Does anyone know how to create a sprite that is not restricted to a window. An example of what I want to do is the paper clip character in the microsoft office suite. It seems to be a program of its own. Even when the parent app is minimized it will remain on top of other programs. It acts something like an icon in that it has a transparent background, but it is not confinded to any window. I''m using Delphi (if that makes any difference.) Any help would be greatly appreceiated. Thanx in advance. Allen

I''m not sure how you would do the paperclip / MS Agent window under Delphi. But these ''sprites'' as you call them are realy windows that have had an area of them removed by using a region description for the window.

Have a look in your Delphi help for SetWindowRgn() it''s an API call that you use to set the window region, anything outside of the region is not displayed.

I''ve seen a couple of articles regarding using a bitmap for a region but I can not remember where I saw them, sorry.