The RGN Generator v1.00

The point of this program is to allow you to create
non-rectangular dialog boxes. The program itself is an example of
what can happen if this is taken a bit too far.

Creating your transparency region

  • 1. Create a mask image for the dialog box. One color will
    be the transparent part of the dialog. A transparent gif
    is a good method but many image formats are supported.
  • 2. Run the RGNerator
  • 3. Enter the filename of your mask. (as soon as a valid
    image file name is entered it will be automatically
    loaded) Browse for it if you cannot remember the name or
    where you put it.
  • 4. Enter the color that represents the transparent
    portion of the dialog. If you do not know the exact RGB
    color press the Pick button.

Picking Transparent Color

  • 1. Move the cursor over the transparent color. There are
    two color boxes on the right. The top one is the current
    transparent color and the bottom one is the color of the
    pixel the cursor is over. When the top color box contains
    the transparent color – right click the mouse.
  • 2. If it is difficult to select the pixel you can zoom
    the image.
  • 3. If the image is too large for the viewing area use the
    scroll bars – or simply hold the left mouse button and
    drag the image to the required position.
  • 4. When you have selected the color press OK.
  • 5. Press the create button. The time required to do this
    depends on the complexity of the transparent region.
  • 6. When it finishes you will be asked to enter the name
    of the file to store the rgn data in.

How to use your transparency region

I have included a demo project look at. Please look at this
first as it will show you how simple this really is.

To use it in your own app –

  • 1. Insert the rgn file as a "RGN" resource.
  • 2. Insert the bitmap to be used as the background.
  • 3. Insert a dialog
  • 4. Set the dialog’s border property to none.
  • 5. Insert a picture object into the dialog
  • 6. Set its type as a "Bitmap"
  • 7. Set the background bitmap as the image.
  • 8. (This is a bit annoying, as it must be the first in
    the tab order. Otherwise it will overwrite your other
    dialog controls when the dialog is displayed.
    Unfortunately it works the other way whilst editing the
    dialog! So just set it to first when you have finished
    the dialog box.)
  • 9. Create the dialog from the template.
  • 10. Base the dialog on the CRGNDlg class.
  • 11. Get the rgndlg.cpp and .h files from the demo
    project.
  • 12. In the dialog source code:
    In your constructor just add the RGN resource id.
    e.g. – CRGNDlg(CRgnDemoDlg::IDD,
    pParent,"BACKGROUND")

Notes

  • 1. The SetWindowRgn must be done before you call the base
    InitDialog function
  • 2. You cannot use the rgn used in the SetWindowRgn -it
    belongs to windows – don’t even delete it.
  • 3. If the outline dragging is slow use the full invert.
    It isn’t as nice but is faster for complex regions. It’s
    in the Inverttracker function in rgndlg.cpp.
  • 4. The edges of your image should be a dark gray. Very
    black or very white edges show up if the background is
    the reverse color whereas gray edges look alright
    regardless of the background color.

 

"Small Fonts" and "Large Fonts"

The problem:

For example you have "small fonts"
selected in your desktop display config. You happily create your
dialog box , put in your bmp and insert all the required controls
aligning them carefully to the background bmp. You then
triumphantly send out your app and then get people complaining
that things don’t line up.

The cause:

These people have ‘large fonts’ selected.
Windows scales the dialog box and its controls according to the
font. The font in turn is dependent on the ‘small/large’ font
setting – so Ms Sans Serif 8 is not the same ‘size’. Since the
image and the rgn are pixel based there is a problem.

The solution:

There are two possible solutions –

1. Scaling

This is what I have implemented in the demo
app. The drawback of scaling is that it is not exact. E.g.
Scaling from an app designed in "small fonts" is a bit
blocky if scaled up for "large fonts".

(Look in the InitDialog function of rgndlg.cpp
in the demo app).

2. Have two separate images and two RGN files.

Design your dialog and then base two dialogs on
the original one and setup one to use large image and one to use
the smaller image. A "reliable" way of determing the
font mode is :

if (dc.GetDeviceCaps(LOGPIXELSX) == 120)

then its large, else its small (dc.GetDeviceCaps(LOGPIXELSX)==96)

Copyright

This program is provided courtesy of Data Dynamics. Feel free to copy
it and distribute to anyone.

Download

Download source of demo app – 18 KB

Download RGN Creation exe – 320 KB

Changes since last update

  • Added demo project and new improved app. (25/04/1999)
  • Fixed RGN creation error and added scaling feature for
    the "Small Fonts"/"Large Fonts"
    problem.

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