Draw on mouse cursor plane or create custom animated system cursor?

Question

Platform: Windows 7 Language: C++

Hi,

i am trying to create a visual aid for an accessibility application. My goal is to draw additional information around the mouse cursor. It should be available in every application window and if possible also in full screen apps.

The possibilities i found so far are not satisfying: - drawing on device context of entire Desktop - layered window that is always on top

Is there a possibility to draw on the same layer as the mouse cursor? Is there a special memory or device context, where it is possible to write same memory as the default mouse cursor.

Can i override the default mouse cursors with a custom animated layout in other applications? Can i have a system wide mouse cursor layout with animated content?

Answer 1

You need to use DirectX to get a handle to the background surface of your desktop, then use the GetCursorPos GDI function to get the mouse coordinates, render your information into the surface handle you have obtained, keep doing this in a loop and it should work.