[Always On Top] Render a solid border frame - #49698
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Clint Rutkas (crutkas) merged 1 commit intoAug 7, 2026
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Render the frame as a filled Direct2D geometry ring so antialiasing is limited to the contours and the visible border remains solid behind the target window. Recreate target-bound resources after device loss. Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: c2697877-8736-4e8d-add3-06ed2cec15b9
Clint Rutkas (crutkas)
marked this pull request as ready for review
August 6, 2026 21:58
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manually verified border is now solid again |
Boliang Zhang (LegendaryBlair)
approved these changes
Aug 7, 2026
Boliang Zhang (LegendaryBlair)
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Summary of the Pull Request
Fixes the Always On Top frame appearing mottled or translucent even when frame opacity is set to 100%.
PR Checklist
Detailed Description of the Pull Request / Additional comments
The frame helper window is intentionally placed behind the tracked window. The previous Direct2D rendering used a centered stroke, so the tracked window occluded the stroke's inner half. With per-primitive antialiasing enabled, partial-coverage pixels became disproportionately visible in the remaining thin outer half, making a fully opaque frame look mottled.
This change replaces the centered stroke with a filled, even-odd outer/inner geometry ring. It preserves configured opacity, the transparent interior, DPI-scaled frame thickness and corner radius, smooth rounded corners, and target-window occlusion while limiting antialiasing to the ring's actual contours.
It also recreates render-target-bound brush resources when the HWND render target is recreated, clears stale resources on
D2DERR_RECREATE_TARGET, and redraws when rectangle or corner geometry changes.Validation Steps Performed
src\modules\alwaysontop\AlwaysOnTop\AlwaysOnTop.vcxprojfor Debug x64 successfully.PowerToys.AlwaysOnTop.exewith frame opacity 100%, thickness 4, and rounded corners enabled.WS_EX_TOPMOST.AlwaysOnTop_BorderHWND sized 946x627 behind the 960x630 target window.Residual limitation: the RDP input desktop was detached, so composed-screen pixel capture was unavailable.
winappcould capture the layered border HWND only by flattening transparency to black, which is not trustworthy visual pixel evidence. An interactive-desktop visual check is still recommended.