[VB.NET] Send form to always be in the back?

[Vorenus]

I have a webbrowser control on a form, and on certain sites the browser control brings my form on top of other windows (even when the form's visibility property is set to False).

Is there a way to set my form to always be on the bottom (i.e. behind all other windows)?

Thanks.

[John Veteran]

Why? What's the point of even having a form to show anything if it's never going to be seen?

You would have to listen for a few events and then minimize the form or something, I dunno...

[Vorenus]

  gameguy said:

Why? What's the point of even having a form to show anything if it's never going to be seen?

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Well, I want it to be in front while the form is visible, but when it is not visible it still takes the focus away from other windows that are open (which is a huge problem).

[Vorenus]

Seriously, no one has any idea?

[John Veteran]

I don't get it. When a form isn't visible (hidden or closed), it's not taking focus away from other windows :huh:

Also, wait at least 24 hours to bump a thread (Y) Not everyone is in the same time zone, not everyone is online every day, and not everyone checks every thread in every forum ;)

[azcodemonkey]

I'm a little confused, too. How is it that a child window on a hidden form is taking focus?

[Vorenus]

  gameguy said:

I don't get it. When a form isn't visible (hidden or closed), it's not taking focus away from other windows :huh:

Also, wait at least 24 hours to bump a thread (Y) Not everyone is in the same time zone, not everyone is online every day, and not everyone checks every thread in every forum ;)

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Sorry about the bump. :blush:

  weenur said:

I'm a little confused, too. How is it that a child window on a hidden form is taking focus?

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The webbrowser control (the IE component) on the form automatically brings the form to the fore front. So when the form is visible, the form is on top of every other form - however, when the form is not visible the form just steals focus from the current window with focus.

I was thinking of a way to solve it- would it be possible to detect the process that has focus automatically. For example, if I have Firefox as my active window and then I switch to notepad as my active window, could I detect that change in focus using an existing library or class? That way I could automatically send focus back to the window that my form stole focus from.

I'm not asking you to write code for me, I just want to know if such a class exists.

Thanks

[John Veteran]

I still don't see how a control on a hidden form is taking focus... can you post some code and a screenshot?

[Vorenus]

  gameguy said:

I still don't see how a control on a hidden form is taking focus... can you post some code and a screenshot?

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It's the webbrowser control. It's like using Internet Explorer and getting a pop-up. The webbrowser control somehow hooks into my program's form and sets it as the active form. A screenshot wouldn't really show you much - but I'll try to explain it a little better.

I create a program that sits in the system tray (just a little icon) while the form is invisble. While it's hidden I programmatically visit site and extract the important information from the HTML file. The problem is that some sites act as a "pop-up" and try to mimic the behavior of a popup. When the form is visible the form really does pop-up. It also pops-up when the form is invisible, but it remains invisible, so all that you see happening is the form taking the focus away from the window you were working in.

Maybe there is a way to suppress the browser control from altering any of the properties of my program. I'm not really sure. It's really bugging the heck out of me though.

[azcodemonkey]

Perhaps you should use the WebClient object to get your page data instead of the browser control, and only use the browser control when you want to display something.

[Vorenus]

  weenur said:

Perhaps you should use the WebClient object to get your page data instead of the browser control, and only use the browser control when you want to display something.

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I do ocassionally look at the rendered page - so the browser control is necessary.

[DigitalSnow]

Try This:

Add a checkbox to the form.

- In my code I used "khchk" as the name of the checkbox.

Change "Form1" to whatever your form name is in the code below.

This makes sure it doesn't pop up without permission from the user(by checkbox).

 ? ?Private Sub Form1_GotFocus(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.GotFocus

? ? ? ?If Me.khchk.Checked = True Then

? ? ? ? ? ?Me.Visible = False

? ? ? ?End If

? [b]This minimizes the form to tray.[/b] form to tray.

[code] ? ?Private Sub Form1_Resize(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Resize

? ? ? ?If Me.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized Then

? ? ? ? ? ?Me.Visible = False

? ?[b]Restores the window. This code is needed for the next code clip[/b]s needed for the next code clip

[code] ? ?Private Sub RestoreWindow()

? ? ? ?Me.Visible = True

? ? ? ?If Me.Visible = True Then

? ? ? ? ? ?Me.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal

? ? ? ? ? ?Me.TopMost = True

? ? ? ?End If

? ? ? ?If Me.TopMost = True Then

? ?[b]This makes the form visible or hidden depending on whether it is visible or not and whether the checkbox is checked or not.[/b]ther it is visible or not and whether the checkbox is checked or not.

[code] ? ?Private Sub unhide()

? ? ? ?If Me.Visible = False Then

? ? ? ? ? ?If Me.khchk.Checked = False Then

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Me.RestoreWindow()

? ? ? ? ? ?End If

? ? ? ?El[b]This is an option for a button to check to checkbox and keep the form from showing itself.[/b]/code]

This is an option for a button to check to checkbox and keep the form from showing itself.

[code] ? ?Private Sub KeepHidden()

? ? ? ?If Me.khchk.Checked = True Then

? ? ? ? ? ?Me.k[b]Add a context menu to the tray icon with a button that runs: Me.unhide() and a button that runs Me.KeepHidden()

Like maby just the tray icon's click sub[/b]h a button that runs: Me.unhide() a[b][color=lightblue]DigitalSnow[/color][/b]e tray icon's click sub

Hope this helps,

[color=lightblue]DigitalSnow[/color]

Edited March 2, 2005 by DigitalSnow

[John Veteran]

  VB Guy said:

I do ocassionally look at the rendered page - so the browser control is necessary.

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Then I suggest you use a WebClient object and when you wish to view the page, create a WebBrowser on the fly (Y)

[bangbang023 Veteran]

I'd be interested in this to....basically, if the z-order of the form gets changed, it sends itself right back to the bottom of the order. I'm just not sure what event is triggered, if any, when the z-order gets changed. If I know that, then I can simply use a sendtoback command.

[Cool4]

well, i see everyone is creating a browser for SJ :p

i think you should look in the webbrowser control methods because it's WB that is taking the focus even if the form is hidden

[bangbang023 Veteran]

I'm not creating a browser. I'm working on an old sticky note project and would love the option to pin the notes to the desktop, but I have been unable to figure it out myself.

[Cool4]

in your case try to look at windows APIs, i'm sure theres something to do it

[Vorenus]

  Cool4 said:

well, i see everyone is creating a browser for SJ :p

i think you should look in the webbrowser control methods because it's WB that is taking the focus even if the form is hidden

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SJ? I'm not sure what that stands for.

Anyway - I do recall seeing some code written for VB 6 that showed how to do it - but I can't find it. It was at PSCode.com. If anyone has any progress don't hesitate to post. I'll keep looking too - there has to some API that can accomplish this.