Provided that the following two conditions are met, controls such as TMDLabel can be transparent:

  • the operating system is Windows 8 or higher;
  • the app includes a manifest that specifies that it is compatible with Windows 8 and higher.


As a result, applications compiled under older Delphi versions XE8 to 10 require a custom manifest.

See below for a sample manifest. Save it to a file (e.g. myapp.manifest) and link it to the app (menu Project → Options, Application).

Note

  • XE8 only. This manifest also includes high DPI support. If you don't want it because it breaks your application's rendering, delete the entire <asmv3:application> node.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
  <asmv3:application>
    <asmv3:windowsSettings>
      <dpiAware xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings">true/pm</dpiAware>
      <dpiAwareness xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2016/WindowsSettings">PerMonitorV2</dpiAwareness>
    </asmv3:windowsSettings>
  </asmv3:application>
  <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly>
      <assemblyIdentity
        type="win32"
        name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
        version="6.0.0.0"
        publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
        language="*"
        processorArchitecture="*"/>
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>
  <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
    <security>
      <requestedPrivileges>
        <requestedExecutionLevel
          level="asInvoker"
          uiAccess="false"
        />
      </requestedPrivileges>
    </security>
  </trustInfo>
<compatibility xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:compatibility.v1"> 
  <application> 
    <!--The ID below indicates app support for Windows Vista -->
    <supportedOS Id="{e2011457-1546-43c5-a5fe-008deee3d3f0}"/> 
    <!--The ID below indicates app support for Windows 7 -->
    <supportedOS Id="{35138b9a-5d96-4fbd-8e2d-a2440225f93a}"/>
    <!--The ID below indicates app support for Windows 8 -->
    <supportedOS Id="{4a2f28e3-53b9-4441-ba9c-d69d4a4a6e38}"/>
    <!--The ID below indicates app support for Windows 8.1 -->
    <supportedOS Id="{1f676c76-80e1-4239-95bb-83d0f6d0da78}"/>
    <!--The ID below indicates app support for Windows 10 -->
    <supportedOS Id="{8e0f7a12-bfb3-4fe8-b9a5-48fd50a15a9a}"/>                        
  </application> 
</compatibility>
</assembly>

See also

Adding the Custom Manifest File to Your Application

Targeting your application for Windows