How to make front the panel transparent while certain control still visible?

[Andrey_Dmitriev]

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hutha wrote:
it really really amazing thing. so cool app. i just try to do this thing. thks "Andrey Dmitriev" for post it here.

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I would like to forward "thanks" to tst who pointed us to according WinAPI functions.

Andrey.

[lshi]

Good to see how you made the front pane transparent (in the 1st sequence). No wonder why I couldn't  paint that way and had to use it for another vi instead. Just wondering why setting "window runs transparently" won't work either?

[lshi]

My mistake, it's white. Now I see.

[tst]

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Andrey Dmitriev wrote:

No, sorry, I haven't 8.2 on my PC for downgrade.

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Just so you know for next time, that restriction no longer applies. Currently, all newer versions of LabVIEW can save all the way back to 8.0.

[Andrey_Dmitriev]

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tst wrote:

Just so you know for next time, that restriction no longer applies. Currently, all newer versions of LabVIEW can save all the way back to 8.0.

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Ah, sorry, that was my mistake. Sure its possible. Just shortly before this post I've got problem with downgrade to LabVIEW 7.1 (because I haven't 8.0/8.2 installed) and it was just in my head.

[muks]

thank you Tst and andrey

[Nil@Lear]

Hi Tst,

I have created custom controls in LabVIEW 2011 to use them in NI Veristand workspace.

When I was inserting them on veristand workspace they were not transparent and rectangular border was appearing around it.

So after refering to this post I was successful to make them transparent in labVIEW 2011 but not on NI veristand workspace.

Will you please help me to construct them so as their background looks transparent in NI Veristand workspace?

Please refer the attached custom control I have created in LV 2011 for using it veristand workspace.

Thanks and Regards,

Nilesh

[tst]

I know absolutely nothing about VeriStand, so I can't help you there. If I had to guess, I would guess that the "workspace" means you don't have a separate window for the VI, so you can't get a window handle, but that's just a guess, since I've never even seen VS. Maybe you should ask about this in the VS board.

[Nil@Lear]

HI Tst,

You are right!!!!!!!!!

I have checked by inserting an indicator to the output of FindWindow function and its showing "0" when it runs on VS workspace window.

This is not the case when I am running the control using LV2011.

There FindWindow function returns some value for hWnd rather than "0".

VS workspace window is where my custom control front panel opens and runs as soon as it inserted there.

Exactly this the problem why I am not able to see this control with transparent background on workspace window.

Its a same case when I opens and runs the control FP window in a subpanel of another VI.

Will you please suggest me any workaround to get hWnd correctly when control FP is running on workspace.

Thanks and Regards,

Nilesh

[tst]

Assuming that the VI is a child window, then maybe calling this property will work. Note that this property is private, which means it is not officially supported by NI and it could work or it could fail to work or cause your application to crash or cause any other unexpected result. It's probably safe, but you can't know for sure.

If you want something which might be safer, you might need to find the child window yourself. I have no experience with this, but I assume that calling WindowFromPoint should work after you use the VI's properties to get its global coordinates. If it doesn't get it directly, you might need to use something like GetWindow to go through the child windows and GetWindowText to compare the names to that of your VI.

I would start with the first option, just to see if the VI does have a window handle. You can also try using programs like Spy++ to see if the VI has a window handle.