Empty or transparent window with Xlib showing border lines only

Question

Is there a way to create a window with Xlib which only display the border lines, title, close button and that you can move with the mouse? The content of the window must be

Answer 1

I'm not sure if it is what you want, but following code creates an X window with transparent background but still using the window decoration of your window manager.

It will only work though if your X11 and graphics hardware configuration supports visuals with a depth of 32 bit.

#include <X11/Xlib.h>
#include <X11/Xutil.h>

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    Display* display = XOpenDisplay(NULL);

    XVisualInfo vinfo;
    XMatchVisualInfo(display, DefaultScreen(display), 32, TrueColor, &vinfo);

    XSetWindowAttributes attr;
    attr.colormap = XCreateColormap(display, DefaultRootWindow(display), vinfo.visual, AllocNone);
    attr.border_pixel = 0;
    attr.background_pixel = 0;

    Window win = XCreateWindow(display, DefaultRootWindow(display), 0, 0, 300, 200, 0, vinfo.depth, InputOutput, vinfo.visual, CWColormap | CWBorderPixel | CWBackPixel, &attr);
    XSelectInput(display, win, StructureNotifyMask);
    GC gc = XCreateGC(display, win, 0, 0);

    Atom wm_delete_window = XInternAtom(display, "WM_DELETE_WINDOW", 0);
    XSetWMProtocols(display, win, &wm_delete_window, 1);

    XMapWindow(display, win);

    int keep_running = 1;
    XEvent event;

    while (keep_running) {
        XNextEvent(display, &event);

        switch(event.type) {
            case ClientMessage:
                if (event.xclient.message_type == XInternAtom(display, "WM_PROTOCOLS", 1) && (Atom)event.xclient.data.l[0] == XInternAtom(display, "WM_DELETE_WINDOW", 1))
                    keep_running = 0;

                break;

            default:
                break;
        }
    }

    XDestroyWindow(display, win);
    XCloseDisplay(display);
    return 0;
}