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undefinedChar
undefinedChar

Reputation: 697

Transparent Windows on Linux (Electron)

Using the transparent argument and setting it to true when creating a new BrowserWindow in Electron usually gives the window a transparent background... But on Linux that isn't the case for my knowledge

Now I heard you can set some Command Line Arguments... But that isn't working... It just displays black or white no matter what...

// Should set the commandLine arguments and work...

const {app} = require('electron')

app.commandLine.appendSwitch('enable-transparent-visuals');
app.commandLine.appendSwitch('disable-gpu');

Now i have heard this is no problem with electron rather a problem with hardware... But i just needed to make sure therefore creating this question!

Upvotes: 12

Views: 7375

Answers (4)

Cris
Cris

Reputation: 457

This worked to me:

if(process.platform === "linux") {
  app.commandLine.appendSwitch('enable-transparent-visuals');
  app.disableHardwareAcceleration();

  app.on('ready', () => setTimeout(createWindow, 400));
}

Upvotes: 1

nilknow
nilknow

Reputation: 379

This code might work for you. I add explain in comment.

//electron can't be transparent on linux
//see issue on github: https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/2170

// app.disableHardwareAcceleration(); //use this
//or use these two lines code
app.commandLine.appendSwitch('enable-transparent-visuals');
app.commandLine.appendSwitch('disable-gpu');

//createWindow need to wait(more than about 100ms) if you want the window to be transparent
// app.whenReady().then(createWindow); //this won't work
app.commandLine.appendSwitch('enable-transparent-visuals');
app.commandLine.appendSwitch('disable-gpu');
app.on('ready', () => {
    setTimeout(() => {
        createWindow();
    }, 200);
});

Upvotes: 0

doom
doom

Reputation: 3608

I have encounter the same problem as you and so I have written :

Till the requested feature is implemented, the solution is simple just add a delay before launching the window.

You can clone this git repo, put the delay to 500, and normally magic will appear.

EDIT 1 : Use this repo : https://gitlab.com/doom-fr/electron-transparency-demo

git clone https://gitlab.com/doom-fr/electron-transparency-demo
cd electron-transparency-demo
npm install
npm start
# or npm run startWithTransparentOption
# or npm run startWithAllOptions

For me, it works out of the box with Debian Jessie and electron 4.0.5, for npm start, npm run startWithTransparentOption but not with npm run startWithAllOptions.

NB : be carefull to set at least 500ms to have chance it works. After you can reduce the delay but it is not stable. It is why an event on transparentReady is needed.

Doom

Upvotes: 7

GrahamMc
GrahamMc

Reputation: 3124

There do seem to be multiple issues with transparency, on different distributions with differing hardware. There are various suggested workarounds. You might not be able to make transparency work acceptably for your scenario on all hardware and distributions.

Examples

From the Electron docs:

On Linux, users have to put --enable-transparent-visuals --disable-gpu in the command line to disable GPU and allow ARGB to make transparent window, this is caused by an upstream bug that alpha channel doesn't work on some NVidia drivers on Linux.

https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/master/docs/api/frameless-window.md

Upvotes: 5

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