Make form deactivate itself?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Andrew Morton
  • Start date Start date
A

Andrew Morton

Is it possible to make a form deactivate itself without minimizing it?

I have written a small utility which copies selected files from CDs
(hundreds of them). I put a CD in the tray and click a button on the form to
tell it the next CD is ready for it to process. Each CD takes a few minutes
to copy, and the form has a textbox at which I glance to see the progress. I
have the form sending itself to the back, but it would be nice if it would
also relinquish focus to the previously active window.

..NET 1.1

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Form.ActiveForm.SendToBack()
Form.ActiveForm.Deactivate() ' no such method :-(
' process CD

Only a few hundred more CDs to do...

Andrew
 
Andrew Morton schreef:
Is it possible to make a form deactivate itself without minimizing it?

I have written a small utility which copies selected files from CDs
(hundreds of them). I put a CD in the tray and click a button on the form to
tell it the next CD is ready for it to process. Each CD takes a few minutes
to copy, and the form has a textbox at which I glance to see the progress. I
have the form sending itself to the back, but it would be nice if it would
also relinquish focus to the previously active window.

.NET 1.1

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Form.ActiveForm.SendToBack()
Form.ActiveForm.Deactivate() ' no such method :-(
' process CD

Only a few hundred more CDs to do...

Andrew
Click to expand...

form.enabled=false
 
C-Services Holland b.v. said:
Andrew Morton schreef:

form.enabled=false
Click to expand...

No, that doesn't work, it just disables the form while leaving it as the
active window and the only way to close it then is through the Task Manager
:-(

Andrew
 
Andrew Morton schreef:
No, that doesn't work, it just disables the form while leaving it as the
active window and the only way to close it then is through the Task Manager
:-(

Andrew
Click to expand...

Well, how is the form displayed? If it's by using .showdialog(), then
what you want is not possible because that dialog is then modal.
 
C-Services Holland b.v. said:
Andrew Morton schreef:


Well, how is the form displayed? If it's by using .showdialog(), then
what you want is not possible because that dialog is then modal.
Click to expand...

It's a simple Windows application. I couldn't find anything in the Windows
API docs on the MSDN website - although that doesn't mean there isn't
anything. Maybe there's a more relevant newsgroup for me to ask in?

I've done a couple of screen-grabs of what to show what does and what I'd
like to happen:
http://www.in-press.co.uk/windowsample/windowsample.html (22KB)

There's only about 100 CDs left to do now, so there's no need for a solution
any more.

Andrew
 
Andrew said:
It's a simple Windows application. I couldn't find anything in the
Windows API docs on the MSDN website - although that doesn't mean
there isn't anything.
Click to expand...

For the benefit of anyone reading this in the future...

As I reach the end of the task, I found the GetWindow function in
user32.dll, with which I could have retrieved the window handle to the next
window in z-order (i.e. the previously activate one) so, with the handle, I
would have been able to activate that window.

Andrew
 
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