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How to make Alpha Five stay on top of the Window stack.

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    #1

    How to make Alpha Five stay on top of the Window stack.

    Edward Morgan asked how to make ALPHA itself (the actualy program window) stay on top of other programs being used in a windows environment.

    Look for the code solution in the this thread.

    In this example it is used in a toolbar but it can also be used in a form or Xdialog.
    Marcel

    I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
    ---- Confusius ----
    Tags: None
    #2
    Re: How to make Alpha Five stay on top of the Window stack.

    Since Marcel is very busy writing cool new code, I have taken the liberty of posting this. Also see image of an application of mine where I now use this in my PIM. I dynamically set the size of the a5 window to the form to float on top. For example, this is very useful for my password db where I need to enter the password to web sites, there are other places I need this functionality as well.

    Autoexec file needs this:
    Code:
    ''Code By  : Marcel Kollenaar 1/27/07
DECLARE user32 SetWindowPos LLLLLLLL
Declare user32 GetActiveWindow L

Constant global SWP_NOMOVE = 2
Constant global SWP_NOSIZE = 1
Constant global FLAGS = SWP_NOMOVE .OR. SWP_NOSIZE
Constant global HWND_TOPMOST = -1
Constant global HWND_NOTOPMOST = -2
'Get the pointer to the active Window.
Dim hwnd as N
hwnd := GetActiveWindow()
SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, FLAGS)
    Here is my complete autoexec file.
    Code:
    'Date Created: 20-Jul-2002 06:09:42 PM
'Last Updated: 28-Jan-2007 08:19:29 PM
'Created By  : PG
'Updated By  : PG

Dim Global vA5OnTop as L
a5.Hide()
controlpanel.hide()
a5_windowbar_close()
:A5.window_title="PIM PG   " + Left(CDOW(Date()),3) + "  " + DTOC(Date())

f=form.load("MainMenu")
f.Restore()

vWidth = f.width
vHeight = f.height
a5.Restore()

funcAlphaSize(vWidth,vHeight)

f.Maximize()
'xbasic_wait_for_idle()
'a5.Show()
f.show()
f.activate()
xbasic_wait_for_idle()
a5.Show()
''======================================================================================
''Code By  : Marcel Kollenaar 1/27/07
DECLARE user32 SetWindowPos LLLLLLLL
Declare user32 GetActiveWindow L

Constant global SWP_NOMOVE = 2
Constant global SWP_NOSIZE = 1
Constant global FLAGS = SWP_NOMOVE .OR. SWP_NOSIZE
Constant global HWND_TOPMOST = -1
Constant global HWND_NOTOPMOST = -2
'Get the pointer to the active Window.
Dim hwnd as N
hwnd := GetActiveWindow()
SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, FLAGS)
vA5OnTop = .T.
''======================================================================================
END
    I use a global variable to control OnTop or Not status. I also use two global functions:

    Function #1 - This one is to toggle the OnTop/Not:
    Code:
    'Date Created: 28-Jan-2007 07:58:07 PM
'Last Updated: 28-Jan-2007 07:58:07 PM
'Created By  : PG
'Updated By  : PG
FUNCTION funcA5_OnTop AS L (vStatus AS N )
    ''function By  : PG    
    ''code by Marcel Kollenaar
    ''Put A5 window always on top or not (see Autoexec for initization code)
    dim hwnd as N
    
    'Get the pointer to the active Window.
    hwnd := GetActiveWindow()
    
    IF vStatus = 1
        'Use this code to make the form stay on top in the form module:
        SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, FLAGS)
        funcA5_OnTop = .T.
    ELSE if vStatus = 0
        'Use this code to make the form NOT stay on top in the form module:
        SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_NOTOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, FLAGS)
        funcA5_OnTop = .F.
    END IF
END FUNCTION
    Function #2 - This one to control main Alpha window size to form size:
    Code:
    'Date Created: 27-Jan-2007 05:45:04 PM
'Last Updated: 27-Jan-2007 05:45:04 PM
'Created By  : PG
'Updated By  : PG
FUNCTION funcAlphaSize AS C (vWidth=500 AS N, vHeight=200 AS N, vLeft=350 AS N, vTop=200 AS N, vForm=.T. as L)
    ''Size the Min Alpha window
    ''Allow A5 window size to be based upon form size if vForm=.T.
    
