Microsoft KB Archive/92526

{|
 * width="100%"|

INFO: Transparent Windows

 * }

Q92526

-

The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Win32 Software Development Kit (SDK)
 * Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.1

-

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.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbOSWinNT kbOSWin2000 kbSDKWin32 kbGrpDSUser kbOSWin kbWndw kbWndwProp

Issue type : kbinfo

Technology : kbWin32SDKSearch kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbSDKSearch kbWin32sSearch kbWinSDKSearch kbWinSDK310