I''ve seen several things, such as shell-skinning programs (Cool Desktop, for instance) and desktop pets (like the Virtual Pet Rock), that draw onto the screen with transparency and don''t even MENTION DirectX in their requirements. I assume that they draw using the Windows GDI. They must be getting a DC for the screen somehow. Does anybody know how to do this? (I don''t care whether it''s a SDK method or an MFC method!) lntakitopi@aol.com | http://geocities.com/guanajam/

The CreateWindowEx function has a style WS_EX_TRANSPARENT

..

I''ve been wondering about that too (winamp specifically),
that''s what I figured...
the old transparent window trick!
Diabolical!

When life hands you lemons, throw them at God's head.

Does that really let you still draw onto the DC? Hmm... I guess I'll try that! anyway, I found another way to do this here. It creates transparency via color keys on a background image. Pretty slow, though.

lntakitopi@aol.com / http://geocities.com/guanajam/

Edited by - SHilbert on June 21, 2000 12:45:02 AM

Hmmm.... I guess I''m not the only one on this site at midnight.

lntakitopi@aol.com | http://geocities.com/guanajam/

hey, not that this helps at ALL, but have any of you seen screenshots of MacOS X. Holy Ghandi!!! it''s sweet(no I''m not a Mac user, but still:-) the windows are transparent so you can see what is underneath them!!! it''s so cool. I can''t wait till it comes out so I can go see it on my friends new G4
later
-arsenius

To get the desktop''s DC:


HWND hDesktop;
HDC hDesktopDC;

hDesktop = GetDesktopWindow();
hDesktopDC = GetWindowDC(hDesktop);



To get the screen''s DC:


HDC hScreenDC;
hScreenDC = GetDC(NULL);



Good Luck!




- null_pointer
Sabre Multimedia