Redrawing Desktop & All(Child) Windows

[Max_aka_NOBODY]

I'm trying to draw some graphics on the desktop, but have found that the title bar\non-client area of most windows remains "stamped" with the graphics when the window is moved. In addition, I just realized that I don't know how to clear the destop of the picture.

Thanx in advance.

[Dreamlax]

This is because the standard user interface libraries don't expect anything other than the client-area of a window to be changed, making it slightly more efficient to only redraw what is expected to change. Try using the RedrawWindow function, but for the hWnd value, use 0 (or GetDesktop).

RedrawWindow 0, ByVal 0, ByVal 0, RDW_INVALIDATE

I don't think it will work, but it's worth a shot.

[sciguyryan]

Heres the full code: *Should work fine)

Private Const RDW_INVALIDATE = &H1    ' Invalidate and activate a paint event.
Private Const RDW_ALLCHILDREN = &H80 ' Send to all children.
' Above will only work if the form is the main one.
Private Declare Function RedrawWindow Lib "user32.dll" Alias "RedrawWindow" ( _ 
    ByVal hWnd As Long, _ 
    lprcUpdate As RECT, _ 
    ByVal hrgnUpdate As Long, _ 
    ByVal fuRedraw As Long) As Long
 
Dim lngFlags As Long
Dim lngReturn As Long
lngFlags = RDW_INVALIDATE + RDW_ALLCHILDREN ' The flags...
lngReturn = RedrawWindow(Me.hwnd, ByVal 0&, ByVal 0&, lngFlags)
If lngReturn <> 0 Then
    ' Function worked!
End If

Cheers,

RyanJ