I wonder if there was a way to create an irrgular window in Java... by "irregular" I mean that it can be, for example, a triangle window, or a circular window, or even a window with transparent hole in it!

Does anyone knows how to do that in Java ? or is there any lib (native or not) available on the web to do that ?

Thanks
Chman

Not something I've tried, but I believe it should work:

If you use a "Window" not a "Frame" you do away with all the titlebars, window frame etc.  Then you can use a pixel-grabber to snapshot the screen contents behind your window, and paint them over the top to make your window effectively transparent.  Then you're free to draw whatever shape windows you want!

PROS: Works pretty much everywhere without need for external libraries.

CONS: A lot more work, and you have to draw all the window decorations you want manually.

cfmdobbie's solution does not cover event handling! I don't know how to ignore mouseclicks to the non-opaque parts of the window or to delegate them to the desktop/parent.

Good point - I hadn't considered event handling.

Hrm, with the requirement to properly handle window events as well, I'm afraid you're high and dry.  There's no way I know to do that in a platform-independant way.  You will probably have to drop back to JNI, get a handle to the window and manipulate it directly with native windowing commands.  Ouch.

there was a thread on the old board about that. there was even some code using Robot's screencapture.
The thread ended with "it's a 1.5 feature", as far as i recall..

Ca fait plaisir de voir des francais sur cette board !
non en fait ca n'a aucun rapport avec la team cHMan... tu faisait référence à Banja, un jeu en flash de la team en question...
mon pseudo vient de nul part... et j'ai l'habitude de l'écrire Ch*man pour éviter la confusion avec cHMan...

Don't worry, the messages aren't intended to be read by anyone else!  Pepe and Ch*man normally do write in English.

I'm afraid I'd be lost if you started writing Swedish, although it would add to the atmosphere.  I'm afraid all the Swedish I know is something about a chocolate moose...?

Hem, sorry, guys. The little french sentence was to ask about the origin of ch*man's nick. There are times you feel quite alone as a French citizen, actually more than ever. Some 'native' words  help sometimes. Well... Enough drama, will not do that again, i swear. (moreover, i wasn't sure to explain myself correctly in english.. that was a lazy solution as well. )

Back on topic. After re reading the bug report i posted here,  and the answer from sun, i'm not sure that the RFE is to be implemented. Isn't there an AWT team member reading us?

having a transparent window could post some pretty weird things..

like u could make your program launch an entire window, that is totally transparent, and have no way out..

hehe.. that'd be pretty funny..

why do u want a transparent window anyway??

thatd be annoying to have se thru parts of a window..

wouldnt it?

Rounded corners, or completely wacky UI shapes like the skinned views of latest MS Media players..  That's the sort of stuff that we need.

It would also be a way to drag arbitrary objects over the desktop.. instead of just getting some lame cursor that doesn't really show what is happening.

I think it is time to add support for windows with an alpha channel (even if it is restricted to 1-bit on some platforms) to Java.  All popular windowing systems support this feature now, so it makes sense.