Always ontop

Hi. Ive have some code which keeps a window ontop of everything using an API


Public Declare Sub SetWindowPos Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Long,
ByVal X As Long, ByVal Y As Long, ByVal cx As Long, ByVal cy As Long, ByVal wFlags As Long)
Public Const HWND_TOPMOST = -1
Public Const SWP_NOACTIVATE = &H10
Public Const SWP_SHOWWINDOW = &H40
Public Const SWP_NOSIZE = &H1
Public Const SWP_NOMOVE = &H2
SetWindowPos Me.hwnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_NOACTIVATE Or SWP_SHOWWINDOW Or SWP_NOMOVE Or SWP_NOSIZE


That works fine except i want the window to be ontop of all windows in my app only and allow it to be behind other apps. Im trying to make it work exactly asif i was showing the form modally except i cant show it modally because that stops code execution in the origional window

Hmm... there's a way to make it a "Modeless" Window...


Example consists of 2 forms + 1 commandbutton on form2.

'* Form1 code

Private Sub Form_Load()

Me.Show

Form2.Show vbModal

End Sub

'* Form2 code

Private Declare Function ShowWindow Lib "user32" ( _

ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal nCmdShow As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function SetWindowLong Lib "user32" Alias _

"SetWindowLongA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, _

ByVal nIndex As Long, ByVal dwNewLong As Long) As Long

Private Const SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1

Private Const GWL_HWNDPARENT = (-8)

Private hwndOldOwner As Long

Private Sub Command1_Click()

Dim frm As Form2

Set frm = New Form2

frm.ShowMe Me.hwnd

End Sub

Public Sub ShowMe(hwndOwner As Long)

ShowWindow Me.hwnd, SW_SHOWNORMAL

hwndOldOwner = SetOwner(Me.hwnd, hwndOwner)

End Sub

Function SetOwner(ByVal hWndToUse, ByVal hWndOfOwner) As Long

SetOwner = SetWindowLong(hWndToUse, GWL_HWNDPARENT, hWndOfOwner)

End Function

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)

SetOwner Me.hwnd, hwndOldOwner

End Sub


didn't check the syntax... just copied from:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/forumarchives/VisualBasicwinapi/Nov2005/post24538597.asp

Ive tested it out and it doesnt seem to work. It does do everything it claims to do on that other site but any loops i have running on the main form are paused when the modal form is shown.

One thing i have noticed though is that the timer control will still run when a modal form is displayed and if a loop is called within the timer then the loop will run fine while the modal form is still open. I cant do it this way though because the loop will be running all the time and its not really possible to stop and start it whenever the new form is displayed.

I do still need windows to be always ontop for just my app too for a similar case. Still only ontop of my apps windows though

Have you tried this:

' Form1
Option Explicit

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Form2.Show , Me
End Sub

Form2.Show , Me


lol... be simple :)


didnt even pass through my head...

Lol. That was simple. I thought that just set the owner of the form. I didnt know it made the form always appear ontop of the owner. Im already disabling the main form when the second one is shown so if i add ", me" into .show then it should work just how i want.

Thanx:)