Dropping shadow on WinForm distorts interface

dropshadow, vb.net, winforms

Solution

  Dim m As New Margins(0, 0, 0, 0)

There's a subtle mistake visible here, looks a lot like you are using System.Drawing.Printing.Margins. But that's not a type that's compatible with the Windows' MARGINS type. Which is a structure, not a class.

So this just goes complete wrong, Windows reads nonsense instead of (0, 0, 0, 0). And extends the frame into the entire client area. Which then plays havoc on any control that draws with GDI, it is a 24bpp drawing api that leaves the alpha at 0 so anything that should be black becomes transparent instead.

Fix this by declaring a proper MARGINS structure:

Structure MARGINS
    Public Left, Right, Top, Bottom As Integer
End Structure

Problem

I'm using the following code to create a Windows7 style drop shadow effect on my WinForms: ``` <DllImport("dwmapi.dll", PreserveSig:=True)> _ Private Shared Function DwmSetWindowAttribute(hwnd As IntPtr, attr As Integer, ByRef attrValue As Integer, attrSize As Integer) As Integer End Function <DllImport("dwmapi.dll")> _ Private Shared Function DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea(hWnd As IntPtr, ByRef pMarInset As Margins) As Integer End Function Private Function CreateDropShadow() As Boolean Try Dim val As Integer = 2 Dim ret1 As Integer = DwmSetWindowAttribute(Me.Handle, 2, val, 4) If ret1 = 0 Then Dim m As New Margins(0, 0, 0, 0) Dim ret2 As Integer = DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea(Me.Handle, m) Return ret2 = 0 Else Return False End If Catch ex As Exception ' Probably dwmapi.dll not found (incompatible OS) Return False End Try End Function Protected Overrides Sub OnHandleCreated(e As EventArgs) CreateDropShadow() MyBase.OnHandleCreated(e) End Sub ``` The result of above code creates a nice drop shadow effect on my borderless winform, but it causes the UI to distort. All the controls and labels on my form aren't appearing properly, with text not readable. Am I missing something here? I don't want to use the traditional drop shadow effect using CreateParams, its too 'boxy' look and doesn't give a nice shadow effect. Here are screenshots of without shadow and with shadow: Thanks.

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