I was wondering, is there any way in Java that you can make it so that you can have like a dog or cat graphic run around on your windows desktop, instead of being like inside of a JFrame or something, let the desktop be the Frame environment?
I believe you can.
I have not tested it, however i believe java 1.5 has a method ( setAlwaysOnTop(boolean) )
which causes the window/frame to always be on top. Thus by removing the decorations from the window and making the frame non-selectable you should be able to achieve what you are after.
I do know and have used a windows only library for java which achieved the same using java 1.4
it is called SkinLF
here is a tutorial for it which may help you:
http://skinlf.l2fprod.com/tutorials/page4/tutorial-clock.php
You can’t do this properly. Java does not yet support transparent or irregularly shaped windows. The closest thing you could do is to use the Robot class to capture the desktop areas that your dog or cat was going to walk over and then blit that background content into your rectangular wind that holds the dog/cat image.
Ages ago I posted a small sample of the technique that simply allowed you to drag a circle around the desktop.
There is an issue in Sun’s bug database about the transparent windows and irregular shapes. It’s been there for a while now (since Java 1.2) and it still doesn’t look like it will make it into Mustang… so that means it is another two years off at least… (sigh…)
As long are your cat or dog is completely square, you have no problem 
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Hmm… I see I’m not the only one who had that exact same thought after reading Riven’s post. (And nearly snorting a Starbucks, BTW. Thanks a lump Riven! ;))
thanks for the help guys! =D