How to create an overlay window in Java?

Question

I\'m trying to create a HUD style display for a foreign application.

To do this, I\'d need to make a transparent overlay window, that would be placed on top of the w

Answer 1

The Java tutorials show one way this can be accomplished. Here's another approach that uses RGBA (red, green, blue, alpha) values for the background colour:

public class Overlay {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Transparent Window");
        frame.setUndecorated(true);
        frame.setBackground(new Color(0, 0, 0, 0));
        frame.setAlwaysOnTop(true);
        // Without this, the window is draggable from any non transparent
        // point, including points  inside textboxes.
        frame.getRootPane().putClientProperty("apple.awt.draggableWindowBackground", false);

        frame.getContentPane().setLayout(new java.awt.BorderLayout());
        frame.getContentPane().add(new JTextField("text field north"), java.awt.BorderLayout.NORTH);
        frame.getContentPane().add(new JTextField("text field south"), java.awt.BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        frame.setVisible(true);
        frame.pack();
    }
}

Answer 2

If you want to create a window for your game or something else use the JFrame.