[RESOLVED] Transparent MDI-Parent?

I know you can make certain parts of a form transparent by setting the transparencyKey of the form to the color of your choice.

vb.net Code:

Me.MdiParent.TransparencyKey = Color.Fuchsia
Me.BackColor = Color.Fuchsia

Once I set the form to be a MDI Container, it seems to just ignore that function.

On my MDI Container form I have a menu and that is the only thing I want displayed. I want the container itself to be transparent. The forms that get loaded into the mdicontainer will be shown normal.

How can I do this?

Hiya, the simplest approach, which I guess would be considered more of a Hack than a plausible solution, would be to do something like the following (I don't know what effect that will have on your Menu though):

VB.NET Code:

'Create an MDIClient
Private MyMDIClient As New MdiClient
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        'Set the BackColor and Transparency Key for your form
        Me.BackColor = Color.Red
        Me.TransparencyKey = Me.BackColor
 
        'Add the MDIClient to your form and set its backcolor to match your form backcolor
        MyMDIClient.BackColor = Color.Red
        Me.Controls.Add(MyMDIClient)
 
        'Use Form1 as your MdiParent instead of the MDIClient
        Dim f2 As New Form2
        f2.MdiParent = Me
        f2.Show()
End Sub

It may be possible to implement a more solid solution by creating your MDIClient by using the CreateWindowEx API. I've had a look over a few articles that point you towards creating an MDIClient but it is a pretty complex road to go down. If you would like to look further into it, here are a few articles that may help:

http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/...ex.html?diff=y
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Prog..._24264982.html - Subscription Required to view solutions.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...(v=vs.85).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...(v=vs.85).aspx
http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/....getwindowlong - List of WindowStyle and ExtendedWindowStyle Constants

Good luck and hope this helps :)

Thanks a lot for the code. I kinda feel stupid now seeing how easy this issue was to solve...
Thanks again