Question Steam OverLay?

[101kl]

Hello People =)
i was wondering if there was a way to make a program, like Steam?
press a combo of keys and a Overlay, containing a program would appear Over the program you have open.

2 Pic's Attached of the "Steam Over Lay"

Regards, Stealth.

 

[Tom]

Sure you can set a form's transparency level by setting the opacity property value.

'Keeps the form on top
Form2.Topmost = True

Form2.Opacity = 50%

'Transparency level could be user adjusted with a slide bar or other control

Form2.Opacity = slidbar.value
Form2.Opacity = NumericUpDown.Value

 

[101kl]

:d

Man this helps Heaps, BUT 1 more thing...
is there a way to make it appear when you press a combo of keys?

Regards, Stealth.

[EDIT]
Also, What do you mean by "Form1"?
what do i replace it with?
if my program was called "VA" would i replace it with that?
[EDIT]
Also were do i put it? :/

 

[Tom]

Sure you can use whatever event you want to trigger showing a new form/window. There are serval different ways to watch for keystrokes but I wouldnt even worry about that.

You have a menu bar at the top of the screen, add a menu item called "Overlay" or whatever you want to call it.

Menu items have shortcutkey properties, you can use this to input whatever key combination (ctrl + O) you want. Then in the menu item_Clicked event, call your overlay form to show.

Form2 I was just using as a generic name for the second form (overlay window) you would be calling. Of course replace this with whatever the overlay form is named.

 

[101kl]

Ok... Sorry about this... i'm a compleate noob at this...
Can you just guild me through that Whole Thing? :/
i have no idea what "menu item_Clicked event" is.

You have a menu bar at the top of the screen, add a menu item called "Overlay" or whatever you want to call it.

I Dont See Any menu bar... o.o
its fine if you cant be bothed any more.
Help?

 

[Tom]

You have to add the menu bar and items. I think it would be worth investing in a programming book and learning the basics of programming before attempt a game application.

I can help when you are stumped but it really would benefit you to learn the basics first.

 

[cjard]

i think the OP is asking more about a system wide event hook on key events