Transparent Background Fails under Windows Aero

[jrohde]

Hello,

I was just coding a very simple, very small program that outputs text over a transparent window at random locations using TextOut and by processing WM_TIMER at short intervals (WS_POPUP style, and NULL_BRUSH for hbrBackground when registering the window class, so it looks like there's no window, really). I ran it initially in XP, worked fine.

I opened the same code on my laptop, which uses Vista's Aero theme, and now the background is black. I went to set the theme back to classic, and it was again transparent.

Is there something about the way Aero uses transparency that messes this up? If it's possible, how can I code to correct it?

[Duthomhas]

It really only worked to begin with because it is a simple trick. The window isn't actually transparent.

Vista works a little differently than Windows, but I really don't know how to use the windows overlay functions.

The other option would be to take a snapshot of the desktop and copy the desired part into your window's client area, draw the text, and display the window without decorations.

Hope this helps.