    ''typical screen size =     800X600
    ''                            1024X768
    ''                            1152X864
    ''                            1280X720
    ''                            1280X768
    ''                            1280X960
    ''                            1280X1024
    
    vScreenWidth = ui_info(0)
    vScreenHeight = ui_info(1)
    
    IF vForm=.T.
        a5.left = (vScreenWidth/2)-(vWidth/2)         'The horizontal pixel coordinate of the Alpha Five window.
        a5.top = (vScreenHeight/2)-(vHeight/2)        'The vertical pixel coordinate of the Alpha Five window.
        a5.width = vWidth + 10        'The width of the Alpha Five window in pixels.
        a5.height = vHeight + 25        'The height of the Alpha Five window in pixels.
    ELSE
        a5.left = vLeft         'The horizontal pixel coordinate of the Alpha Five window.
        a5.top = vTop            'The vertical pixel coordinate of the Alpha Five window.
        a5.width = vWidth        'The width of the Alpha Five window in pixels.
        a5.height = vHeight    'The height of the Alpha Five window in pixels.
    END IF
    
END FUNCTION
    Note: The +10 & +25 approximately account for the main Alpha window border thickness.

    Here is some typical button code on the main menu to open a form:
    Code:
    'Date Created: 27-Jan-2007 07:02:32 PM
'Last Updated: 28-Jan-2007 10:35:19 PM
'Created By  : PG
'Updated By  : PG

parentform.Close()
a5.Hide()
xbasic_wait_for_idle()
a5.Maximize()
f=form.load("TaskManager")
f.Restore()

vWidth = f.width+10
vHeight = f.height+50
a5.Restore()
funcAlphaSize(vWidth,vHeight)
f.show()
f.activate()
a5.Show()
END
    Note: The +10 & +50 approximately account for the toolbar and form edges/status bar.

    See image. I just create this the other day, so I will be adding more controls for other forms in my PIM, but I want to keep it small & compact.

    P.S. Marcel, you are a scholar and a gentleman!

    Also, thanks to Ronald Anusiewicz who proved you can make a small & compact A5 window.
    Last edited by Peter.Greulich; 01-29-2007, 03:43 PM.
    Peter
    AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

     [email protected]
    https://www.alphabasesolutions.com

    Comment

      #3
      Re: How to make Alpha Five stay on top of the Window stack.

      Thank you very much Peter and Marcel for making this available and all the hard work you put into it!

      Very interesting possibilities!

      Best regards,

      Jeff

      Comment

        #4
        Re: How to make Alpha Five stay on top of the Window stack.

        Peter, you give me to much credit. But, thanks for the parts I finished ;) .

        This code solves 2 problems:

        1. The floating of a form like a menu bar.
        2. Placing Alpha Five on top.

        The code I started with is comming from http://www.devx.com/tips/Tip/12630 and was signed by Rod Stephens. Later I found the same code at http://support.microsoft.com/default...b/84251/EN-US/. Therefore I think that the MSDN side is the official source.

        I tested the floating problem with http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/114775. This code does not work for the regular forms. It is Ronald Anusiewicz that came up with Xbasic code that let normal forms float. Thanks, Ronald.

        I suggest the next creditation:

        Ronald Anusiewicz: Floating Form
        Peter Greulich:Popup Theme and PIM code.
        Microsoft Developers Network: Topmost or Floating Window in Visual Basic and GetActiveWindow API.
        Marcel Kollenaar: Translation Visual Basic into Xbasic.

        Peter, thanks for putting the solution in the code section and you too did a nice job with the PIM code.
        Marcel

        I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
        ---- Confusius ----

        Comment

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