# Button Backround Alpha Channel

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** vision\
**Created:** [August 17, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123 "2022-08-17T22:25:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aaron\_Kay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Aaron\_Kay](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Aaron_Kay)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123/1 "2022-08-17T22:25:12Z")

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The button alpha channel doesn’t seem to work? Specifically, if i enable ‘fill area’ and set the background color to an alpha value of anything greater than 0, it will be totally opaque. I know you can change it in the property expression, but im trying to make it different colors (and opacity) if the mouse focus is on it. Any ideas?

 ![100](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/4/6/46b0f58faacddd30484b82c85cdbc59c0410f54f.png)  
 ![6](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/2/a/2a7290a7fd1acc7b3f73fde4cd6551b70f65b6c2.png)  
 ![0](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/0/1/01527f697e282e1d9eb2d5437d5b110d4f5826ec.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123/2 "2022-08-17T22:35:01Z")

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This is _Vision_? (Add the tag to your question.)

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2022, 11:30pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123/3 "2022-08-17T23:30:12Z")

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What Ignition version in particular?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aaron\_Kay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Aaron\_Kay](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Aaron_Kay)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123/4 "2022-08-18T01:54:07Z")

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This is version 8.1.11

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123/5 "2022-08-18T15:28:06Z")

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I would upgrade, and if things still aren’t working to your satisfaction, there’s some workarounds described in this thread: [Upgrade version makes buttons dissapear (possible bug?) - #11 by JFer](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/upgrade-version-makes-buttons-dissapear-possible-bug/54921/11)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Aaron\_Kay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Aaron\_Kay](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Aaron_Kay)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123/6 "2022-08-19T17:12:58Z")

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Thanks, I did upgrade to 8.1.19, no change.

I also added the recommended ‘blend mode alpha’ to a client startup script, but the effect is the same. Anything higher than 0 in the alpha channel automatically makes the buttons totally opaque. 😕

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/button-backround-alpha-channel/63123/7 "2022-08-19T18:04:36Z")

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Oh, wait. Sorry, I was misunderstanding your question/concern.

This is sort of a fundamental limitation of Java Swing, Vision’s underlying GUI system. When you set ‘Fill Area’ to true, you’re telling Swing that the component is opaque, which Swing takes to mean it can optimize rendering by simply _not_ rendering anything below the component.  
Our ‘look and feel’ takes that painting optimization even further.

For what you’re trying to do, I would say the easiest path forward would be to attach mouse event hooks to a _label_ component (which will be properly transparent: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/b/4/b42037c35e5bcd89cf463bab425072dec1663f4f.png)) and use that instead of a button.