C# Fullscreen, hiding the taskbar - c#

I have recently written an application for my daughter, which is a kid-free zone where she has all unnecessary key presses ignored (windows key, Esc etc) but the problem I am having is that when I use the following code:
targetForm.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
targetForm.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
targetForm.TopMost = true;
I am able to HIDE the taskbar, but it is not truly overlayed. When I move the mouse to where the taskbar would be, and click, it pops up, also, using this code and running external applications withing my windows form, I am left with this windows form keeping itself on top.
If anyone could help me with a proper way to display my windows form as a true fullscreen application, and be able to run external applications from within the form and have them prioritize themselves on top, that would be greatly appreciated.
In case you missed it, I am using VS2010, C# and winforms.
Thanks in advance!

The proper way to make a full-screen app is to just put something like Bounds = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds; in your main form. Then when your app has focus it will cover the task bar.
You also probably want FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;

The order of the performed actions is incorrect.
You should first hide the border (FormBorderStyle=None), and then set the window state to maximized. You even don't have to set TopMost to true.

Related

Maximize window in XNA 4.0

I am currently using the following code to allow the user to resize and maximize the window:
Window.AllowUserResizing = true;
Window.ClientSizeChanged += Window_ClientSizeChanged;
with the Window_ClientSizeChanged event handling the changes and re-scaling the drawn images etc.
This allows me to resize the window however much I want and also maximize it using the standard button in the window's handle. I would like to be able to start the application with the window in its maximized mode but can't figure out how to do so. I know I can use graphics.IsFullScreen = true; to show it in full screen mode but I would like to be able to run the program in a maximized, windowed mode. Any ideas?
You can put this code in the constructor to do what you want:
Form form = (Form)Control.FromHandle(Window.Handle);
form.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
This requires that you add a reference to System.Windows.Forms to your project.
This does have the downside that it actually sets up the graphics device twice on startup. Once in the normal way, and then once again because the window was resized. (Although this all happens before the form is first displayed.)
It has the advantage of being extremely simple to implement.
I'm going to poke around for awhile and see if the initialisation order can be changed...
There really is no simple way to get around this problem, it would seem.

Window Flicker on loss of focus?

I have been working on a windows form application based in c# and I am in need of some assistance. I am trying to recreate the window flicker that most windows applications have when a form loses focus to a parent form. Best way I can explain this is open up calculator open the help window and try to click the calculator, the help window then without falling behind the calculator flickers losing and gaining the shadowing around the edges.
I have managed to regain the focus on the child window when the parent is clicked but this creates a odd flickering effect as the parent window is momentarily brought in front of the child window. I am only guessing but that effect I am looking for appears to be that the calculator is never brought in front of the help window and then the help window is simply activated and deactivated a few times.
I tried doing some searches and I have seen a few topics relating to this but none of the solutions quite match. I am fairly new to making windows form applications so there are still a things I don't understand so be patient with me if I don't understand something at first.
Thank you in advance
An elaboration on the calculator example:
1) open up calculator from windows accessories
2) in the toolbar go to the help tab and open the about calculator option
3) click on the calculator window
4) the about calculator window will then flicker while never falling behind the calculator
The only progress I have made towards this is
private void MainForm_Activated(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (Open == true)
{
//blink active window
_addForm.Activate(); //makes window active
}
}
The open variable is something I use to keep track of if open forms and is made true when I show another form.
In your example the About window is called a modal window. A modal window prevents the user from interacting with the parent window until it is closed. Use Form.ShowDialog instead of Form.Show to present a Form to the user as a modal window.
Make the child form modal. This means that the child must be closed properly before focus can be transferred back to the parent.

