transparancy

[jtby]

Hi, the winforms toolset lists the following as a feature:

Stunning WPF-like UI with transparency, scaling and rotation

... I downloaded and installed the trial, opened  VB.net 2005, and started dragging and dropping telerik winform controls on the form.  They are very nice.

But I could find no way to make stunning WPF-like transparancy.  How do you accomplish that?  I could not readily find out from the docs or examples either.

Also the sample VB.net project with the trial download will not run and seems to have some big problems.

My scenario is I have a pretty simple form with big map on it taking up the whole form.  I want to put some translucent panels on top of the map, and then some semi or non-translucent buttons, text boxes, and combo boxes, in the panels. 

I am hoping that the stunning WPF-like UI with transparency that radcontrols for winforms offers will help me accomplish this - but I could use some pointers to get started.

Thanks for the help!  Great looking tools by the way. 

JB

[jtby]

I found a link to a trial version that works in this post:

http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/thread/b311D-bdeaam.aspx

.. but still trouble grasping how to use TPF to make nested windows controls translucent on a form. 

[Martin Vasilev]

Hello John,

Thank you for writing.

I have attached a sample application that demonstrates the usage of Telerik controls' transparency.

Please, note that when working with transparency you should have in mind that a control can be transparent only compared to its parent control. Therefore, you will be able to observe RadPanel transparency compared to the Form, if the Form is its parent. However, if you have two RadPanels, both children to the Form, but not children to each other, you will not see transparency in the place where they overlap each other.
 
If you have additional questions, do not hesitate to contact me.
 

Regards,
Martin Vasilev
the Telerik team

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[Abhay]

Hi,

I am using the following version of Telerik controls for Windows Forms: 2011.1.11.419

This is regarding the transparency. As you mentioned that control can be transparent only compared to its parent control, I wanted to know if there is any other way to achieve what I want. Here is what I am trying to do.

1. I have a RadRibbonForm (radRibbonForm1)
2. radRibbonForm1 has its background as an image (telerik_wallpaper.jpg)
3. radRibbonForm1 has two buttons on it.
4. Besides these buttons, radRibbonForm1 also has a RadPanel on it (radPanel1)
5. radPanel1 has its background color (BackColor) set to Transparent. Due to this the background image on radRibbonForm1 is visible on radPanel1.
6. This radPanel1 has two buttons on it.
7. This radPanel1 also "contains" another RadPanel (radPanel2)
8. radPanel2 has it background color with Alpha value set to 50 making it semi-transparent/translucent. Due to this the background image on radRibbonForm1 is visible on radPanel2 through radPanel1.
9. radPanel2 has a RadWaitingBar on it (radWaitingBar1).
10. Now what I want is that besides the background image, the buttons should be visible too from the layers above. However, they should not be clickable. For e.g. in the sample application though all the tree nodes of RadTreeView are visible, user can only click those that are not covered by the panel above them. Is this even possible? If yes, what's the way to do it.

I have attached the snapshot that depicts what I am trying to achieve.

Thanks a lot.

~Abhay

 

[Nikolay]

Hello Abhay,

You have correctly understood that a control can be transparent only compared to its parent. In that sense, there is no straightforward way to make the buttons visible. Simply, they are siblings to the child panel rather than its parents. Microsoft has published a KB article which can help you in this regard: WinForms: How to create a control transparent to other controls.

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Nikolay
the Telerik team