Can OptionButtons be Transparent?

Can optionbuttons be transparent so that the form's background picture behind them shows through? So that all you'll see of the optionbutton is the circle portion, and whatever text is in it's label?

I would guess this involves subclassing the button.... and no doubt <font color=purple>Hand</font color=purple> will appear any moment now and explain all..... images/icons/wink.gif

Chief

"How are we to learn, if those that know will not teach... ?" - Me.

can't you simply use visible=false?

I'll be amongst the best any minute now !

That would remove the optionbutton entirely. JDYoder wants to have the button and text visible but with a transparant background instead of a solid colour.

oups sorry! that wasn't what i tought

I'll be amongst the best any minute now !

If you set the visible to false you wouldn't be able to see the option button at all!
Thats not what you want right? You just want to be able to see through it, but still see the button and the text?

I'm getting slow in my old age...images/icons/wink.gif

Chief

"How are we to learn, if those that know will not teach... ?" - Me.

Correct, Banjo and ChiefRedBull. Anyone even know if it's possible?

As Chief said you could sub-class the OptionButton. You'd then have to intercept the WM_PAINT message to draw your own background. However, you would also have to draw the rest of the control as well.

try searching here or the user interface board, I'm sure I have seen this exact same question answered before, maybe 2 or 3 months ago

The answer is - yes and no.

They can be, but its not easy. If you are using a pattern brush to paint on the background of the parent (form, picturebox, etc), you can subclass the option button and capture the WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC message. If you pass back the handle to your pattern brush, then it will paint the background with that brush. Look here (http://www.visualbasicforum.com/bbs/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=visbas&Number=43778&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&part=) for an example of this method. The other possibility is a brute-force interception of the WM_PAINT message, as Banjo indicated. The above link will show this method as well. Or look at this (http://www.visualbasicforum.com/bbs/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=CodeLib&Number=45147&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=93&part=) project for another example.

This leaves you with three potential solutions:
1) You could use GetDC on the optionbutton's parent hWnd and copy the control into a memory bitmap. You could then create a pattern brush using this bitmap and pass it back to the WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC message. Granted, this is not going to be simple to code, and I don't really feel like messing with it.

2) You could use the SetWindowRgn / CombineRgn API functions to limit the Option button's window to the only non-background pixels. This would be less involved than option 1. Look here (http://www.visualbasicforum.com/bbs/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=CodeLib&Number=45565&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&part=) for code on this.

3) You could take the easy way out. I do this all the time. Use an optionbutton/label combination. Make the optionbutton tiny (195 twips X 195 twips or so) and change its style to Graphic. Put a label next to it and set ITS background property to "Transparent". You can even go so far as to use a bitmap checkmark or something and set the mask color.

I've attached a screenshot of what I mean.

Regards,
-<font color=purple>The Hand</font color=purple>

<font color=green>All your code are belong to us...</font color=green> images/icons/tongue.gif

I've posted an example project (http://www.visualbasicforum.com/bbs/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=CodeLib&Number=54561&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=7&part=) of method #2 in the Code Library section of the forum. To show how easy it is, this took me 15 minutes this morning over one cup of coffee.

Attached is a screenshot.

Regards,
-<font color=purple>The Hand</font color=purple>

<font color=green>All your code are belong to us...</font color=green> images/icons/tongue.gif<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by The Hand on 10/05/01 06:39 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

Thanks for the responses! (Would have replied sooner, but couldn't get into this forum for some reason). Anyway, wish it was easier, but I'll look into the various methods. Thanks!

The second method posted in the Code Library (link above) will do exactly what you need. Just include the VB module in your project. I've already done it for you.

-<font color=purple>The Hand</font color=purple>

<font color=green>All your code are belong to us...</font color=green> images/icons/tongue.gif

Hand -- I was just now able to take a look at this. And it ROCKS!! Thanks for much! You da man! BTW, I want to give credit where credit is due. So is it enough that your name is in the code? Or in the actual exe that uses it, would you like your name in credits as well?