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Q184297: HOWTO: Create a Form That Always Stays on Top

Article: Q184297
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 4.0,5.0,6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbVBp400 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB
Last Modified: 08-APR-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, versions 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, versions 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

Microsoft Visual Basic does not offer a property or method to make a form the
topmost window. This behavior can be achieved using the SetWindowPos Win32 API.

This article demonstrates how to set a form as the topmost window using the
SetWindowPos Win32 API.

MORE INFORMATION
================

The sample code below uses a function called SetTopMostWindow. The
SetTopMostWindow function sets a window as a topmost Window or as a normal
Window, based on the two parameters, hwnd and Topmost, passed to it.

The hwnd parameter specifies the handle of the window to be set as topmost or as
normal.

The Topmost parameter specifies whether to set the form as topmost or as normal.
If the value is true, the function sets the form to always remain on top. If the
value is false, the function sets the form as a normal window.

Step-by-Step Example
--------------------

1. Start a new Standard EXE project. Form1 is created by default.

2. Add two command buttons (Command1 and Command2) to Form1.

3. Set the caption property of Command1 to "Always on top."

4. Set the caption property of Command2 to "Normal."

5. Put the following code in the Form1 Declaration section:

        Option Explicit

        Private Sub Command1_Click()
           Dim lR As Long
           lR = SetTopMostWindow(Form1.hwnd, True)
        End Sub

        Private Sub Command2_Click()
           Dim lR As Long
           lR = SetTopMostWindow(Form1.hwnd, False)
        End Sub

6. On the Project menu, click Add Module, to add a new module to the project.

7. Add the following code to the new module:

        Option Explicit
        Public Const SWP_NOMOVE = 2
        Public Const SWP_NOSIZE = 1
        Public Const FLAGS = SWP_NOMOVE Or SWP_NOSIZE
        Public Const HWND_TOPMOST = -1
        Public Const HWND_NOTOPMOST = -2

        Declare Function SetWindowPos Lib "user32" Alias "SetWindowPos"  _
              (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
              ByVal hWndInsertAfter As Long, _
              ByVal x As Long, _
              ByVal y As Long, _
              ByVal cx As Long, _
              ByVal cy As Long, _
              ByVal wFlags As Long  ) As Long

        Public Function SetTopMostWindow(hwnd As Long, Topmost As Boolean) _
           As Long

           If Topmost = True Then 'Make the window topmost
              SetTopMostWindow = SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, _
                 0, FLAGS)
           Else
              SetTopMostWindow = SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_NOTOPMOST, 0, 0, _
                 0, 0,FLAGS)
              SetTopMostWindow = False
           End If
        End Function

NOTE: In the above sample code, an underscore (_) at the end of a line is used as
a line-continuation character.

8. Press F5 to run the project.

If you click the "Always on top" command button, your form becomes the topmost
window and remains on top of every window; you cannot move any other window on
top of it. If you click the "Normal" button, the form behaves normally (you can
move other windows on top of it).

REFERENCES
==========

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

  Q84251 How to Create a Topmost or Floating Window in Visual Basic

  Q150233 BUG: Topmost Window Does Not Stay on Top in Design Environment

Also view the sample project, CallDlls, located in the VB\Samples\CallDlls
folder. The CallDlls sample has code to set a Form as the topmost window and is
illustrated in the sample.

Additional query words: always on top topmost splash screen SetWindowPos System Modal

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbVBp400 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB500Search kbVB600Search kbVBA500 kbVBA600 kbVB500 kbVB600 kbVB400Search kbVB400
Version           : :4.0,5.0,6.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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