Transparent forms

You should be able to make a round form without having to make the form transparent. Just use the CreateEllipticRgn API.

Here's a small example.

VB Code:

Private Declare Function CreateEllipticRgn Lib "gdi32" (ByVal X1 As Long, ByVal Y1 As Long, ByVal X2 As Long, ByVal Y2 As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function SetWindowRgn Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal hRgn As Long, ByVal bRedraw As Boolean) As Long
Private Declare Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private hRgn As Long
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
    hRgn = CreateEllipticRgn(10, 10, 200, 200)
    SetWindowRgn hWnd, hRgn, True
End Sub
 
Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    DeleteObject hRgn
End Sub

Here is what I use for round forms (I think they make very cool About boxes).

VB Code:

Private Declare Function CreateRoundRectRgn Lib "gdi32" (ByVal X1 As Long, ByVal Y1 As Long, ByVal X2 As Long, ByVal Y2 As Long, ByVal X3 As Long, ByVal Y3 As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function SetWindowRgn Lib "user32" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal hRgn As Long, ByVal bRedraw As Boolean) As Long
Private Declare Function DeleteObject Lib "gdi32.dll" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private nhwnd As Long
Private rval As Long
 
Private Sub Form_Load()
Dim fwidth As Long, fheight As Long
 
fwidth = Me.Width / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX
fheight = Me.Height / Screen.TwipsPerPixelY
'Create Round Rectangular Region
nhwnd = CreateRoundRectRgn(0, 0, fwidth - 25, fheight - 25, fwidth - 50, fheight - 50)
'Set Round Rectangular Region on form
rval = SetWindowRgn(Me.hWnd, nhwnd, True)
End Sub
 
Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
rval = DeleteObject(nhwnd)
End Sub