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[LitusSaxonicum]

Paul,

I wonder if you could take a quick look at the %ww option casts_shadow
please. I have a clear recollection that in Windows XP it was translucent, but since Windows 7 it has been a very solid black. It's not 'mission critical'.

In Windows 10, the drop shadow disappears when you move the program window but reappears when movement stops. The Window anyway has a sort of translucent drop shadow to which the Clearwin+ shadow is an add-on. Obviously the disappear-reappear business doesn't happen if the window is volatile and has no caption.

Eddie

[PaulLaidler]

Eddie

OK. Thanks. I will take a look.

[John-Silver]

Eddie,
I ran on my Windows 7 system (ftn95 v8.3+dlls23) and it has the same behaviour as you describe for Windows 10
I also removed the definition as a 'toolwindow' on a hunch it might be affecting somethingbut that didn't change anything.
_________________
''Computers (HAL and MARVIN excepted) are incredibly rigid. They question nothing. Especially input data.Human beings are incredibly trusting of computers and don't check input data. Together cocking up even the simplest calculation ... "

[LitusSaxonicum]

John,

The change happened after XP, and when I have access to an old XP computer I'll try it again. It was originally a lot prettier than it is now, but as I said, it isn't a showstopper.

Eddie

[John-Silver]

Eddie, I run on a windows 7 system with those 'Aero Themes' which include transparency and rounded corners.

I got the behaviour descrivìbed, with black shadow) .

I tried switching to a 'Windows classic' theme and the shadow is a medium grey !

Conclusion - the black shadow you see on Windows 10 is system dependent (in colour) and not a Clearwin choice.

The disappearing shadow behaviour is present in either case.
_________________
''Computers (HAL and MARVIN excepted) are incredibly rigid. They question nothing. Especially input data.Human beings are incredibly trusting of computers and don't check input data. Together cocking up even the simplest calculation ... "

[LitusSaxonicum]

Thanks John. The disappearing shadow while moving doesn't bother me, but the dense black does - at an aesthetic level. It only crept into one of my programs when pop-up menus didn't work (now fixed), but a volatile, borderless, drop-shadowed, window allows more options than a pop up menu, and so the original workaround stayed.

I suppose XP is 'Windows classic'.

Eddie

[John-Silver]

Yes it is rather 'in-yer-face' the black.
I'd guelìs there's little to do about it as it changes with the theme you choose.

No, 'Windows Classic' refers to the desktop 'theme' I tried out, which gave the grey shadowing.

It should be on Windows10 too - right click on destop - personalise - then scroll down (if it's like Win 7) and look for 'Aero themes' and then 'Windows Classic' under 'Basic and High Contrast Themes'.

I guess it depends exactly how the drop shadow was implemented as to whether or not it's hard-linked to the system colour scheme or not and if he can make it 100% clearwin defined.
_________________
''Computers (HAL and MARVIN excepted) are incredibly rigid. They question nothing. Especially input data.Human beings are incredibly trusting of computers and don't check input data. Together cocking up even the simplest calculation ... "

[PaulLaidler]

John

Just for the record, I did not write %ww nor indeed a large majority of winio@.

[John-Silver]

Apologies - My mistake in thinking it was a relatively new addition - now Corrected - see above.
_________________
''Computers (HAL and MARVIN excepted) are incredibly rigid. They question nothing. Especially input data.Human beings are incredibly trusting of computers and don't check input data. Together cocking up even the simplest calculation ... "

[LitusSaxonicum]

I've had another look, and as I'm using the drop shadow with some volatile windows, I can probably draw a translucent grey box offset right and down, before the window itself (written in XOR and removed in the same way), but I still think that the effect with the standard casts_shadow is rather crude. The work-around will be subject to a lot of issues with font size (the dpi business). I may not even need to remove a self-drawn drop shadow as I can simply redraw the underlying screen contents.

In any case, the status quo can be tolerated - I did say it wasn't 'mission-critical' as a hint that I wasn't expecting Paul to drop everything or waste a lot of time on it.

Eddie

[PaulLaidler]

Eddie

I have managed to change the colour of the shadow from black to grey.
It is still rather dark so I have reduced the width of the shadow by 50%.
You get the grey colour when using a white brush so that's the best I can do with the existing coding.

[LitusSaxonicum]

Hi Paul,

THat's great. Thanks.

Regards

Eddie

[John-Silver]

Well dome Paul, thanks.

[LitusSaxonicum]

The Windows XP style is shown here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8bopeqlf1awxa6a/ds.bmp?dl=0

and is a sort of chequerboard pattern. This has the sense of transparency as the background shows through. My memory was broadly correct, but not perfect.

Eddie

[EKruck]

Under Win7 64 bit %ww[casts_shadow,... creates a nice grey window in the right size, however, in a wrong position 1,1 on screen, and only for a short moment - may be a tenth of a second.