transparent panel to catch mouse events

i have a panel on a form that allows me to view any window under the form.

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/5956/a9wt.jpg


The problem i cannot sort out is at the moment i am able to select items under the transparent panel, how can i change this so i can only view items under the form and not actually select them?

I am also wanting to capture the mosue events in the panel.

Forms property:
ForeColor = ButtonFace
TransparentKey = ButtonFace
TopMost = true
Rest are default

Panels properties:
BackColor = Transparent
Rest are default

If the form/Panel is 100% transparent then you can't click it. It's needs to be at least 1% opaque.

You can deal with it by placing an Owned Form with 1% opacity in front of your main form, to capture the mouse events. An Owned Form stays linked with its owner in the Z order. You need to code the X and Y bounds in the main form's Move event etc. Here's example:

Code:

---

Public Class Form1

        Private WithEvents Form2 As New Form

        Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
                With Form2
                        .FormBorderStyle = Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None
                        .ShowInTaskbar = False                       
                        .Opacity = 0.01
                        .Show(Me) 'show Form2 with Owner (Me)
                End With
        End Sub

        Private Sub Form1_MoveEtc(sender As Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Move, Me.SizeChanged, Me.Shown
                Form2.Bounds = Me.RectangleToScreen(Me.ClientRectangle)
        End Sub

        Private Sub Form2_MouseClick(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles Form2.MouseClick
                If Me.Panel1.Bounds.Contains(e.Location) Then
                        'your panel click action here
                End If
        End Sub

End Class

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For debugging purposes, set Form2's opacity to e.g. 0.1 instead of 0.01. As an alternative to coding Form2's mouse events, you can make the area of Form2 corresponding to the Panel on Form1 transparent by using Form2's TransparencyKey. Then you can handle all the Panel's mouse events directly.

BB