How to change default operating system's frame around swing application

Question

For example instead of the default operating system container around the application you could have something custom like this swing project below.

enter image description here

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:57

4

The host OS owns the frame decorations, but you can Create Translucent and Shaped Windows and use Frame#setUndecorated(), as shown here.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:57

Community

1
1

answered Mar 15 '14 at 23:18

trashgod

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So how can games like elder scrolls create custom frame decorations as well an example like this picture above? – RuneRebellion Mar 15 '14 at 23:22
1

I don't see any [frame decorations](http://stackoverflow.com/a/10360374/230513) on the example image. – trashgod Mar 15 '14 at 23:33

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 15 '14 at 23:32

You can use a transparent image on a undecorated frame with a transparent background:

import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class TransparentImageFrame
{
    private static void createAndShowUI()
    {
        JLabel label = new JLabel( new ImageIcon("...") );
        label.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
            @Override
            public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e)
            {
                if (e.getClickCount() == 2)
                {
                    System.exit(0);
                }
            }
        });

        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Image Frame");
        frame.setUndecorated(true);
        frame.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));

        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        frame.add( label );
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable()
        {
            public void run()
            {
                createAndShowUI();
            }
        });
    }
}

The mouse will only respond to non-opaque pixels in whatever image you use.

How to change default operating system's frame around swing application

2 Answers2