Panel Backcolor Transparent issue. - How to make Panel Transparent

[ishrar]

Hello Guys,
Hope you are doing well..
I have attached an image. I have developed a project where user can do drawing and add images and kinda MSPaint or Photoshop. I have inherited all controls from Panel.
After lot of work on project I have an issue that I have form(or any container/parent) with background image. After that I will add one Panel with background color orange.

Now I have a Form with background image and a panel with back color. Over that Panel1(Parent is Form) I have one more panel (Panel2) where I want to set Transparency so It should show Panel1 from it but instead of that it shows Form Background.

If you still not understood here are steps.
Form1 : Background Image=Image1
Added Panel1 with Backcolor = Orange, Panel1.Parent=Form1, Panel1.Left= 200,Panel1.Top=200, Panel1.width= 400,Panel1.height=120
Added Panel2 with Backcolor = Transparent, Panel2.Parent=Form1, Panel2.Left=300, Panel2.top=20, Panel2.Height =500, Panel2.width =120


My Question is How can I see Objects behind the Transparent Panel when Transparent Panel shows Parent's Backcolor/image.

[Edgemeal]

My Question is How can I see Objects behind the Transparent Panel when Transparent Panel shows Parent's Backcolor/image.

One way would be to set those objects to the front and/or set the transparent panel to the back.

object2.SendToBack()
object1..BringToFront()
etc...

[boops boops]

Hi ishrar,

Control Transparency in Windows Forms means "show me the Parent control". There is no way round that, and juggling the Z-order will make no difference. For example, you could make the orange panel (I'll call it OrangePanel) the Parent of the front panel (FrontPanel) like this:

FrontPanel.Parent = OrangePanel
FrontPanel.Left -= OrangePanel.Left
FrontPanel.Top -= OrangePanel.Top

You will then see the Orange panel, but the rest of the front panel will be clipped at the orange panel's bounds. You wouldn't be able to see the container background through your front panel. It's possible to think of some tricks -- hacks as some would call them. You could show a second copy of the FrontPanel behind OrangePanel, for example. If the user can reposition or resize the front panel, you would have to code its Move and Resize event handlers to keep the copy the same size and position. On the other hand, it could get rather complicated and perhaps unworkable if there are several superimposed images or multiple layers.

So maybe you should consider alternatives. One possibility is to use graphics to superimpose the images instead of relying on Panels and their limited transparency. You could draw all the images using Graphics.DrawImage and the borders with Graphics.DrawRectangle. You could do the graphics in the Paint event handler of the container control; or you could paint everything on a bitmap and show that as the container's background image.

Another alternative would be to use WPF, in which transparency works with fewer surprises. Making a single WPF window with a few controls isn't hard, and it's even possible to combine it with Windows forms in a hybrid solution (see the "shaped form" link in my signature). But if you don't already know WPF, I suspect it would take a huge amount of learning to port your entire program to WPF.

BB