How can I add transparency to a c# form while keeping controls visible?

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This is pretty easy to do in Winforms. What you need is a sandwich of two forms. The bottom one should provide the transparent gradient background, the top one should draw the icons and handle mouse clicks. Some sample code:

public partial class Form1 : Form {
    public Form1() {
        InitializeComponent();
        this.TopMost = true;
        this.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
        this.TransparencyKey = this.BackColor = Color.Fuchsia;
        this.Opacity = 0.3;
        var overlay = new Form();
        overlay.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
        overlay.TransparencyKey = overlay.BackColor = Color.Fuchsia;
        overlay.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.Manual;
        overlay.Location = this.Location;
        overlay.MouseDown += HandleIconClick;
        this.Resize += delegate { overlay.Size = this.Size; };
        this.LocationChanged += delegate { overlay.Location = this.Location; };
        overlay.Paint += PaintIcons;
        this.Paint += PaintBackground;
        this.Load += delegate { overlay.Show(this); };
    }
    private void PaintBackground(object sender, PaintEventArgs e) {
        var rc = new Rectangle(0, 0, this.ClientSize.Width, this.ClientSize.Height);
        using (var br = new LinearGradientBrush(rc, Color.Gainsboro, Color.Yellow, 0f)) {
            e.Graphics.FillRectangle(br, rc);
        }
    }
    private void PaintIcons(object sender, PaintEventArgs e) {
        e.Graphics.DrawIcon(Properties.Resources.ExampleIcon1, 50, 30);
        // etc...
    }
    void HandleIconClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) {
        // TODO
    }
}

Which looks like this with the somewhat random colors and icon I selected:

enter image description here

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