Controls “out of window/chrome” in WPF

Question

Is there a way to have controls/images/etc "out of" the Window/Chrome (ie, Aero's glass) in WPF?

An example of what I mean is the WPF Yahoo Messenger which was released (and then discontinued) awhile back. The WindowStyle looks like it is set to None, but AllowTransparencies/CanResize set to false/true respectively - and the avatar is slightly "out of the window/chrome".

I know I could create my own glass border, but that may be a fair bit of effort to get it looking consistent.

Answer 1

Yes, I believe you will have to replace window's interface with your own. You can start with transparent window and a grid within leaving some margin around the grid. Then put thumbs, titlebar etc on the grid to simulate window behavior. Margin around the grid will allow you to draw controls outside your "window".

<Window
x:Class="TransparentFormDemo.Window2"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="Window2" Height="300" Width="300"
AllowsTransparency="True"
WindowStyle="None" Background="Transparent">
<Grid Margin="20" Background="AliceBlue">
    <Thumb Name="topThumb" Height="5" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Top"
           DragDelta="topThumb_DragDelta" Cursor="SizeNS"/>
    <!--Thumbs continued-->
    <Polygon Points="10,110 60,10 110,110" Fill="Blue" Margin="0,-30"/>
</Grid>
</Window>