Transparent window with border line to indicate pixelchecksum area

[tom13]

Hi there,

I want to create a window that is transparent everywhere except for the borders. At the borders a 1 pixel red line should be shown. The window should always be on top. I want to do this to indicate a pixelchecksum area, so that people know in what box the pixelchecksum is made.

Could anyone help me with creating such transparent window with red borders?

Edited April 6, 2009 by tom13

[tom13]

I tried the following, but for some reason the line is disappearing after a few milliseconds even though it should last 5 seconds:

#RequireAdmin
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include <WinAPI.au3>

;create box
Dim $hDC, $hPen, $obj_orig
$color = 0xFF
$width = @DesktopWidth
$start_x = @DesktopWidth / 2
$start_y = @DesktopHeight / 2
$length = 20
$width = 2

$hDC = _WinAPI_GetWindowDC(0) ; DC of entire screen (desktop)
$hPen = _WinAPI_CreatePen($PS_SOLID, $width, $color)
$obj_orig = _WinAPI_SelectObject($hDC, $hPen)

_WinAPI_DrawLine($hDC, $start_x - $length, $start_y, $start_x - 5, $start_y) ; horizontal left
_WinAPI_MoveTo($hDC, $start_x, $start_y + $length)
_WinAPI_LineTo($hDC, $start_x, $start_y + 5)

Sleep(5000) ; show

; refresh desktop (clear drawing)
_WinAPI_RedrawWindow(_WinAPI_GetDesktopWindow(), 0, 0, $RDW_INVALIDATE + $RDW_ALLCHILDREN)

; clear resources
_WinAPI_SelectObject($hDC, $obj_orig)
_WinAPI_DeleteObject($hPen)
_WinAPI_ReleaseDC(0, $hDC)

[tom13]

I apologize for bumping but isn't there anyone who knows more about what I'm trying to achieve?

Thanks in advance.