Re: Hiding all open forms

Most do (all could if I had to).  But some forms have owned windows for pop-ups, and there are standard messagebox's to think about...

But surely I can send messages to it knowing the handle anyway using Win32 SendMessage on the right thread through SynchronixationContext .  So if I could reliably find all open windows (and OpenForms isn't reliable in this regard), then I can send messages to move/resize forms.

Best wishes
James


-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion forum for developers using Windows Forms to build apps and controls [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Mike Andrews
Sent: 27 November 2007 16:09
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [DOTNET-WINFORMS] Hiding all open forms

The reason I ask about the base dialog, is that I do have a solution for
you.
If there is a base dialog form, you can override the WndProc and use the
Control.ReflectMessage method in the alternate thread to send a custom
message to the dialog form.
You will have to use the SetBounds method of the form to move it off the
screen, but that's easily overcome.
I have a sample that I can send to you if you want.

Thanks,
Mike

On Nov 27, 2007 9:05 AM, James Berry <[email protected]> wrote:

> The majority of the forms are non-modal.  But a modal dialog may well be
> present.  And of course there are the usual number of owned forms etc.
>
> As you say, there is no centralized tracking of forms currently.
>
> The "locking" code actually runs on a different thread, and uses a
> synchronizationcontext to make sure the changes to the forms happen on the
> right thread. That's fine; it's reliable identification of the forms and
> then what to do with them that is the issue ;-)
>
> Best wishes
> James
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion forum for developers using Windows Forms to build apps
> and controls [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
> Mike Andrews
>  Sent: 27 November 2007 14:59
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [DOTNET-WINFORMS] Hiding all open forms
>
> Are these non-modal dialogs?
> I'm also assuming there's no central place where all forms are tracked?
> On Nov 27, 2007 8:56 AM, James Berry <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I actually need to hide all the forms that are currently active; show an
> > application security window, and once the criteria in that window have
> been
> > met I re-show the old forms again to continue where they left off.
> >
> > The issue with dialog boxes is that if I can identify that they're there
> > (either with OpenForms or some other way), if I change their visibility
> to
> > false, or send a window hide message to the form, then what actually
> happens
> > is that DialogResult gets set to Cancel, and the value is returned to
> the
> > calling function.  Which I need to avoid if I am going to put things
> back
> > the way they where, which is why I wondered if there was a more
> imaginative
> > solution than moving the windows off screen, or resizing them, or both.
> >
> > Best wishes
> > James
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Discussion forum for developers using Windows Forms to build apps
> > and controls [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
> > Mike Andrews
> > Sent: 27 November 2007 14:52
> > To: [email protected]
> > Subject: Re: [DOTNET-WINFORMS] Hiding all open forms
> >
> > Is the specific requirement that they all hide/show at once?
> > Or is it that when the "close" they don't really close you just hide
> them
> > for later use?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mike
> >
> > On Nov 27, 2007 8:47 AM, James Berry <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > I need to hide all open forms in my application (and be able to bring
> > them
> > > back later).  This is a security function for which there is an
> external
> > > requirement, and I can do nothing to manage.
> > >
> > > My first test was to use the Application.OpenForms to discover all
> open
> > > forms and then hide them.  This gives two sets of problems:
> > >
> > > 1. OpenForms does not include forms where ShowInTaskBar = false
> > > 2. Hiding open dialog boxes causes them to close (returning
> > DialogResult).
> > >
> > > So, any pointers?
> > >
> > > 1. Is there a way to identify all open forms without OpenForms (Win32
> > > functions to find the handles would be enough probably, as I can
> always
> > send
> > > messages rather than using the dotnet functions)
> > > 2. Is there a good alternative to hiding?  I thought of resizing to
> 0,0
> > -
> > > or moving massively off screen (eg to 10000, 10000)
> > >
> > > Best wishes
> > > James
> > >
> >
>