Does minimizing a window on a modern version of Windows still move it to coordinates (-32000, -32000)?

Question

According to this blog entry by Raymond Chen, Windows NT "minimized" windows by moving them to the coordinates (-32000, -32000), and, I got the impression from reading it that this was the case in the early versions of Windows NT (3.x, 4...).

In modern versions of Windows NT (such as 7, 8, and 10), is this still the case?

Is there a program that one could write to demonstrate the presence/absence of this feature on a modern Windows OS?

Govind Parmar · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-11T18:28:37.543

Answering my own question... I've written a small C program that does what I asked. Basically, it creates a window with code such that if the window's position ever changes to a negative value in either the x or y dimension, it will set the text of a static text field to the new coordinates.

Output of this program on Windows 10 RTM:

#include <Windows.h>
#include <windowsx.h>
#include <CommCtrl.h>
#include <strsafe.h>
#include <sal.h>

#pragma comment(lib, "comctl32.lib")

#if defined _M_IX86
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='x86' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
#elif defined _M_IA64
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='ia64' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
#elif defined _M_X64
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='amd64' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
#else
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
#endif


WCHAR g_szClassName[] = L"CoordReportWnd";

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProc(_In_ HWND hWnd, _In_ UINT Msg, _In_ WPARAM wParam, _In_ LPARAM lParam);
BOOL CALLBACK EnumChildProc(_In_ HWND hWnd, _In_ LPARAM lParam);

ATOM RegisterWCEX(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance)
{
    WNDCLASSEXW wcex;
    ZeroMemory(&wcex, sizeof(WNDCLASSEXW));

    wcex.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEXW);
    wcex.lpfnWndProc = WindowProc;
    wcex.hInstance = hInstance;
    wcex.lpszClassName = g_szClassName;
    wcex.hIcon =
    wcex.hIconSm = LoadIconW(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);
    wcex.hCursor = LoadCursorW(NULL, IDC_ARROW);
    wcex.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH) COLOR_WINDOW;

    return RegisterClassExW(&wcex);
}

BOOL CALLBACK EnumChildProc(_In_ HWND hWnd, _In_ LPARAM lParam)
{
    HFONT hfDefault = *(HFONT *)lParam;
    SendMessageW(hWnd, WM_SETFONT, (WPARAM) hfDefault, 0);
    return TRUE;
}

INT APIENTRY wWinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance, _In_opt_ HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, _In_ LPWSTR lpCmdLine, _In_ INT nShowCmd)
{
    HWND hWnd;
    MSG Msg;
    NONCLIENTMETRICSW ncm;
    HFONT hfDefault;

    ZeroMemory(&ncm, sizeof(NONCLIENTMETRICSW));
    ncm.cbSize = sizeof(NONCLIENTMETRICSW);
    SystemParametersInfoW(SPI_GETNONCLIENTMETRICS, sizeof(NONCLIENTMETRICSW), &ncm, FALSE);
    hfDefault = CreateFontIndirectW(&ncm.lfMessageFont);

    if (!RegisterWCEX(hInstance))
    {
        MessageBoxW(0, L"Window registration failed!", L"Error", MB_ICONSTOP);
        return -1;
    }

    hWnd = CreateWindowExW(WS_EX_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, g_szClassName, L"Minimize Me", WS_VISIBLE | WS_SYSMENU | WS_MINIMIZEBOX, 100, 100, 400, 250, NULL, NULL, GetModuleHandleW(NULL), NULL);
    ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_SHOW);
    EnumChildWindows(hWnd, EnumChildProc, (LPARAM) &hfDefault);
    UpdateWindow(hWnd);

    while (GetMessageW(&Msg, NULL, 0, 0) > 0)
    {
        TranslateMessage(&Msg);
        DispatchMessageW(&Msg);
    }
    return (INT) Msg.wParam;
}

VOID WINAPI OnClose(_In_ HWND hWnd)
{
    DestroyWindow(hWnd);
}

BOOL WINAPI OnCreate(_In_ HWND hWnd, _In_ LPCREATESTRUCTW lpCS)
{
    HINSTANCE hInstance = lpCS->hInstance;
    HWND hStatic;
    INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX iccx;

    iccx.dwICC = ICC_STANDARD_CLASSES;
    iccx.dwSize = sizeof(INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX);
    InitCommonControlsEx(&iccx);

    hStatic = CreateWindowW(L"Static", L"", WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD, 10, 10, 180, 20, hWnd, NULL, hInstance, NULL);

    return TRUE;
}

VOID WINAPI OnDestroy(_In_ HWND hWnd)
{
    PostQuitMessage(ERROR_SUCCESS);
}

VOID WINAPI OnWindowPosChanged(_In_ HWND hWnd, _In_ CONST LPWINDOWPOS lpWP)
{
    if (lpWP->x < 0 || lpWP->y < 0)
    {
        WCHAR stTxt[64];
        HWND hStatic = FindWindowExW(hWnd, NULL, L"Static", NULL);
        StringCchPrintfW(stTxt, 64, L"(%d, %d)", lpWP->x, lpWP->y);
        SetWindowTextW(hStatic, stTxt);
    }
}

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProc(_In_ HWND hWnd, _In_ UINT Msg, _In_ WPARAM wParam, _In_ LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch (Msg)
    {
        HANDLE_MSG(hWnd, WM_CLOSE, OnClose);
        HANDLE_MSG(hWnd, WM_CREATE, OnCreate);
        HANDLE_MSG(hWnd, WM_DESTROY, OnDestroy);
        HANDLE_MSG(hWnd, WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED, OnWindowPosChanged);
    default:
        return DefWindowProcW(hWnd, Msg, wParam, lParam);
    }
    return 0;
}

When run, if minimized and then re-maximized, it displays (-32000, -32000), indicating that that's where the window has been moved to when it was minimized.

i mean when ever i try to acces minPosition from WINDOWPLACEMENT it only returns (-32000,-32000), will it be possible to get the coordinates of button on taskbar, (i mean the button of window on taskbar) — trickymind, Aug 24 '21 at 15:22
i already did : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/68893945/how-to-set-the-coordinates-to-which-a-window-gets-minimized-to — trickymind, Aug 24 '21 at 15:42

Does minimizing a window on a modern version of Windows still move it to coordinates (-32000, -32000)?

1 Answers1