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PNG Icons with Alpha Transparency Not Displaying Correctly in DataWindow Bitmap() on Row Selection
  1. New
  2. How-to
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  1. Gayathri Bollikonda
  2. PowerBuilder
  3. Monday, 11 May 2026 12:09 PM UTC

I'm using PowerBuilder 2022 R3 and have a DataWindow that displays icons using the Bitmap() function in a computed column. The icons are 16x16 PNG files with alpha transparency.

Problem:
When a row is selected (blue highlight), PNG icons appear washed out or show a white halo around the edges, making them unclear. However, when I use GIF format icons with indexed transparency, they display perfectly on both normal and selected rows.

PNG Format:


GIF Format:

 

Technical Details:

DataWindow compute column expression: Bitmap(IF(condition, 'path/to/icon.png', ...))
PNG format: 32-bit RGBA with alpha transparency and anti-aliased edges
Column background mode: opaque (mode=1)
Row selection: standard DataWindow SelectRow() with OS blue highlight

What I've Tried:

Changing background.color to use conditional expressions
Setting showbackcoloronxp=yes
Various background.mode settings
Testing with GIF format → works perfectly

Question:
Does PowerBuilder's DataWindow Bitmap() function support PNG alpha-channel transparency? If not, is GIF the only reliable format for transparent icons in DataWindows, or is there a workaround to make PNGs display correctly on selected rows?

Any insights or official documentation on supported image formats and transparency handling in DataWindow Bitmap() would be appreciated.

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