WinForms and ShowDialog problem.

Posted by SchlaWiener on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by SchlaWiener
Published on 2010-05-27T16:29:49Z Indexed on 2010/05/27 16:31 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 417

Filed under:

winforms

|

showdialog

|

dotnet

I have a borderless WinForms app.

The main window creates other forms (simple dialogs where I can click yes or no) with ShowDialog(). Every created dialog is not visible in the taskbar, my app has only one taskbar entry that focuses my app (and if a dialog is open that one is focused). If I use ALT+TAB to cycle to all open windows I only see one entry, too.

However, If the dialog is created while my app doesn't have the focus (for example the user starts a long running task, starts to work on something else and while being in the background, my app shows a dialog "Task done...") and I want to go back to my app, things are getting strange.

If I click on the taskbar to focus my app, the main window is focused (not the dialog).
I can't use the main window (because there is still an open modal dialog).
Windows 7 ALT-TAB preview shows the Dialog while taskbar mouseover preview shows the main window (In normal behavior both show the dialog in front of the main window).
The only way to make my app usable again is to ALT-TAB to the entry and close the modal dialog.
If I use ALT-TAB only the dialog is brought to the front and the main window is still in the background

Is there a way to prevent that from happening? I know what to do, but most customers think the app crashed since the main window doesn't respond.

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about winforms

Redirect WinForms web browser Control pop ups to another WinForms web browser control with form data

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a c# web browser and one of the pages it displays has a form. When the form is submitted it posts data to a new window in IE. I want to catch that data and forward it to another C# web browser that I have in my application. So I don't want it to open an IE browser when the javascript function… >>> More
Responding to MS Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 presenter buttons in WPF/WinForms

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Does anyone know how to respond to the presentation buttons of the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 in WPF or WinForms? >>> More
WinForms Web Browser control forcing refocus?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm trying to automate a web process where I need to click a button repeatedly. When my code "clicks" that button (an HtmlElement obtained from the WebBrowser control I have on my form) then it brings focus back to my application, more specifically the WebBrowser control. I wish to better automate… >>> More
Creating a Persistent Panel Web Control

as seen on Code Project - Search for 'Code Project'
Extending ASP.NET's Built in Panel Control to create Sticky control values between page visits. >>> More
Moving from Winforms to WPF

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I am a long time experienced Windows Forms developer, but now it's time to move to WPF because a new WPF project is comming soon to me and I have only a short lead time to prepare myself to learn WPF. What is the best way for a experienced Winforms devleoper? Can you give me some hints and recommendations… >>> More

Related posts about showdialog

When would ShowDialog() return null?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
WPF's Window.ShowDialog method returns a nullable boolean. So does CommonDialog.ShowDialog. Now, I understand cases where these would return false (user clicked Cancel or pressed Esc), and when they would return true (code sets Window.DialogResult to true, probably in response to OK being clicked)… >>> More
WPF Dispatcher.UnhandledException within a ShowDialog call.

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
It appears that ShowDialog() invokes the Dispatcher message handling loop within. Thus, you have a stack that looks something like: Outer-most Dispatcher message loop ... x.ShowDialog() Inner Dispatcher message loop ... I am using the Dispatcher.UnhandledException to catch exceptions not handled… >>> More
mybase.showdialog event fired without apparent reason

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, i'm new to vb .net and oop although i have learned the basics. I'm working in VB and .NET CF 3.5 and i'm trying to pass and received a value with showdialog. The issue here is when i'm done with a procedure in Load, for some reason MyBase.Showdialog (line 3) gives an error of "NullReferenceException… >>> More
Show form that showDialog from mainForm won't block it, but closing mainForm will close it

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
how yo show a form which needs to run synchronously. I tried running application.run from a queueworker of a threadpool- but I had some invalid handles sometime. tried using a regular thread but then when main form closes it doesn't close this- and I don't really like the idea of killing the thread… >>> More
ShowDialog won't run

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I've come across a situation where I try to run a simple line of code in a method Dim res As DialogResult = frmOptions.ShowDialog() but nothing happens. The dialog box will not appear. If I run this method from another location in the code it executes fine (i.e. displays the form in dialog mode… >>> More