An application's form is drawn in gray (by default). This is handled by the brush property of the form. You can change the colour of your application by changing the colour of this brush in your forms OnCreate method.

procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
  begin
  brush.color := clRed;
  end;

You can make your form striped :

  brush.style := bsBDiagonal;

That comes out like so...

You can make your form look clear :

  brush.style := bsClear;

Now, at design time you don't see anything special...

And when you first run it, it doesn't look too bad...

So, you may think that's all there is to it. Try moving the form. Resize. Clicking on the application "behind" it. What you have is a normal form that rather than having been painted with a gray or red or striped brush has been painted with a brush that looks exactly like what was there before it. But there is a real form there. The application is opaque. You can't see through it. This may be what you want. This may not be what you want.

Here's the same running app, just moved over a little bit...

For applications with actual holes in them that let what's below show through, go here.

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Peter M. Gruhn