Ok, so I am one of this very visual coding people. I am both an artist and a developer. I customize every inch of Windows experience. Of course, this is for function as much as aesthetics. Lately, I have created a completley glass Windows Theme. I am using various techniques for doing this and a 3rd Party tool called "EnhancedBlackGlass". This actually gives the windows OS transparent windows. Fully transparent and not like the Aero theme:
Of course, this program is small 540k, runs on only 3 threads, and is barely detectible at all, as far as system resources are concerned. It allows one to provide multiple programs for transparency as well. This works great across all my programs except one... VisualStudio. I cannot get the background code window in Visual Studio to be transparent. I can get pieces of the overall program to be that way but the coding panel itself will not. This effect works well with Outlook and most other MSFT programs but, not VS. Is there a way to make this window transparent?
The way that EnhancedBlackGlass works is by setting a color, in this case #000000 (black), as an alpha channel. So, my theme goes through the OS Theme and sets anything I want transparent, to black. However, the coding panel in VS2012, though I have set it to black, does not allow the transparency in the main coding panel. But it does in other places of the IDE.
As you can see here, certain header areas are transparent but the main code window is not. I know this may seem trivial as it does not impact the performance or function of the VS IDE but, it is a matter of aesthetics and of being able to see, although periferally, the entire set of applications behind my code window. It also allows me to have a background ambiance of my choosing, while I code. In this case, my calming and creative desktop background.
While I love VS and think it is a great tool, I do wish I had this ability. I will be happy to provide my custom theme should someone give me a way to solve this puzzle. I am sure others do agree with me and would love the ability to have a transparent coding window.
Is this an impossibility with VS or, is it possible to make this window transparent?
Thank you in advance,
DT13