"Tint" an entire window, or alternative method of making window look inactive

I have a winforms C# application that opens multiple dialog boxes. To suit the style of the application, I have removed the default title bars for each window and created my own (with control buttons and drag-to-move function).
The problem that now faces me is that without a titlebar, the user has no way of telling which window is the 'active' window when they are manually moved apart (so they are not overlapping).
In any windows application (that uses titlebars), when you try to navigate away from a dialog box back to the main program (without closing the dialog box) - it wont let you. The border of the dialog box flashes and you hear a windows error sound. Some kind of equivalent visual feedback would be great without needing to have the default titlebars - and tinting an entire window darker seems like it would do the trick nicely.
Something like this in pseudo-code, which would nicely tint the parent window whilst a dialog is open:
// tint window now
window.ShowDialog();
// un-tint window
I have tried to place a panel covering everything with colour set to 'transparent' (with the intention of later controlling the opacity of the panel) but the transparency does not seem to work. Any other ideas of accomplishing this? Or does anyone have a better suggestion to achieve the same level of visual feedback?
Summary:
Is there any way to tint an entire window, or overlay it with a colour? If not, could anyone suggest an alternate method of making the window appear 'inactive'?
I would suggest you to create a method in forms you want to disable:
void DisableForm()
{
//some fancy color
this.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.Khaki;
//and disable all controls owned by form, just to be sure
foreach (var s in this.Controls)
{
((Control)s).Enabled = false;
}
}
and functions which enables back those forms of course.
edit.
also you can set visibility property of controls to false

Skip Aero Window Animation

How can I disable the "opening" animation of a window under Aero programatically?
When opening a new Form it "pops in" (fade in + a slight scaling transformation).
I want to stop this animation and show the window instantly.
I already tried to set the Location property of the Form to somewhere offscreen, then calling Show(), and then moving it at its correct location.
But that doesn't help, the animation will continue.
Maybe there is some hidden property I can set?
I don't want to disable open/close/minimize/maximize animations globally!
I just want to skip the "window-open" animation of my window.
I already played around with single and multiple calls ShowWindow(...) directly after Form.Show(). But no matter what parameters I pass, doesn't abort the opening-animation.
I've got it! After some trying around with ShowWindow, BorderStyles I found my exact solution:
Change the initial "FormBorderStyle" property of the form to one of those:
None
FixedToolWindow
SizeableToolWindow
Add a eventhandler to the Forms "Shown" event.
Inside the eventhandler, change the FormBorderStyle to "Sizeable" (or any other).
Now the trick is that "none" and "*toolwindow" borderstyles will suppress the opening/popup animation for that form. Than, as soon as the form is being displayed the borderstyle is changed, giving it the original functionality (Icon in the Control-Bar, Minimize/Maximize Buttons etc...)
Edit: For everyone who might want to try this too, I have to point out that this can will screw with the actual size of the window when done with PInvoke commands.
If you rely on the size of the window being correct, be sure to resize the the window to its intended size after you done this.
This is part of windows visual effects and can be adjusted using the SystemParametersInfo Method.
I found that the animation is only take place when the form is shown for the first time.
So here is the trick:
var form = new Form();
form.Show();
form.Hide();
form.Show();
I tested it only in Windows 8
You can change the style before and after, like this, which will prevent the fade-out animation.
this.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.Sizable;
this.Show();
// Do whatever
this.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.Sizable;
this.Show();

Irregualr behaviour with windows taskbar when making my application 'full screen' (WPF)

I am working on an application that has a full screen mode. When the full screen button/key is pressed the application should take up the entire screen i.e. the windows taskbar also disappears.
this.Window= WindowState.Maximized;
this.Window= WindowStyle.None;
this.Fullscreen = true;
When I first start the application my fullscreen mode works as planned and the windows taskbar disappears. The problem is when I resize the window. After any resizing the full screen mode no longer takes up the entire screen. The windows taskbar is still there. It is not reasonable for me to disable window resizing (although that does solve the problem).
It was my understanding that WindowStyle.None removed the taskbar (it does at first). Does anyone know if resizing the window changes something that stops the WindowStyle.None from doing what it does upon first starting up.
EDIT:
I am using a viewbox to scale my content to fullscreen and the stretch of the viewbox in full screen mode is set to Fill
Try applying the WindowStyle first (before WindowState). That fixed it for me.
Edit: I also noticed that this doesn't work when the window is already maximized. Try this:
this.WindowState = WindowState.Normal;
this.WindowStyle = WindowStyle.None;
this.WindowState = WindowState.Maximized;
Instead of using WindowState
use SystemParameters
In your Window's constructor set the width and height
this.Width=SystemParameters.FullPrimaryScreenWidth;
this.Height=SystemParameters.FullPrimaryScreenHeight;
You can also have a look here

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