[Mono-winforms-list] transparency and translucency

max aranym@adelphia.net
Wed, 29 Sep 2004 09:07:27 -0700


On Tuesday 28 September 2004 20:45, Miguel de Icaza wrote:
> Hello,
>
> > Can linux handle transparent and/or translucent windows ?
> >
> > By transparent, I am talking about a window that can have 'holes'
>
> The window can have holes.  They are called "Shaped Windows".
>
> > By translucent, I am talking about a window that can fade in/out,
> > blending with the desktop background.
>
> Well, this is trivial to implement fade in/out:
>
> 	* Render image into pixmap.
> 	* Grab server.
> 	* Screenshot area.
> 	* Iterate over transparency, render into screen.
> 	* Release grab.
>
> Blending has been done forever, but it is limited.

> > Also, by translucent and transparent, I am talking about applying partial
> > opacity to certain areas of the window.
>
> Shaped windows only have one bit of alpha channel: full or not.
>
> New versions of X support more advanced transparency than describe
> above, but you will have to ask on the proper lists to get a good
> answers.

I just subscribed to XFree86 devel list. Thanks for the info.

> > I have written a new UI toolkit for my company - because I am not
> > completely happy with the MS implementation of a few controls - , and
> > among other things I re-wrote a complete menu class that looks like the
> > Outlook 2003 menus, with shadowed border.
>
> You get shadows for free on new versions of X, otherwise you have to
> resort to the hack I mentioned before.

good to know. I'll get back to this thread after I get a few answers on 
XFree86.

max