Determine if a window is visible or not using C#

Question

I have a Console / Form hybrid application in C#, and at the moment, i have to rely on user32.dll to show/hide the console window. But I can't seem to find a way in which i can determine if the console window is hidden or visible (without storing the value myself)

score 22 · Answer 1 · edited May 15 '20 at 04:17

22

IsWindowVisible Function:

The IsWindowVisible function retrieves the visibility state of the specified window.

C# Signature from pinvoke.net:

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
static extern bool IsWindowVisible(IntPtr hWnd);

edited May 15 '20 at 04:17

riQQ

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answered Apr 16 '10 at 20:37

dtb

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2

That will not check whenever the window is in fact visible. Read the msdn article. – devoured elysium May 14 '10 at 01:07
1

I think you need [DllImport(USER32)] public static extern bool IsIconic(IntPtr hWnd); – Kate Sep 01 '14 at 11:09
2

"Any drawing to a window with the WS_VISIBLE style will not be displayed if the window is obscured by other windows or is clipped by its parent window." - Which means this will return true regardless if it can be seen. – David Jan 18 '17 at 10:02
FYI (to get your window handle): `var source = new WindowInteropHelper(myWindow).Handle;` – Arsen Khachaturyan Dec 14 '20 at 18:01
how to set winForm Visible to true? at Program.cs, I try ShowWindow is Unsuccessful – Ruyut Jun 09 '21 at 05:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 13 '20 at 08:34

Had the same issue now, solved it this way:

[System.Runtime.InteropServices.DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr WindowFromPoint(Point lpPoint);

var mainForm = this; // or any other form you like to check
bool windowIsInvisible =  
    WindowFromPoint(new Point(mainForm.Left, mainForm.Top)) != mainForm.Handle || // topleft invisible
    WindowFromPoint(new Point(mainForm.Left + mainForm.Width - 1, mainForm.Top)) != mainForm.Handle || // topright invisible
    WindowFromPoint(new Point(mainForm.Left, mainForm.Top + mainForm.Height - 1)) != mainForm.Handle || // downleft invisible
    WindowFromPoint(new Point(mainForm.Left + mainForm.Width -1, mainForm.Top + mainForm.Height -1)) != mainForm.Handle; // downright invisible

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 08 '21 at 16:45

I use this function in a C# console application to determine if the program was launched with or without a console window visible (e.g. via System.Diagnostics.Process.Start() with CreateNoWindow = true).

public static bool IsConsoleVisible()
{
    try
    {
        return Console.WindowHeight > 0;
    }
    catch (System.IO.IOException ex)
    {
        if (ex.Message.Contains("The handle is invalid."))
        {
            return false;
        }
        else
        {
            throw ex;
        }
    }
}

Perhaps this will apply.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 29 '23 at 05:08

I didn't have success with IsWindowVisible.

turns out I needed IsIconic which means "if window minimized"

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
static extern bool IsIconic(IntPtr hWnd);

public static bool GetIsWindowMinimized(IntPtr hWnd)
{
    return IsIconic(hWnd);
}

Determine if a window is visible or not using C#

4 Answers4