C/C++/C# Force window to be on top

Question

Is the there a way to force another window to be on top? Not the application's window, but another one, already running on the system. (Windows, C/C++/C#)

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 09 '09 at 14:40

10

SetWindowPos(that_window_handle, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE);

BringWindowToTop moves the window to the top of the Z-order (for now) but does not make it a topmost window.

answered Dec 09 '09 at 14:40

Jerry Coffin

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Can you give an example please? – Dec 09 '09 at 14:53
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@Levo:just substitute the handle of the window you want on top in place of `that_window_handle` in the snippet above. – Jerry Coffin Dec 09 '09 at 15:18

Brian R. Bondy · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-09T14:40:14.753

6

You can use the Win32 API BringWindowToTop. It takes an HWND.

You could also use the Win32 API SetWindowPos which also allows you to do things like make the window a top-level window.

edited Dec 09 '09 at 14:40

answered Dec 09 '09 at 14:28

Brian R. Bondy

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The seccond link is incorrect, you mean http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms633545%28VS.85%29.aspx Could you also suggest an example on this function? – Dec 09 '09 at 14:39
@Levo: Thanks I mustn't have copied it to the clipboard correctly before I pasted. – Brian R. Bondy Dec 09 '09 at 14:40

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 10 '09 at 10:19

3

BringWindowToTop() has no effect if you want to bring a applications window from behind (or minimized) to front. The following code does this trick reliable:

ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_MINIMIZE);
ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_RESTORE);

answered Dec 10 '09 at 10:19

RED SOFT ADAIR

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It is slow in win XP. – ahoo Jun 06 '15 at 05:46
Working like a charm! – Albert Tugushev Nov 07 '16 at 00:05

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 30 '16 at 19:52

BOOL CALLBACK EnumWindowsProc(HWND hWnd, long lParam) {
     wchar_t buff[255];

    if (IsWindowVisible(hWnd)) {
        GetWindowText(hWnd, (LPWSTR) buff, 254);
        //wprintf(L"%s\n", buff);
        wstring ws = buff;
        if (ws.find(L"Firefox") != ws.npos)
        {
            ::SetWindowPos(hWnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_NOSIZE | SWP_NOMOVE);
        }
    }
    return TRUE;
}

int main(){
    BOOL enumeratingWindowsSucceeded = ::EnumWindows( EnumWindowsProc, NULL );
}

C/C++/C# Force window to be on top

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