Windowless controls / z-order

[ttupper]

Hello all;

I work for a company that is building a very sophisticated web distributed application that uses a lot of overlapping components. Most of the app is .asp / thin (meaning it is developed using browser technologies) and that works just fine. However, there are some portions of the app that will require "thicker" technologies to provide the right user experience.

I have been struggling to find a way to integrate controls into IE pages such that they play nicely in the browser's z-order. As i'm sure you are aware, windowed controls do not play nicely in this environment. My biggest problem is that I need to be able to develop controls that will honor the browser window's z-order. Flash player, for example, will do it (in IE) if wmode is set to transparent. I need something similar that will allow me to develop a thick control for specific functionality that will live peacefully with the other
objects embedded in my browser page.

.NET seems to have obliterated the capability to build controls like this. Is this true? Such controls are essential for good user experience in sophisticated web apps. Unfortunately I see no way whatsoever to do this in either .Net or winforms.

Can anyone out there point me in the right direction to help me solve this problem? Please, this is a very intractible problem and one that is VERY IMPORTANT for the success of our project - your insightful commentary would be very appreciated.

[Smokie]

Can you be more specific about which controls you are having a problem with?

[ttupper]

Originally Posted by Smokie

Can you be more specific about which controls you are having a problem with?

Actually i'm wondering about what I can use to develop controls that will live in the browser z-order. As I understand it, .net has basically destroyed any ability to develop so called "windowless" controls. I don't know of any method other than windowless controls to do this. So, this is not a browser hack issue - I'm asking what avenues are there to develop controls that will sit on a browser page and honor the z-order of the browser.

By "honor the z-order of the browser", I mean controls that will let me overlay divs, iframes, etc. and NOT show through. I need to develop controls such as these and am not seeing any means to do so any longer.

Thanks

[muneepenee]

z-order????????
du yu meen z-index?

[ttupper]

yes - i am talking about browser z-index.