How Can Qt/C Applications Achieve Borderless Windows with Aero Snap, Shadow, and Animations?

Creating Borderless Windows with Areo Snap, Shadow, and Animation in Qt/C

In Windows, a borderless window comes with a compromise: the loss of features like Aero shadow, snap, and minimization animation. However, replicating the seamless experience seen in applications like Office 2013 and Steam is possible by leveraging the Windows API.

Hide the Border

To conceal the window's border, intercept the WM_NCCALCSIZE message in the window procedure.

<code class="cpp">case WM_NCCALCSIZE: {
    if (window->is_borderless) {
        return 0;
    } else {
        return DefWindowProc(hwnd, msg, wparam, lparam);
    }
}</code>

Enable the Aero Shadow

To display the glowing shadow around the window, employ the DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea function.

<code class="cpp">MARGINS borderless = {1,1,1,1};
DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea(hwnd, &borderless);</code>

Enable Additional Features

Observing the behavior of a borderless window like Steam, we can determine that the shadow works best with the window style WS_POPUP | WS_THICKFRAME | WS_MINIMIZEBOX | WS_MAXIMIZEBOX | WS_CAPTION. This style also enables Aero snap, maximizing, and the smooth minimize animation.

Additional Notes

• The shadow may be visible through transparent elements in the client area, requiring a non-transparent widget or brush behind.
• The DWMWA_NCRENDERING_POLICY and DWMWA_ALLOW_NCPAINT values in DwmSetWindowAttribute are not typically required.

Example Project

For a practical demonstration, download the provided example project. Pressing F11 toggles between borderless and windowed mode, while F12 activates or deactivates the borderless shadow.

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