I have a transparent window (created with WS_EX_LAYERED) and I'd like to receive mouse events of the zero-alpha regions.
As far as I know, I could:
1) Use mouse hook
2) Paint the background with almost completely transparent color (that has an opacity of 1)
However, the first solution is time consuming and the 2nd one will slow my rendering time as my window is stretched almost all over the desktop and most of the pixels are completely transparent at the moment.
Is there another way receiving those mouse events?
According to MSDN:
Hit testing of a layered window is
based on the shape and transparency of
the window. This means that the areas
of the window that are color-keyed or
whose alpha value is zero will let the
mouse messages through. However, if
the layered window has the
WS_EX_TRANSPARENT extended window
style, the shape of the layered window
will be ignored and the mouse events
will be passed to other windows
underneath the layered window.
However, in a new thread you could get continuously the coordinates of the mouse with GetCursorPos and if the position is inside one of your icons (regardless, that it's over a zero alpha pixel inside the icon) you handle it. Not too much better than the hook
Related
I have a LayeredWindow GUI that contains some child's and all of them contains the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT style.
The style is used to be able to remove their background.
When i move the mouse over the GUI only the LayeredWindow receives the message WM_MOUSEMOVE.
I tried calling ChildWindowFromPointEx using the XY pos got from the WM_MOUSEMOVE lParam
to detect the control being hovered, but the API didn't recognize any of the controls belonging to the child GUI's.
Docs says:
The search is restricted to immediate child windows. Grandchildren and deeper descendants are not searched.
The other option i tried was EnumChildWindow and compare each control rect to the XY position of the message, this method is using around 1% of CPU only from moving the mouse.
I wonder if there's any 'better' option?
According to the Doc:Layered Windows
Hit testing of a layered window is based on the shape and transparency
of the window. This means that the areas of the window that are
color-keyed or whose alpha value is zero will let the mouse messages
through. However, if the layered window has the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT
extended window style, the shape of the layered window will be ignored
and the mouse events will be passed to other windows underneath the
layered window.
You could try to use GetCursorPos function to get the position of the mouse cursor, in screen coordinates.
I have a layered window that I want all clicks to pass through no matter where the mouse is located. Some parts of it are color keyed, and others are not. Clicks pass through the window whenever the mouse is on a transparent part but whenever the mouse is on a non-transparent part, the window captures the click. An easy solution would be just to add the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT flag to the window but I DO NOT want to do that. I tried returning -1 on WM_NCHITTEST in WndProc since WM_NCHITTEST is called every time the mouse enters a non-transparent zone but that didn't work and clicks still didn't pass through non-color keyed areas of the window.
Thanks in advance
I have a MFC application where I have a Picture Control in the dialog. Eventually, I want to allow a user to draw a resizeable rectangle via mouse drag in the picture control over an image that I loaded.
I defined my own picture control class as a sub class of CStatic and am working with the mouse down, mouse up, and mouse move events but I can't seem to figure out how to allow the user to draw a rectangle. Any guidance on this would be appreciated.
Most of the examples I've looked at show me how to draw a rectangle in a CView:CWnd, but I'm not too familiar with MFC yet so I'm a bit lost. Thanks.
The usual technique for drawing a drag rect on top of the window contents is illustrated here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd145184(v=vs.85).aspx
That is Win32 API coding instead of MFC coding but the differences are minimal. The basic idea is that by drawing with SetROP2(hdc, R2_NOTXORPEN); you invert the existing pixels, then drawing the same rect again re-inverts those pixels back to the original image.
When the user clicks the mouse button you need to record the mouse coordinates so you know where the rectangle starts. You should also set some type of flag to indicate that the user is dragging the mouse. When the user moves the mouse get the current mouse position and use DrawDragRect or similar function to draw the rectangle. When the user releases the mouse button clear the previously mentioned "flag" and you're done with that part of the process.
You will also need to handle other events such as the control and/or parent window losing focus so that you can cancel the drag/draw operation. Since you did not include any code in your question it's hard to say what else you will need to do but those are the basics.
I need to draw an icon that moves approximately in sync with mouse cursor and is always on top of all windows.
OS: Windows 7
I have a solutions that work to some extend by drawing my icon in a top most transparent window. There are some major drawbacks in this solution since that top most window interferes with other top most windows and some full screen apps do not work correctly. Examples are start menu and task bar that will overlay my window if I do not regulary set it to be top most. For some full screen applications performance of updating position of window with icon hugely drops and it does not follow mouse smoothly.
There is another method that I came across where an icon is drawn directly to the device context of desktop Draw mouse pointer icon?. This solution has a drawback that there seems to be no good way of how to remove "trail", especially if desktop content changes quickly.
So my question: is there an ultimate solution that does not have the above mentioned problems?
Is it possible to draw above all windows in the "layer" of mouse cursor? Or make a second mouse cursor with my custom icon that I will control (I know that widows can display two independently controlled mouse cursors like CPNMouse)?
Can someone point me to the right direction?
Thanks!
Use a top-most window with transparency set via WS_EX_LAYERED / UpdateLayeredWindow.
If you set the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT style as well then the window won't intercept mouse input.
I seeking solution for Windows first.
I need to add visual effects to screen image without breaking the interactivity of all and every controls, that are on this screen.
The solution can be straightforward:
1. take a screenshot
2. show this screenshot in a separate window, above other windows
3. apply the effect to image, being shown on this window
But, this window (containing screenshot) makes any buttons and other controls below, unreachable for mouse interaction (clicking, hovering)
Is there any way to do this ?
From MSDN's documentation on layered windows...
"Hit testing of a layered window is based on the shape and transparency of the window. This means that the areas of the window that are color-keyed or whose alpha value is zero will let the mouse messages through. However, if the layered window has the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT extended window style, the shape of the layered window will be ignored and the mouse events will be passed to other windows underneath the layered window."
Here's an article about it. Notice this additional warning:
"setting the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT attribute affects the entire window: the user can't close the window using the 'x' button, select it with the mouse, or select any controls on the window. The application can still close the window programmatically."
Depending on what you're actually drawing and where, it might be more appropriate to use Owner-Drawn Controls rather than hover an "onion skin" over your whole window.