G4P question: how to make a button with transparent background?

Can I make a button with transparent button/or button with some alpha value, without using GImageButton?

When I do something like,

button.setAlpha(100);

the mouse over and click event effect goes away, and text gets alphaed as well.

Any quick fix?

Thanks!

(Also, any way to specify the thickness, color etc. of the button? )