Translucent window with Windows look and feel?

Question

I'm playing with JDK7's translucent window support and find that it doesn't work well with Windows look and feel.

Here's my code:

JFrame.setDefaultLookAndFeelDecorated(true);
SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Translucent Window");
        frame.setOpacity(0.5F);
        frame.setSize(640, 360);
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }
}

This code correctly displays a translucent window. However, if I set the Windows look and feel:

UIManager.setLookAndFeel("com.sun.java.swing.plaf.windows.WindowsLookAndFeel");

an exception is thrown:

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.awt.IllegalComponentStateException: The frame is decorated

If I disable the frame decoration with frame.setUndecorated(true), it works again but that is not what I want because the title bar is missing. Is there any way to resolve this issue?

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 19 '12 at 09:26

1

See this tutorial to understand how to make a JFrame Transparent or Translucent

http://blogofjavacrazy.blogspot.in/2007/03/transparent-window-in-java.html

I stumbled upon a neat little hack that instead of actually being transparent, it takes a screenshot and adds that little segment as the background.

See this Link:

http://onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/excerpt/swinghks_hack41/index.html

answered Sep 19 '12 at 09:26

Kumar Vivek Mitra

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Now that JDK7 delivers native support for translucent windows, why should I stick to the ugly `Robot` solution? – Zhao Yi Sep 19 '12 at 09:36
@ZhaoYi, i gave you a solution that i used in my project, if you think that jdk7 provides a better opportunity to get the work done, then its always better to adopt to it.... – Kumar Vivek Mitra Sep 19 '12 at 09:39
I have also used the `Robot` solution before, but it doesn't work when the content behind the "translucent" window is something animated (e.g. a gif or a movie)... – Zhao Yi Sep 19 '12 at 09:55

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:49

0

This is really stupid. Under Java 6 with AWTUtilities, this works just fine.

You'll want to read this though.

Is The Java Tutorials Translucent Window example giving trouble to those playing with jdk7?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:49

Community

1
1

answered Sep 19 '12 at 20:18

MadProgrammer

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Translucent window with Windows look and feel?

2 Answers2