Make a Form Translucent By Using Layered Windows (Windows 2000 only)

Category:

Windows 2000/XP

Type:

Snippets

Difficulty:

Intermediate

Author:

Intelligent Solutions Inc.

Version Compatibility:

More information:

Windows 2000 introduces a new windows stlye called layered windows, and new API functions that make use of this style to create transparency and transition effects. This examples uses layered windows to make a form translucent (partially transparent). The comments within the code explains its usage.

Instructions: Copy the declarations and code below and paste directly into your VB project.

Declarations:
Option Explicit Private Const GWL_EXSTYLE = (-20) Private Const WS_EX_LAYERED = &H80000 Private Const LWA_ALPHA = &H2 Private Declare Function GetWindowLong Lib "user32" _ Alias "GetWindowLongA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, _ ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long Private Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" _ Alias "SetWindowLongA" (ByVal hWnd As Long, _ ByVal nIndex As Long, ByVal dwNewLong As Long) _ As Long Private Declare Function SetLayeredWindowAttributes Lib _ "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal crKey As Long, _ ByVal bAlpha As Byte, ByVal dwFlags As Long) As Long

Code: