Windows Vista: Get the glass effect in your C# applications

Posted By: Daniel Moth | Aug 22nd, 2006 @ 8:34 AM | 25,745 Views | 5 Comments
Author:
Hi, I am Daniel Moth Big Smile
 
Intro:
Windows Vista has a new aero theme that includes what we call the glass effect (powered by the Desktop Windows Manager).

While the non-client area of all windows get glass for free, extending glass into the client area is something you have to work for, as a developer.

In this screencast, I show you how to achieve that with C# in Visual Studio.

Enjoy!

Contents:
30 seconds Intro slide
     - 10'       Paint it black
10'- 14'       Blur the middle
14'- 17'       TransparencyKey
30 seconds Closing slide

Video quality:
In order to keep the video size at 800x600, <20MB and also without cutting too much content, the quality of the glass effect is not shown in its true glory. However, the core goal of showing you the code is scored Wink

Get the code:
I have similar samples to what I demo in the video on my blog here, here and here.
Media Downloads:
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#Aug 22nd, 2006 @ 1:24 PM
John Galt
John Galt
Warning: If you use the transparency key, your application will not be visible in Breeze or Goto Meeting presentations to name just two, most of the meeting companies other than LiveMeeting use transparency for other purposes and cause issues with transparent windows.
#Aug 22nd, 2006 @ 1:44 PM
Daniel Moth
Daniel Moth
Developer
Thanks for your comment John.
#Jan 25th, 2007 @ 7:34 AM
Daniel Moth
Daniel Moth
Developer
Please note that the TransparencyKey approach does not work on the final version of Vista. Ignore those 3 minutes.
#Jan 5th @ 4:09 PM
SbDotNet
SbDotNet
CodeExplorer
Hi! Daniel, do you know how we can get the glass effect on vb.net (vb2008). I was searching all over but couldnt get for vb. every one talking for c#, is it mean we can get these glass effect only in c#?
Thank you,
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