Can i create a transperent form

Hi friends,
i am quite new in api programming so please help me for creating a form with atransperent look.By using the paint desktop api i can get only the windows background but i also need the icons also to appear which are behind my form. the icons can also be non working or like dummy.so please reply.

Also i want to know wheather it is possible to create some forms with different shape rather than the conventional one, by using api or activex.

Try this:

Code:

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Private Declare Function SetWindowLong _
Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowLongA" (ByVal hwnd As _
Long, ByVal nIndex As Long, ByVal dwNewLong As _
Long) As Long

Private Const GWL_EXSTYLE = (-20)
Private Const WS_EX_TRANSPARENT = &H20&

Private Sub Form_Activate()
    SetWindowLong Me.hwnd, GWL_EXSTYLE, WS_EX_TRANSPARENT
End Sub

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Hey, i recently created a class that u can use to make your form transparent, and to make transitions effects using AnimateWindow. really easy to use, and it should help you. ohh, but u have to be running n win2k though.