Question

Is there any api or something that we make sure, Glass effect is already actived? In some codes that i saw, if DllNotFoundException throws, then they make sure it’s not active or not exists. is there a better or standard way?

This is the solution for Using Aero Effect to extend glass area in WPF.

Answer 1

On this MSDN page it suggests you can detect Glass using DwmIsCompositionEnabled:

When the status of desktop composition
is changed, a WM_DWMCOMPOSITIONCHANGED
message is broadcast. There are no
parameters telling you if it’s being
enabled or disabled, so it’s up to you
to call DwmIsCompositionEnabled if
you’re interested. The code to do the
check is straightforward-the tricky
part is deciding how you want your
window to look if composition is
disabled.

[DllImport("dwmapi.dll", PreserveSig = false)]
public static extern bool DwmIsCompositionEnabled();

// Check to see if composition is Enabled
if (Environment.OSVersion.Version.Major >= 6 && DwmIsCompositionEnabled())
{
    // enable glass rendering
}
else
{
    // fallback rendering
}

However I’m not sure whether you can “Enable Aero” but “Disable Glass” and if so, what the result of the method would be.