Creating transparent user control with mouse events

[LeeGarland]

Hi,

I've been struggling with this one for a while. I would like to create a usercontrol (activex/ocx) that is transparent but still registers the mousemove event in the transparent regions of the control.

If you create a control and set backstyle to transparent then the mouse events do not fire in the transparent areas of the control.

I have tried using windows api calls to set the control to be transparent (using SetLayeredWindowAttributes) but that doesn't seem to work on a user control...

I need this control so that I can add a transparent control to the application but still track the mousemove and click events.

Any help would be appreciated

Lee

[joaquim]

for test it...
change the HitBahvior property to none... then tell me something...

[LeeGarland]

Set hitbehaviour to none and still nothing.

Just to say, i'm embedding the activex control into excel once i've created it. Don't know if this alters anything?

[joaquim]

ok.. i'm test it... but without resolts...
my sugestion is using API functions for catch the mouse then i think that you can resolve the problem...
i hope help you

[joaquim]

give some minutes... i think that i can resolve your problem

[LeeGarland]

Thanks, this is driving me mad!

Out of interest, what api calls can i use?

[joaquim]

ok.. almost finish...
i put a timer for read the mouse position(until here normal), but now i must see if the mouse is in the UC(my problem here is that the mouse position is in screen and not in form ou UC)... heres the project try see if you can complete it...
the colisionprecise funtion is for test if the mouse is in UC or not.... but like i said, i having problem to catch the mouse position in form....
i hope help you more

[LeeGarland]

Thanks, I'll see if i can get it working...

[joaquim]

Thanks, I'll see if i can get it working...

for resolve the problem, i think these way:
-i know the mouse position in screen(coord variable type);
-i know the form position(extender.container.left and extender.container.top);
-the i subtract the mouse position with form position(i think that these way i catch the mouse position in form);
-then i test if the mouse position is in UC, by using my function.
these is my thinking, but i cound't put it to work(i needed more time)... but try you

[joaquim]

finaly... i think that i resolve the problem
in timer change the code for these:

Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
    Dim coord As POINT_TYPE ' receives coordinates of cursor
    Dim retval As Long ' return value
    retval = GetCursorPos(coord)
    Dim x As Long
    Dim y As Long
    x = coord.x * Screen.TwipsPerPixelX - Extender.Container.Left
    y = coord.y * Screen.TwipsPerPixelY - Extender.Container.Top    
    If CollisionPrecise(Extender.Left, Extender.Top, UserControl.Width, UserControl.Height, x, y, 1, 1) = True Then
        RaiseEvent MouseMove(x, y)
    End If
End Sub

then test it and tell me something(in these case you don't know what mouse button was clicked, but we are in good way)....
i hope resolve your problem

[LeeGarland]

It doesn't seem to be working. I;ll have a look and let you know if i can get it going...

[joaquim]

ok... heres the groupproject..

[joaquim]

it's working like you wanted?

[LeeGarland]

It is! Thankyou! Is there anyway of getting the mouseup working?

Thankyou for your effort on this!

[joaquim]

It is! Thankyou! Is there anyway of getting the mouseup working?

Thankyou for your effort on this!

and mousedown too

Private Declare Function GetCursorPos Lib "user32.dll" (lpPoint As POINT_TYPE) As Long

'Event Declarations:
Event MouseUp(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, x As Single, y As Single) 'MappingInfo=UserControl,UserControl,-1,MouseUp
Event MouseMove(x As Long, y As Long, Button As MouseButtons)
Event MouseDown(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, x As Single, y As Single) 'MappingInfo=UserControl,UserControl,-1,MouseDown

Type POINT_TYPE
    x As Long
    y As Long
End Type
Private Declare Function GetAsyncKeyState Lib "user32" (ByVal vKey As Long) As Integer

Enum MouseButtons
    None = -1
    Left = 0
    Right = 1
    Middle = 2
End Enum

Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
    Dim coord As POINT_TYPE ' receives coordinates of cursor
    Dim retval As Long ' return value
    retval = GetCursorPos(coord)
    Dim x As Long
    Dim y As Long
    Dim mousebutton As MouseButtons
    x = coord.x * Screen.TwipsPerPixelX - Extender.Container.Left
    y = coord.y * Screen.TwipsPerPixelY - Extender.Container.Top
    If GetAsyncKeyState(vbLeftButton) Then
        mousebutton = 0
    ElseIf GetAsyncKeyState(vbRightButton) Then
        mousebutton = 1
    ElseIf GetAsyncKeyState(vbMiddleButton) Then
        mousebutton = 2
    Else
        mousebutton = -1
    End If
    If CollisionPrecise(Extender.Left, Extender.Top, UserControl.Width, UserControl.Height, x, y, 1, 1) = True Then
        RaiseEvent MouseMove((x - Extender.Left), (y - Extender.Top), mousebutton)
    End If
End Sub

these code detect when the mouse button is pressed...

[LeeGarland]

Great thanks!

[joaquim]

you wellcome