR_NORMAL and casting it into a HBITMAP.
HICON NormalCursor = (HICON)LoadImage(NULL, MAKEINTRESOURCE(OCR_NORMAL), IMAGE_CURSOR, 0, 0, LR_DEFAULTSIZE | LR_SHARED);
Then getting the "desktop" HDC
hDC = GetDC(NULL);
Then I can try to draw it using DrawIconEx()
DrawIconEx(hDC, (int)x, 0, NormalCursor, 0, 0, NULL, NULL, DI_DEFAULTSIZE | DI_NORMAL);
The DI_NORMAL flag is supposed to combine the DI_IMAGE & DI_MASK flags giving me a transparent image/icon/cursor, but this is my result on the desktop:
Not to mention that if it moves it creates trails.
By making a transparent window using SetLayeredWindowAttributes like this:
SetLayeredWindowAttributes(hWnd, RGB(0, 0, 0), 50, LWA_COLORKEY);
And having the background color of my window to be black, I can remove the background from the window. But due to doing alpha based on a color I get ugly black pixels around my cursor icon.
Can I make the background of a window transparent in some other way than using a color mask?
How do I draw a transparent cursor on top of all windows properly?
I would recommend that you do make your own window, and do something like what's described at http://www.codeproject.com/KB/GDI-plus/CsTranspTutorial3.aspx . It's in C#, but most of it is just win32 calls. It does a nice job of variable transparency, too, not just 0%/100%.
Isn't the outline of the cursor black? Is the problem just that you're making the outline transparent too? Why don't you just change the transparency color (and the background color of the window) to anything other than black or white?
I'm trying to draw semi-transparent rectangles on an invisible HWND. However, clearing the window with ID2D1HwndRenderTarget::Clear just makes the entire window black, so when I draw rectangles on top, they look semi-black.
If I don't Clear() and don't draw, then the window is invisible, as it should be. Clear() is the culprit here; however if I don't use it then painting messes up pretty badly.
Here's the code I'm using in my WindowProc:
case WM_PAINT:
// Begin drawing
pRenderTarget->BeginDraw();
pRenderTarget->SetTransform(D2D1::Matrix3x2F::Identity());
// Clear the window
pRenderTarget->Clear();
// Paint the panel and its children
D2DSurface()->StartPainting();
{
D2DSurface()->PaintTraverse(panel);
}
D2DSurface()->FinishPainting();
// Finish drawing
HRESULT hr = plat->pRenderTarget->EndDraw();
Thanks in advance!
Transparency is a problem. The only window that support per-pixel transparency are WS_EX_LAYERED windows. These windows were designed for uses like drag-drop icons, and that leads to problems in every other usage.
Using D2D with WS_EX_LAYERED windows requires that you use a DXGI render target. To EndDraw, you get a DC out of the render target then pass that into the layered window and tell the layered window to update itself. (Try this with a HWNDRenderTarget - it will probably crash the device driver).
I suspect your window appears transparent because it's not drawing at all.
Another gotcha you may run into... if the window is sufficiently transparent, mouse clicks will go through it to the underlying window.
Use ID2D1DCRenderTarget instead of ID2D1HwndRendTarget, then bind the device context (DC) of your window before drawing begins.
Of course, you will need to set the WS_EX_LAYERED for your window and then call SetLayeredWindowAttributes to set the transparent color:
SetLayeredWindowAttributes(hWnd, RGB(0, 0, 0), 0, LWA_COLORKEY);
Screenshot:
When creating your RenderTarget, you'll have to tell D2D that you want to use alpha (in premultiplied mode) in the pixel format:
HRESULT hr = mD2DFactory->CreateHwndRenderTarget(
D2D1::RenderTargetProperties( D2D1_RENDER_TARGET_TYPE_DEFAULT, D2D1::PixelFormat( DXGI_FORMAT_UNKNOWN, D2D1_ALPHA_MODE_PREMULTIPLIED ) ),
D2D1::HwndRenderTargetProperties( mWindow, size ),
&mRenderTarget );
After this, calling Clear() with an alpha value of zero works just fine.