Is possible create stand alone appz with trasparent background?

Larsen187's icon

Hello, i are really newbie with max, im trying to build some stand alone little aplication, basically i want my aplication no have the clasical menu window, and no window.
I want make my appz have a nice background with rounded corners.
Is possible do this with max when create stand alone appz?
Please if possible cna explain how step by step?

Also i see one ugly trouble in stand alone appz, every tie i open my appz creaed with max, the runtime window open lol!
Is possible make that windows always stay closed?
How?

Really apreciate any help.

Best regards.

Noob4Life's icon

There's no way to make an app have a transparent background currently. Nor have rounded corners as far as I know. But to get rid of the 'runtime' window as you call it, put a [standalone] object in your standalone. Then open the inspector for the [standalone] object and uncheck "Status window visible at startup". This should make it so your app opens without the Max window.

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*Never fear, Noob4Life was never here!*

Tim Lloyd's icon
Max Patch
Copy patch and select New From Clipboard in Max.

Round corners, transparent background? Yes :)

I cannot remember how to remove the bottom window bar using [thispatcher ], but I'm pretty sure It's possible........I think I've done it before, but those patches are on a hard drive I left in my parents house :P

Also, there is a js version of the windowdrag subpatch that's easier to use, and there is also [tap.windowdrag], but that's part of their retail package.

Emmanuel Jourdan's icon

To remove the toolbar, you can uncheck Show Toolbar on Open in the patcher inspector.

ehdyn's icon

Wah, that's so cool - Thank you!

Tim Lloyd's icon

Ah, thanks EJ!

Tim Lloyd's icon

Just a heads-up to anyone trying this stuff out. It's a very good idea to limit the pixel range that you can drag the window around by to your screen size. With my example patch, it's possible to drag the "drag-area" of the window off-screen irretrievably, which would be annoying to deal with if you were making an actual app.

This might only apply if you're on Mac, as it's the top menubar that causes the problem.

Larsen187's icon

Please dont laugh !! jiji
But where paste that code?
Im starting with max, no idea how use that code.
Pleaseca explain step by step : )

That code turn all backrond transparent? correct?
My appz can have any kind of shape form?

My idea is load a transparent png like background, in that way my appz have the form of png have : )

Thankyou !

Noob4Life's icon

no worries, the answer to using the pasted code is here:
https://cycling74.com/forums/common-max-arcana

(love this transparent background stuff! i had no idea...)
________________________________
*Never fear, Noob4Life was never here!*

Larsen187's icon

Thk Nobforlive
JUJUJU !! i love this patch things jijij !!
AWesome!!

Larsen187's icon

TIM, this is exactly what i try to do,
Tankyou!

Ayway one more request, if possible, how make aplication stay always on top?

Bets regards !

MIB's icon

That's a neat trick to know. Thanks Tim

Tim Lloyd's icon

I'm not aware of a way to create a window that will stay on top of all other applications. I'm guessing you're thinking of something like the Novation Automap window? It might be possible though, EJ could let us know definitively.

You can use the "window float" message to [thispatcher] to make that window stay on top of all other max/msp windows, but it doesn't affect the cross-application window layering.

Also if anyone has a link to the windowdrag js code that would be great!

cheers

Larsen187's icon

Hi Tim
Basically no is possible max apx window stay o top over all the other windows?
: (

yes, i wnt my aPPz stay on top over all. : (

Tim Lloyd's icon

I don't know of a way, but that doesn't mean it's not possible! Max can do a lot of things :)

We'll have to wait and see if someone more experienced can tell us.

jko's icon

Maybe like that?

Max Patch
Copy patch and select New From Clipboard in Max.

(poll 0 to deactivate alway in front)

Larsen187's icon

Cant make this work, have this error:

hi: 0 is not a valid device number

This patch not work. : (

jko's icon

Check the hi object helpfile and set hi to your mouse input as done there. on my system 0 get's me the mouse therefore I shortend it a bit...

seejayjames's icon

interesting that if your background is exactly 0. alpha, you can click through to other windows or apps, but with any alpha at all, it catches the click. pretty cool.

I don't think you can have any "real" rounded corners in any window, that's part of the OS, after all. but you can fake it pretty well with transparency.

Love that mousestate! Can easily be modified to drag jit.windows too, without using the title bar. Then you can remove the frame and still have it moveable.

johnpitcairn's icon

to float a window above all apps without [hi] or polling:

Max Patch
Copy patch and select New From Clipboard in Max.

Tim Lloyd's icon

Sweeet!

It's all possible, unsurprisingly :)

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Incidentally, it really seems like the [thispatcher] help and reference files could use a solid update! Neither seem to mention the "topmost $1" message, and the reference file says "use of thispatcher to create new objects is not supported in Max 5." That seems to be wrong, because I can create new objects with it in Max 5 ;)

Larsen187's icon

Absolutly wonderfull !!

Macciza's icon

Just wondering how people closed the first seethru app - I ended up adding and using the wclose message . .
Also is the topmost message documented? I didn't see it in thispatcher help or reference - Or Tims comment above
Cheers
MM

Larsen187's icon

I continue stuck in rmeove the max windows in stand alone appz.
Can somebody put some example please?

One morequestion related to windows manage.
How call to full scren?

Best regards !

Larsen187's icon

Tim Lloyd or anybody, can tellme why this not work?

Max Patch
Copy patch and select New From Clipboard in Max.

Larsen187's icon

I fixed adding delay to fullscreen and topmost

Larsen187's icon

Now found a new problem, after create stand alone with this, i run the stand alone, adn transparent not work, loadbang not fire "window flags notitle, window exec"

Some idea?

Max Patch
Copy patch and select New From Clipboard in Max.

Zachary Seldess's icon

Hey guys,

Great thread. Sorry if I missed this, is it possible to have patcher background transparency with the titlebar (rounded corners aside)?

best,
Zachary

Emmanuel Jourdan's icon

Nope, only no titled windows can be transparent.

Zachary Seldess's icon

Any intention of adding this capability in future versions? Just curious.

EMV's icon

Wow, this thread is one of those treasures that add value to the product by casually showing some cool undocumented feature.

It also shows that the documentation is behind on the actual product.

Roman Thilenius's icon

EMV: are you sure about the relevance of the possibility of transparent
windows for an app which is not even written yet?

EMV's icon

@Roman: Yes. Simply the knowledge that there is the possibility of creating transparent windows gave me multiple ideas for new patches that would depend on that functionality (overlays that display parameter info on top of other programs for example).

New possibilities inspire me.