How to resize a maximized form

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I have a situation where I need to display a form in a panel. Everything
works great except if the form is maximized and the panel's size changes. In
this case the maximized form's bounds do not change. I tried updating the
form's Bounds property in the panel's SizeChanged event but this does not
work because the Bounds property seems to be ignored until the form is
restored to the normal state. I also tried using the form's SetBoundsCore
method and setting the form's MaximizedBounds property but these didn't work
either.

Is there any way to change the form's bounds while it is in the maximized
state? I am familiar with MdiClient control and I noticed that the MdiClient
implements the desired behavior but I can not use an MdiClient in my
situation.

Thanks for any help!
Lance
 
Hi Lance,

I performed a test based on your description and did see the problem on my
side.

In fact, there're many limitations when a form is shown within a control.
For example, if the form has a TextBox on it, and the form is shown within
a control, say a Panel, you'll see that you can't set the input caret in
the TextBox when you click in the TextBox.

Your problem is another limitation related to this topic. A workaround of
your problem is to handle the Panel's SizeChanged event and in the event
handler, hide the form and then show the from as a maximized window to
force the form to repaint itself.

The following is the sample code.

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
extern static bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd,int nCmdShow);
int SW_MAXIMIZE = 3;
int SW_HIDE = 0;

void panel1_SizeChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.SuspendLayout();
// the 'frm' is the form that is shown within a Panel
ShowWindow(frm.Handle, SW_HIDE );
ShowWindow(frm.Handle, SW_MAXIMIZE);

this.ResumeLayout();
}

Hope this helps.
If you have any question, please feel free to let me know.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu
Microsoft Online Community Support

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Why are you using the Bounds property of the form?

If you need the size of the area where you place your
controls, you should use the ClientRectangle property(?)

If you really want the full size of the form, including the
non-client area, I suppose you could read the size of the
working area of the screen the form occupies (in a multi-
monitor setup, this might not be the primary screen), but
that sounds like a hack to me.

---snip---
Private Sub Form1_Resize(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Resize
Debug.WriteLine("--------------")
Debug.WriteLine("Bounds: " & Me.Bounds.ToString)
Debug.WriteLine("Client: " & Me.ClientRectangle.ToString)
Debug.WriteLine("WorkingArea: " &
Screen.FromControl(Me).WorkingArea.ToString)
End Sub
---snip---

I am not quite sure what your problem is: As far as I can
tell, the bounds *are* updated when maximizing the form, though
the rectangle reported extends a few pixels beyond the borders
of the working area (i.e. the 3D border + a few pixels of flat border
you normally see when the form is restored).

Or have I misunderstood the question?

Regards,

Joergen Bech
 
Never mind. I see your point now.

/JB

Why are you using the Bounds property of the form?

If you need the size of the area where you place your
controls, you should use the ClientRectangle property(?)

If you really want the full size of the form, including the
non-client area, I suppose you could read the size of the
working area of the screen the form occupies (in a multi-
monitor setup, this might not be the primary screen), but
that sounds like a hack to me.

---snip---
Private Sub Form1_Resize(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Resize
Debug.WriteLine("--------------")
Debug.WriteLine("Bounds: " & Me.Bounds.ToString)
Debug.WriteLine("Client: " & Me.ClientRectangle.ToString)
Debug.WriteLine("WorkingArea: " &
Screen.FromControl(Me).WorkingArea.ToString)
End Sub
---snip---

I am not quite sure what your problem is: As far as I can
tell, the bounds *are* updated when maximizing the form, though
the rectangle reported extends a few pixels beyond the borders
of the working area (i.e. the 3D border + a few pixels of flat border
you normally see when the form is restored).

Or have I misunderstood the question?

Regards,

Joergen Bech
Click to expand...
 
Hi Linda,

Thanks a lot for your help and for taking time to understand my issue. Your
suggestion was helpful although the limitations that you pointed out make me
feel like I should rethink my design to see if there is a slick way to avoid
having to show a form in a control.

Thanks again,
Lance
 
Hi Lance,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Generally speaking, if we need to show something in a container, e.g. a
Panel, or a SplitContainer, we create a UserControl and show the
UserControl in the container.

Showing a UserControl in a container won't have the limitations when we
show a WinForm in the container.

In your scenario, you could create a UserControl for each form you'd like
to show in the panel and then show the UserControl in the panel instead of
the form.

Hope this helps.
If my suggestion is not appropriate to your practice, please feel free to
let me know.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu
Microsoft Online Community Support
 
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