Possible to tell WB to ignore transparency when dealing with mouse events?
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 by Bolthus | Discussion: WindowBlinds
I'm building a WB 4.6 skin where one of the substyles uses dithering in the title bar to achieve a sort of alpha-blending for PC's that don't run XP (like mine 
). I manage it by having every other pixel in the title bar bitmap set as magic pink (think of a cross-hatch pattern), and telling WB to tile the image. I don't know how it would look at lower resolutions, but on my CRT at 1920x1440 you have to squint to see the individual pixels, such that it really looks alpha-blended (the titlebar text looks funky, but setting it to outlined text made it a lot more readable). The problem I'm having is that it's hard to grab the window via the title bar, since WB ignores mouse events if you click on a transparent pixel. Might there be a way to tell WB to ignore transparency (i.e., magic pink) when dealing with mouse events? This would be the last piece I need to perfect this.
I noticed that, for the title bar buttons, there's an option to say "add to area" for each button that makes them opaque (which is what I want) and also alleviates any problems when clicking on them. Basically I want to do something similar for the rest of the title bar -- either by artifically adding to its clickable area or by telling WB just to ignore transparency when dealing with mouse events.
). I manage it by having every other pixel in the title bar bitmap set as magic pink (think of a cross-hatch pattern), and telling WB to tile the image. I don't know how it would look at lower resolutions, but on my CRT at 1920x1440 you have to squint to see the individual pixels, such that it really looks alpha-blended (the titlebar text looks funky, but setting it to outlined text made it a lot more readable). The problem I'm having is that it's hard to grab the window via the title bar, since WB ignores mouse events if you click on a transparent pixel. Might there be a way to tell WB to ignore transparency (i.e., magic pink) when dealing with mouse events? This would be the last piece I need to perfect this.I noticed that, for the title bar buttons, there's an option to say "add to area" for each button that makes them opaque (which is what I want) and also alleviates any problems when clicking on them. Basically I want to do something similar for the rest of the title bar -- either by artifically adding to its clickable area or by telling WB just to ignore transparency when dealing with mouse events.
NightTrainthedark
Reply #2 Wednesday, October 19, 2005 4:32 AM
Reply #2 Wednesday, October 19, 2005 4:32 AM
Not sure if it would work but you can try this...
Make a new button. Make it the height of your title bar(window frame) by the width of your resolution. Make it 1% translucent. Do not give the button any active properties. Align it over your title bar. I am not sure about the z order and your normal buttons though. It will take some experimenting. It's early and the brain isn't moving yet but I think it might just work. Good luck.
Make a new button. Make it the height of your title bar(window frame) by the width of your resolution. Make it 1% translucent. Do not give the button any active properties. Align it over your title bar. I am not sure about the z order and your normal buttons though. It will take some experimenting. It's early and the brain isn't moving yet but I think it might just work. Good luck.
Bolthus
Reply #3 Wednesday, October 19, 2005 3:20 PM
Reply #3 Wednesday, October 19, 2005 3:20 PM
I'm giving it a try, but my 1% translucent TGA shows up as 100% black when I apply the skin. I've noticed that a lot of skins have this problem with titlebar buttons. Is this a Win2k thing, or is there something else I need to do to make it work (like a plugin or setting)?
One thing I've been able to do is specify a solid image to place behind the titlebar text (which makes the window 100% grippable there) but that isn't all that great a solution. Just for kicks I also experimented with setting the button as "Shape layer" but I don't know what that does (it shows up as 100% opaque when I do that). Basically I want to add to the toolbar's shape but not draw anything extra, or like you said, alpha-blend a 1% overlay but I don't know if Win2k can do that.
Just for kicks, last night I experimented with animating two different title bars, where one is out of phase with the other (has the opposite cross-hatch dither). It works, but it's S-L-O-W...
One thing I've been able to do is specify a solid image to place behind the titlebar text (which makes the window 100% grippable there) but that isn't all that great a solution. Just for kicks I also experimented with setting the button as "Shape layer" but I don't know what that does (it shows up as 100% opaque when I do that). Basically I want to add to the toolbar's shape but not draw anything extra, or like you said, alpha-blend a 1% overlay but I don't know if Win2k can do that.
Just for kicks, last night I experimented with animating two different title bars, where one is out of phase with the other (has the opposite cross-hatch dither). It works, but it's S-L-O-W...
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!
Reply #1 Wednesday, October 19, 2005 3:53 AM